Week 01: Hope & Fasting
For most of Church History, the weeks leading to Christmas were observed as a time of fasting (willing abstinence from food for a period of time). They understood this practice as one of the most powerful means we have of habituating the Advent theme of hope, or the expectation of coming good based on the person and promises of God. In fasting, we learn how to hold our unmet desires while finding God sustaining us.
“Part of the reason we fast is to teach our hearts that we do not hope in our own strength, nor in the satisfaction of the food we eat. We hope in Someone stronger and more satisfying, our only true hope. […] As our stomachs rumble and remind us of our physical needs, let us remember that there is a hope that gives us eternal life – not just for today or tomorrow, but for all time.”
– Asha Garretson, Fasting to Feel Our Hope
“Fasting produces in us one further effect that is not often discussed, and it is one that points to the essence of Advent – longing. When we fast, our bodies clamor for what we have willingly forsaken, be it food, comfort, entertainment, or other goods. Rather than respond with indulgence, we can respond with prayer: “Lord, hasten to fill the emptiness within me this Christmas, as I know only you can fully satisfy the longings of my soul.” With an empty stomach and an expectant heart, the age-old prayer of Israel – O come, O come, Emmanuel – rings with new poignancy and vigor.”
– Brenda Jo Wong, Spiritual Disciplines of Advent: Fasting
Practice: Fast One Day a Week until Christmas Eve
Set aside a day to fast. (Recommend Discipleship Groups fast together)
Pick the duration of the fast. Our recommendation is a “regular” fast, which goes from sunup to sundown – so you would skip breakfast and lunch and then eat dinner. If you’re new to fasting, then just start with one meal.
As you fast on the day you decide, each time you feel a hunger pang or think about food or take a lunch break (with no lunch), use it as a prompt for prayer. Turn your heart to God and allow your hunger to be an embodied example of the desires and hopes of your heart.
As a way of practicing Psalm 130, allow your prayer during these times as a means of societal confession, individual repentance, lament, and your hunger for the present forgiveness and coming redemption of God.
As you gather as a Discipleship Group, discuss your experience and reflect on the fast. Where did you feel resistance? Where did you enter hope?
Reach: abstain from One Thing until Christmas Eve
Along with fasting one day a week, consider adding one thing you’ll abstain from over Advent. You may choose meat, alcohol, coffee or sweets. Or you might consider social media, non-communal television, podcasts, “secular” music, or even hot showers.
Throughout the week, the absence of one of these things will, like with fasting, serve as a way of prompting you to prayer.
Commonly with this practice, it is kept six days a week with one day as an opportunity to intentionally delight and enjoy what you’ve gone without for the previous six days.
The goal of fasting and abstaining is not some form of ascetic self-punishment to earn God’s attention, but giving up something good or neutral for a time so their absence and our desire can push us further into our deepest longings and God as the sole hope of our souls.
Additional Notes on Fasting
Breaking a fast early can cause people to feel guilty and like they’ve sinned. Achieving a fast can cause people to feel pride and like they’ve earned favor with God. Watch out for both of these reactions as neither are healthy nor a Biblical picture of fasting.
You don’t fast from sin. That’s called obedience.
As you fast, look for what begins to stir in you that you normally keep at bay through comfort eating and drinking (anger, fear, sexual desires, greed). If anger, for example, starts to rise, invite God into your emotions and ask him what the cause of that anger really is. What’s your hope in?
For more on fasting, see Fasting by Scot Mcknight