Lenten Discipline

Each year we are challenged during Lent by the call for prayer, fasting, and commitment to Christ in preparation for Easter.

 As far as fasting goes, there are a number of ways you can go about it. I remember as a child studying the wall calendar that my mother kept posted on the kitchen wall. It was a calendar that the church printed. You may remember the type that had little pictures of the Bishop and perhaps the Presiding Bishop or the Archbishop on opposite sides of the header. The dates for the feast days of the Saints were highlighted in red, and Fridays were always marked "Fast". Being a smarty pants, I challenged my mother one Friday by asking her why, if fasting meant abstaining from food, was she cooking dinner. She responded by saying that fasting meant to not eat meat, so that was why we ate fish on Fridays. I thought I had her at that point so I told her that fish is a form of meat. She retorted that the Bishop said that fish was okay and that I should be thankful for that.

Who was I to argue with a Bishop?

I have since learned that Bishops are not always to be trusted as authorities.

So, I have studied up on the subject, and I have learned that scriptural fasting might be a bit more difficult than eating Dad's catch of the day each Friday.

I never have kept a real fast like Jesus might have done, but one year I had a lunch fast, another year I only ate green things for lunch, and this year I am going for a modified caveman approach. I present the following example.

                                                                     

                                                                           BEFORE

AFTER

It may not be scriptural, but I can feel some positive effects already.

I can almost feel the hair growing on my knuckles now. No need to worry though, I have found that the hair rubs off whem my knuckles drag across the parking lot.