A New Kind of Fast

I’ve never been a good faster. If I’m not pushing my boundaries I am usually just grumpy. Still, despite my shortcomings, I believe in the importance of Spiritual Disciplines like fasting.

In Isaiah 58 God describes a new kind of fast. God wants us to think bigger about Spiritual Disciplines. Our individual spiritual life is vitally important. But God is also concerned about the broader community, and he wants his people to be too.

I know there is a long tradition of spiritual disciplines. I believe strongly in them and try to practice them regularly. Often I fail…epically. But this year I am trying something new. I am trying to make my Spiritual Disciplines more communal. I have decided to implement a new kind of fasting in my Spiritual life.

In this new kind of fast, I live on one dollar a day for the duration of the fast. During this day I pray for and keep in mind the millions around the globe for whom $1 is a normal day. This solidarity fast can be done individually, with small groups, campuses, or entire churches. When the period of time designated for the fast is over I give the difference between what I would have spent during that time and what I did spend ($1 a day) to an organization that is actively working on behalf of the worlds poor.

In addition to being in relationship with God, we are people in relationship to others, to the Creation and to ourselves. Isaiah 58 shows that God is also concerned with those relationships when we fast.

Isaiah 58:5-10

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.