Snapd
ragon
THE
P RTAL
March 2016
Page 5
Fasting in cans
Snapdragon encourages us to fast in cans
for the remainder of Lent
T
hough many people these days consider it a tad old-fashioned and unnecessary,
fasting is something scripture tells us to do. Denying ourselves things which in themselves
are good can prevent them occupying too big a space in our lives and coming between us and
God, or worse, replacing him.
Going without chocolate or alcohol
or [ ] (fill in the gaps) for a period
of time can be an expression of our
sorrow for our sins; it can help keep
our belly from being our God; and
the hunger or craving that it causes can remind us of
the things which are infinitely more important and
life-living than bread or booze or Bounty bars.
argument that we all ought to give up at least one
item of food, in addition to abstaining from meat on
Fridays, so that we are reminded frequently of our
need of God). But starving ourselves is not the same
thing as fasting. We fast in order to draw closer to God
and prepare ourselves to celebrate the Lord’s death
and resurrection, not to get ourselves back into that
favourite dress or make ourselves ‘beach-ready’.
De-cluttering is all the rage these days, as people
Fasting, and any of the practices associated
discover that the masses of things they have with Lent, can also breed pride, pride in our own
accumulated over the years and allowed to fill up their accomplishments, pride in out-doing others. If we are
homes are unnecessary and actually getting in the way. not careful, Lent can easily become an exercise in selfrighteousness, a display of the heroic efforts that we
The material things we surround ourselves with, make, believing that it will all impress God and win us
and the activities we fill up our time with, good in his special favour or blessing.
themselves, are prone to clutter up our lives and get
in the way of our spiritual lives. Fasting from the odd
Clearly our motives matter, and more often than not
thing – preferably something we would really miss – our motives are mixed. But if top of the list is the desire
can help move our focus away from the material [