Grace Notes 2025-03-19
“As disciples of the Lord Jesus we are called to struggle against everything that leads us away from love of God and neighbor. Repentance, fasting, prayer, and works of love – the disciplines of Lent – help us to wage our spiritual warfare.” This is taken from the Liturgy for Ash Wednesday in the Lutheran Book of Worship.
What do we know about fasting? Of the four “works of love,” I would bet that for most of us fasting is the one with which we are the most unfamiliar. There are benign reasons for this. For starters, the Bible does not provide much by way of instruction for how to fast. It simply assumes the practice. And then, although mentioned throughout Holy Writ, it does not receive the attention of the other three. Finally, the abuse of the discipline is highlighted more than its benefit.
So, why bother with it? We need to concern ourselves with it because Jesus assumed its use. In His Sermon on the Mount He says, “And when you fast…” (Mt 6:16). Note, He does not say, “Ifyou fast…” Our Lord’s concern is that when we fast that our motivation is not to call attention to ourselves.
Fasting is going without something, usually food and/or drink, for a determined length of time, either short or longer. It is the temporary giving up of something good for something even better. In Scripture fasting is usually combined with prayer, sometimes with repentance. It can function as disciplined training for the body. It is good to say “No” once in a while to our body’s appetites. It can poignantly remind us that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3)
The discipline of fasting should not be overlooked by us! Giving up something for Lent is a goodexercise. But give up something in order to devote more time for prayer and acts of charity…
What is the significance of sharing the peace?
“The peace which enables people to live in unity and in the spirit of mutual forgiveness comes only from Christ whose word has been proclaimed. … The peace is a sign that those who participate in it open themselves to the healing and reconciling power of God’s love and offer themselves to be agents of that love in the world. … The personal exchange of the peace should be as unpatterned as possible, but its meaning and significance should be kept clear. It is not the occasion merely for conviviality. The choice of gesture, whether a handshake, holding hands, or an embrace, should be left to the persons themselves.” (from “Manual on the Liturgy” companion to the LBW, from Augsburg Pub.)