Lenten Spiritual Disciplines

The Church traditionally has invited us to engage in three different spiritual disciplines during this ongoing season of Lent:  prayer, giving, and fasting.  My wife, Caroline, reminded me of a piece that she received years ago from a pastor, giving his perspective on fasting and feasting during Lent.  He wrote it in the form of a prayer, and I'd share it with you here for your own reflections.

In this season of Lent, there are opportunities for us to look again at who we are, to make changes in our lives, because we are reminded that you are able to resurrect us into a new life, and our part in that is to let go of the old things, the old ways, the habits that are so unlovely. We are called this season to fast from those things and we listen to your Spirit as you tell us in the language of love that we should...

fast from worry and feast on divine order, by trusting in you God;

fast from complaining, and feast on appreciation

fast on the negatives in life, and feast on the affirmations.

Help us to fast from unrelenting pressures, and feast on unceasing prayer;

to fast from hostility and feast on nonresistance,

to fast from bitterness and  feast on forgiveness.

Help us God to fast from self-concern and to feast on compassion for others,

to fast from the shadows of sorrow and to feast on the sunlight of serenity.

Remind us, God, to fast from idle gossip, and to feast instead on purposeful silence,

To fast from judging others, and feast on the Christ within them.

During this season we want to fast from the emphasis on differences,

and feast on the unity in life,

to fast from apparent darkness, and feast on the reality of light,

to fast from thoughts of illness, and feast on the healing power of you, God,

to fast from words that pollute, and feast on phrases that purify.

Help us to fast from discontent, and to feast on gratitude

During this season, and for all seasons,

we want to fast from anger and feast on optimism,

to fast from personal anxiety, and feast on eternal  truth,

to fast from discouragement and feast on hope,

to fast from all the facts in this world that depress us,

and feast on those truths that uplift us.

Dear God in this season, help us to fast from all the thoughts that tell us we are less than who we really are, and to feast on the truth of your love that calls us as your beloved children.

And in this season, as in all the seasons to come, God, we ask you to help us to fast from fear, and to feast on love.