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“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:16-18
“Prayer is not asking for what you think you want, but asking to be changed in ways you can’t imagine.” – Kathleen Norris
In light of the recent call for forty days of fasting and prayer from the Virginia-based evangelical group, The Family Foundation, there has been some confusion as to what fasting is.
Fasting, as a religious practice, is usually define it as abstinence from the basics of life – food, shelter, sometimes clothing – for a specific period of time. In addition to the basics, one usually abstains from the comforts of life and maintains celibacy during the fast. Often times, it is a period of solitude and silence.
The forty-day fast tradition is rooted the Jesus’ wilderness experience wherein he fasted forty days and nights while in the desert as he prepares for his ministry (Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13).[1] In Luke 4:2, it states specifically that Jesus goes without food for the entire forty days.
Early Christians adopted the forty-day fast, called Lent, in preparation for Holy Week and Easter. Lenten fasts were characterized by very sparse eating and abstaining from all animal products (meat, eggs, fish, dairy.) Traditionally, those who practiced Lent only had one meal in the evening, with two very small meals during the day that together did not exceed the evening meal. If you lived as an ascetic or in a Christian community like a convent or monastery, the Lenten meal practice was more than likely the daily meal experience, so the time of Lent was even more stringent. Should you wish to make your Lenten sacrifice more meaningful, one could couple fasting with acts of penance & charity to the community.
Many different traditions embrace fasting as a means to deepen their spiritual connection with the divine: Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, in addition to Christianity. Fasting is helpful in understanding the suffering of others, finding clarity when living in a confused time, and removing the dross of everyday life so that what is real and true and beautiful is revealed.
So just to be clear, fasting is a spiritual practice meant to draw the one fasting closer to God.
What fasting is not is a show.
I clarify this difference because my hope is that my brothers and sisters at The Family Foundation discover the true spiritual practice that is fasting and prayer during their forty days, rather than the show of brinkmanship it seems to be.
I call this a show of brinkmanship because The Family Foundation’s call for forty days of fasting and prayer ends the day before arguments will be presented before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Bostic v. Rainey case deciding the constitutionality of Virginia’s 2006 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The timing of their fast is meant to pressure the court into maintaining the ban, turning what should be a spiritual practice into a sideshow. Instead of seeking deep personal connection with the divine, they are using this fast to push their own agenda and indict those who do not support it.
The Family Foundation’s press releases and interviews are all indicative of their desire to shame our commonwealth more than a real desire for personal change. The Family Foundation Fast is an arrogant act, one of defiance and an in-your-face superiority that continues to plague my faith tradition. I have yet to see any evidence of the “humility” they claim their fast represents. If anything their public statement is a condensation to those who aren’t as “enlightened” as they are regarding the will of God. Fasting and prayer are humble, searching practices – there is no room for hearts to change if one enters fasting and prayer believing he or she already knows the very mind of God.
The Family Foundation has had to clarify that their fast is not a hunger strike, for those who were confused on that point. Hunger strikes are indefinite protests aimed at drawing attention to those who are marginalized or suffering so that society will change for the better. The only difference between a hunger strike and a traditional fast is that a traditional fast has a set ending and aims at change from within. A hunger strike ends only when societal change occurs or the participant dies.
I can see where there is confusion. After all the Family Foundation Fast aims to change our country’s movement toward marriage equality. Their fast is a protest to draw attention to those poor Christians suffering because gay people want to get married.[2] Their end game is not personal change, but changing everyone around them. Their fast isn’t really a traditional fast in any sense other than it has an ending. It’s more like a hunger-strike-wanna-be.
Because it would seem that their own membership is concerned and confused about being asked to fast for forty days, the Family Foundation has also had to clarify what they believe a fast to be to their membership with these reassuring word: “Sometimes for a day, sometimes for much longer, but always defined as something similar to [John] Adam’s words, ‘abstaining on that day from their customary worldly occupations.’ Like eating candy bars. Or going on Facebook. Or tweeting…. the idea is sacrifice.” [3]
In what world does giving up candy bars constitute a sacrifice? Is abstaining from Twitter the same as giving up food, shelter, and clothing? How in any way possible does giving up Facebook become a window into the soul of those who suffer?
This is first-world sacrifice. It’s a lame, last-minute offering that pretends to be worthy of a spiritual practice. The Family Foundation Fast isn’t about change within and clearly it’s not serious about change without if all they are asking their members to give up is Diet Coke. They aren’t asking for serious commitment, serious sacrifice, because just like the fluff show it is, it’s about the numbers.
If The Family Foundation were to call for a real fast, a traditional fast, even a Lenten fast, their numbers would suffer. Sure they don’t want “them gays” to get hitched, but they aren’t giving up their ham and eggs to see that they don’t. So the Family Foundation watered down a tried and true spiritual practice to ensure more participation. Because higher numbers, presented in Washington D.C. on the eve of the Supreme Court battle over same-sex marriage will do more to impress the politicians who are willing to lobby for the masses that will keep them in office.
It’s the numbers that lead to what they are really after: power. And that is the antithesis of the Gospel message.
Yet – here’s something The Family Foundation hasn’t considered: Those on the front lines who have for decades been fighting for marriage equality have sacrificed more than their membership ever will. Gay men and women have given up jobs, health care, friends, families, husbands, wives, neighborhoods, and even their faith just so they can live as they were born to live. The LGBT community isn’t marginalized for what they believe, but for who they love and who they are. They know real sacrifice and they have sought the face of God in this struggle, with grace and humility. That kind of sacrifice doesn’t yield high numbers because the stakes are much higher than a Snicker’s bar. However sacrifice at that level does create men and women of strength, determination, and dignity who will not rest until their commitment to each other is recognized by the law of this land.
So here’s my challenge to the Family Foundation: FAST and PRAY. Don’t play at it and testify how your sacrifice of cheese doodles means something, because in all honesty it doesn’t. Don’t insult what Christian fasting represents: Jesus’ suffering and sacrifice on this earth. I challenge you to really fast, really pray. Use this time to seek a stronger connection with our God, rather than make a statement. I firmly believe that anyone who genuinely looks for God’s face will find it. If you approach your forty days in honesty, true humility, and with an open heart, you’ll catch a glimpse. But be aware: This kind of radical sacrifice and focus will change you and how you see God. It may even change your mind.
[1] Jesus’ forty-day experience is rooted in the Noah story of forty days and nights of rain that precipitates the Great Flood, Moses’ forty days on Mount Sinai, the Israelite’s forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Elijah’s forty days on Mr. Horeb, and Jonah’s forty days preaching to the Ninevites.
[2] How fundamentalist, evangelical Christians are suffering because of the new laws allowing gay marriage still eludes me. No one is forcing them to marry members of their own gender. No one is forcing their religious communities to marry members of the same gender. They are still free to speak their minds about what they believe without fear of imprisonment or bodily harm. Yet, time and time again, they claim they are being persecuted. See the Family Foundation’s claim they are not being afforded religious liberty by allowing gay marriage here. Rev. Mark Creech, of the North Carolina-based Christian Action League and Christian Post Columnist said, “But there is a concerted effort, a vast left wing conspiracy, if you will, to stamp out any Christian voice opposed to the LGBT agenda to normalize same-sex relationships.” In it’s press release, The Family Foundation compares the persecution of Christians enduring marriage equality laws to that of the persecution of the Israelites as they were conquered and taken captive as slaves by Babylon. Rev. Creech does the same here. (‘Cause you know, being taken from family and loved ones into another country as a slave and forced to adapt to another culture and worship their gods is just like having to listen to your gay neighbors talk about their wedding.) The Daily Show’s Samantha Bee does a wonderful job poking fun at conservative, evangelical Christians claiming persecution in her clip entitled “Left Behind.”
[3] The Family Foundation, like many other evangelical, fundamentalist Christian groups claim that the United States began as a Christian nation, that the laws separating church and state were not intended for the Christian church, and that our forbearers did not intend for freedom of religion to extend to those who disagree with Judeo-Christian principles. They use this quote from John Adams as proof of his support of Christian values governing our nation. This is the same John Adams who wrote in the Treaty of Tripoli, “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Musselmen; and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.” See also Thomas Jefferson’s writings on Politics and Religion in regards to the question of the intent of the Freedom of Religion Act, adopted in large part by the United States from the Virginia Law. It is interesting to note that while John Adams was indeed a Christian, Thomas Jefferson, author of our Declaration of Independence, author of the Virginia Freedom of Religion Act, and President of the United States after John Adams; was not. He was a deist.
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