Fasting to Feasting
Last week we began our Advent series by looking at how the word of the Lord came to Jonah (cf. Jonah 1:1) and how that coming word is part of the pattern that we celebrate each Christmas as we celebrate the Word made flesh (cf. John 1:14) who came to bring life to our world. This week we will spend time looking at the world that Jonah inhabited, a weary world if ever there was one, a world that needed a word from the Lord (we will be focusing on Jonah 3:1-4:4).
From Jonah's world it is not difficult to cross over to today. Our world is still weary and we still desperately need to hear a word from the Lord. The good news is that standing on this side of Jonah and on this side of Jesus, we not only know the central character and central life-giving action of the story, we also have the full word of the Lord contained in the scriptures. In Adult Institute this term, we have been talking about communion with God. Communion that comes through prayer. Communion that learns to pay attention to the presence of God in our everyday lives. Communion through meditation on the word. And this week we will look at communion through fasting. Richard Foster in his classic Celebration of Discipline has this to say about the practice of Christian fasting, "Fasting reminds us that we are sustained ‘by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’. Food does not sustain us, God sustains us. Therefore, in experiences of fasting we are not so much abstaining from food as we are feasting on the word of God.” I know that we talk a lot about feasting as we go through the holidays, but perhaps our waiting during Advent is an appropriate time to consider feasting on the word by momentarily setting aside our normal necessities.
A word from the the Lord, the Word made flesh, Jonah, Jesus, fasting, feasting; that is a lot to take in. But the central point from Jonah until now is plain, let's cultivate a hunger for hearing the word of the Lord. May we find time, or maybe make time, this Advent season to dig into the word, devour it, digest it. And as we do, we will find that though our world is still weary, we will have fresh, Spirit-filled energy to navigate it.