Welcoming often involves feeding people, gathering them at a table to enjoy a meal and conversation. Deeper than mere entertaining, the practice of welcome (hospitality) provides a chance to open space for others, to love our neighbors.
So it may seem odd to consider in this space the topic of fasting, which feels like the opposite of hospitality. But Lent starts next week, so here we are. But what if I told you that hospitality, indeed, even feasting, can be a part of your Lenten practice?
Photo by Nour Alhoda: https://www.pexels.com/
You might be surprised to learn that Lent is not meant to be a six-week bootcamp of self-denial, but an invitation to a deliberate rhythm of both fasting and feasting. That’s right. Lent is not just about saying no, but also about saying yes. This liminal season between winter and spring offers us a 40-day spiritual reset.
What if Lent has embedded in its traditions a life-giving rhythm of life?
Lent, which begins a week from today, February 18, is never mentioned or commanded in the Bible. (which might be one reason it was not really a part of my evangelical youth). Rather, it is a tradition established by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325—right after they figured out when to celebrate Easter.
But it took another 276 years before Pope Gregory (in AD 601) officially set the date for Ash Wednesday as 46 days before Easter. “This allowed for 40 days of fasting—where only one full meal and no meat are to be consumed—with six Sundays counted as feast days—when fasting does not apply—for a total of 46 days,” according to the Museum of the Bible website.
The bible is big on the 40-days thing: Noah in the ark, Moses on the mountain, etc. The practice of Lent stems from Jesus’ 40-day fasting and temptation at the start of his ministry (you can read about it in Matthew 4).
The 40 days of Lent is traditionally a time set aside to remember Christ’s 40-day wilderness temptation. But we sometimes turn it into a chance to re-up our New Year’s resolutions, which we’ve broken by the time Lent hits. But what if you spent 40 days experiencing love? Specifically, the love of Jesus? (read more about this in the blog archives here )
Feasting during Lent?
Also—I love the idea of making Sundays “feast days.” I think Pope Greg was on to something. Feasting is a part of Lent we seem to have forgotten. What would it look like to build a rhythm of both fasting and feasting during Lent?
Feasting is not something we do alone. Feasting, by definition, is gathering for a meal, for celebration. Gathering for a feast feels more meaningful when we don’t do it every day. Feasting is a way to love our neighbors. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but it could be festive.
Photo by Askar Abayev: https://www.pexels.com/
Simple, then special
So what to give up? For me, Lent invites me to live more mindfully. I often eat at my desk—bad habit, I know. Or, I sit at the kitchen counter and scroll on my phone while I eat breakfast. What if I just ate more simply and didn’t look at a screen while I eat? Might doing this help me to live more mindfully? Might it impact my ability to practice gratitude?
But then—and I love this part—what if I eat simply and mindfully for six days a week, but then make Sundays special by feasting on that day? By making a meal, perhaps inviting friends to join me?
What if you decided that during Lent, you would choose simplicity and going without for six days a week, but then crafted a Sabbath practice that leans into hospitality and feasting? What if you invited friends to join you on Sundays?
If you want to read more on creative approaches to Lent, here are a couple of highlights from the archives:
Daily devotionals for Lent
I find that reading a daily devotional during Lent helps keep me focused. Here are a few resources I’d recommend (the first is one I wrote a few years back):
When we know that we are deeply loved, worry, anxiety and fear becomes much less tempting. Perfect love casts out fear. It’s easy to say “Trust God,” but we’re able to do so only when we are convinced that we’re loved, that God is indeed trustworthy.
Deeply Loved is a 40-day devotional to help you focus on the fact that you are loved, just as you are, with no strings attached.
A great way to strengthen our trust in God is to engage in spiritual practices that help us experience his love. Not just think about it intellectually, but to experience it in our hearts.
Deeply Loved offers a simple rhythm: each day, you’ll read a short passage of Scripture, followed by a brief reflection. You’ll then be guided in a “Presence Practice” designed to help experience the loving presence of God.
In The Freedom of Surrender, author Mary DeMuth invites you to journey through forty days of entrusting specific areas of your life to God―your inner struggles, your family, your expectations, your regrets, your ministry, your grief, your relationships, your job, your health, your finances, your future, and more. Every daily devotion includes Scripture, prayer, and Mary’s original art that help you cast each care on the One who cares for you.
On this forty-day journey, you’ll learn:
· How to trust that God is in control, even in moments of chaos and stress.
· True joy and freedom can happen when we release what we’re holding too tightly.
· God’s plan is to see you thrive and grow.
· Prayer opens the door to freedom and peace.
· Even in your struggles, you are never alone.
On the Way: Walking with Jesus Through the Season of Lent
By Amy Julia Becker
Lent is a time of somber self-examination (punctuated, beautifully, by feasting on Sundays). It’s a time in which we engage with suffering and hardship and grief and injustice. A time for lament and turning to God with our frail humanity and our very mortal selves. It’s a time for turning towards the love and hope and goodness of God.
This Lenten devotional will provide you with:
· Daily Scripture verse(s) and reflection on themes like prayer, peace, suffering, and justice.
· Weekly questions that correspond to that week’s theme and a selected Psalm.
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