slow to fast

I recently noticed another thing about Christians in America that confuses me: Why don't we ever talk about fasting?

Of course, it was interaction with Christians NOT in America that made me realize this. The first week of the year, I was chatting with friends in Rwanda and learned that their pastor had called the church to a week of prayer and fasting. I gathered that the idea was to gain perspective and direction for the coming year, to devote the year to God's plan for each of them and seek what God might want to do in their lives.

I was shocked. Rwandans -- many of them, anyway -- are quite thin. I mean, in a country where there is some seriously inadequate nutritional intake, is fasting really necessary, or even advisable? And not eat a single thing for a week? And given how I feel after a few hours of not eating, does that mean everyone just sits on the ground, away from everyone else, for the entire time?

(And to answer, not everyone in the church was able to participate in the entire week of fasting, those that did generally ate a small meal each evening, people participated in normal daily activities, spent more time in prayer and, at least once, gathered together for prayer and worship before breaking their day of fasting with a small meal.)

Naturally, after the 'how' came the 'why'. For most of my life, I've always thought of fasting as "just something they did back then" and that people who do it now are either in the category of "super-spiritual" or "fruitcake". In recent years, that perception has been slowly changing, but in considering the role fasting might play in the life of a modern Christian in America, it's been hard to find answers as to why one would fast.

Why don't we ever talk about it?

Maybe its because fasting is very personal and, based on Matthew 6, should be private and kept secret.

But Matthew 6 also says that giving and prayer should be kept secret, and there are plenty of books and seminars and sermons on those topics.

Maybe its because Americans are less expressive and more private and don't want to share these kinds of things.

But then, how do you explain blogs and Facebook?

In truth, there are probably a hundred reasons why we don't talk about fasting, but my guess is that one of the primary ones is that Americans are slow to fast. Though I know there are Americans who do fast, it's simply not a very popular devotional activity.

Either way, my friends' example has challenged my faith; I'm asking questions about this practice that I've pretty well dismissed as weird my whole life. And I intend, here, to report some answers I've gotten...partly as a means of taking notes on the topic, and partly to prove myself wrong that nobody ever talks about fasting.