Redeemer Family,
Two weeks ago, we contemplated the Practice of Fasting and together we explored how this spiritual discipline has cultivated virtue in the lives of God’s people from Old Testament times through to the present. If you missed the sermon, you can listen to it here. While most of us are likely familiar with the concept of a private, personal fast, we may be less familiar with the concept of a corporate fast. Here are just a few (of the many) examples of corporate fasting in scripture:
Leviticus 16: The Israelites practice an annual corporate fasting on the Day of Atonement.
Nehemiah 9: The Israelites in a national confession time of fasting, prayer, repentance, and public scripture reading.
Joel 2: God speaks to the prophet Joel and calls him to declare a time of corporate fasting and repentance.
Jonah 3: The people of Nineveh respond to Jonah’s prophetic preaching with fasting and repentance.
Acts 27: Paul and his 275 shipmates fast for 14 days through a storm at sea before breaking their fast in a manner that is a nod towards the Eucharist (vs 35).
Throughout scripture, corporate fasts are marked by themes of repentance, confession, and calling on God to show mercy and provide atonement for the sins of the people.
Therefore, how appropriate that throughout church history, it has been common for both clergy and parishioners to fast on Good Friday of Holy Week - a day devoted to repentance of our sins and remembering the mercy of God in the atoning death of Christ on the cross.
As the Book of Common Prayer states in the preface to the Good Friday service on p.564, “This most somber of days is appropriately marked by fasting, abstinence, and penitence, leading us to focus on Jesus and the meaning of his cross.”
And so Redeemer Family, on Good Friday of Holy Week (March 29), we are all invited to fast together, as a parish. No one should feel coerced or peer-pressured to participate. Fasting is most spiritually effective when it is something you choose, not something you do because other people guilted or shamed you into it!
So, if you wish to participate, here are two potential ways:
Full-Fast
The fast begins at the end of the Maundy Thursday service on March 28.
Eat an early dinner beforehand.
Come to one of the Maundy Thursday services, 5pm or 7pm.
Practice footwashing and receive the Eucharist, then the fast begins.
The bread and wine of the Eucharist are the last food in your stomach from Thursday evening, through all of Good Friday, to Saturday morning.
Attend one of the Good Friday services, 5pm or 7pm.
Break the fast on Saturday morning with a simple and light meal.
Partial Fast
If you are new to fasting or have a medical condition that makes fasting unwise, here are partial ways to participate.
Shorten the fast: Sunrise to sunset on Friday. Eat an early breakfast Friday morning and a late dinner Friday evening. Skip lunch and fast for the daylight hours.
Limit the fast to only refraining from solid foods. Replace meals with fruit juice or a smoothie.
Beloved brothers and sisters, the goal here is to not create some new law that everyone must obey. The goal is to help us participate in the passion of our Lord together. We are not in this alone; we are a church family. Let’s fast together on Good Friday and then, let’s FEAST together on Easter Sunday!
In the Father’s love,
