Monday Benediction

on fasting

The Lenten season traditionally emphasizes three practices: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. In that vein, I’ll offer three Monday benedictions between now and Easter, related to those three practices. This week, fasting.

I’ve had a mixed experience with fasting. I was first introduced to the idea in high school, where it was very much a performance. We were taught to fast so that so-called “non-believers” might ask us about what we were doing and why. In college, a friend taught our small group about the practice of fasting during Lent, and I found it difficult to leave behind the performative nature of it all.

At the same time, fasting was very much about restriction—about believing the cultural (and not necessarily Christ-like) narratives about what was bad and eliminating it—food, of course, but other things, too. I prayed for strength to be thinner and smaller, stronger and firmer. Ultimately, I think I was praying for the willpower to be the best version of myself (which had, in my mind, nothing to do with who I’d been created to be.)

If and when I choose to eliminate something from my life, I want it to be because I am making more space for the loving and faithful presence of Christ. It’s true that this might lead to inner transformation—but that has nothing to do with my own willpower, and nothing to do with daily intake of calories.

All that being said…

A benediction for Monday, March 18, 2024:

As we consider the part of fasting in our Lenten observance, may we begin from a place of love. May we not allow a critical posture or society’s loud “should" to boss us around. May we begin with curiosity and openness, noticing the places in our souls where a bit of space might allow God’s presence and work to be more easily recognized. Amen.

[Image description: A landscape photo from the ancient monastery Glendalough, Ireland. In the foreground, the tops of gravestones and Celtic crosses are visible. In the background, fog rolls in over the tops of a large hill and forest.]

For St. Patrick’s Day:

We are not huge St. Patrick’s Day people in our home, but I hope you enjoyed something yummy this weekend—Lucky Charms or shepherd’s pie or perhaps some green beer.

Either way, I wanted to briefly mention that I LOVE the words from St. Patrick’s Breastplate. As we think about what it means to make space for God, this prayer is a lovely companion.

But even more than the prayer itself, I love this song by Taylor Leonhardt and The Porter’s Gate. It is well-worth a listen today.

Grace and peace,

Lindsey