A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 2/18

2/17/18

Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 2/18

I'm not suggesting that giving up this or that food
won't help me get closer to God.

I'm just raising the question:

How will giving up some particular food
help me grow in my spiritual life?

Will God, for some curious reason, be happier with me
   if I don't eat _____ for 40 days?

If I'm faithful and successful in my effort,
   where will that leave me at Lent's end?
More open to God's presence in my life or...
   proud of my own accomplishment?
   hungrier than ever for what I gave up?
   ready to binge on my own forbidden fruit?

Will not eating _____ for 40 days
   make me a more spiritual person?
      And if so, how?
      And if not, why do it?

Lent isn't a diet plan, it's a season for growth in faith.
Whatever I do for Lent,
   whatever I give up for Lent
is meant to help me grow in my knowledge and love of God
   - and my mindfulness of God in my daily life.

In my parish in Lent, we often pray:

For fasting that leads us to prayer
and for prayer that leads us to serve the poor,

So where does my fasting lead me?
   Does it lead me to prayer? to God?
And does my prayer lead me
   to be more generous in my outreach to the poor?

For fasting that leads us to prayer
   and for prayer that leads us to serve the poor,
      let us pray to the Lord...