Dear Friends,
Many fasts begin this month in my very multicultural home. Monday was the start of the Great Fast observed in the Orthodox and Coptic traditions. This involves eating vegan for 40 days (not counting Sundays) and only eating after sunset and before sunrise. Ramadan begins this coming weekend, lasts for one month, and also involves only eating after sunset and before sunrise. Lent, as observed by many western Christian traditions begins next Wednesday and ends April 19. In my understanding, fasting during Lent is a little more personal and flexible. Jamie and I are attempting to participate in all of these fasts to at least some extent. Our compromise plan is to eat vegan every day except Sunday to honor the Coptic tradition. We'll still have meat in the house for the Muslim kids, but we won't eat it ourselves or cook it for dinner. On Sundays, we'll make a festive dinner with meat, which is in keeping with some Lent traditions and will give the Muslim kids a break from vegan food and a celebratory evening meal more in keeping with the Ramadan tradition. And, of course, we're making sure to serve dinner after sunset every night, though we aren't committed to skipping lunch ourselves while the kids are at school.
All of this is partly because I value our time together as a family at the dinner table. And it is partly because I believe that now is an important time for intensive prayer and that fasting is a valuable way to communicate both to ourselves and to God that we are serious about setting a period of time aside for intensive prayer.
Many of us have been concerned about the human cost of the chaos created by presidential actions in the last month and wondered how we might respond. What do followers of Jesus do in times such as these? Last Sunday, I suggested that our starting point is prayer. We begin to respond by crying out to God to give us his heart, to defend those who are powerless, to care for those who are in need, and to use us however he sees fit to serve our neighbors, both those nearby and those far away. We pray with the expectation that God will speak to us, and then we respond by obeying what we have heard and continuing to pray.
Please consider joining me and other Coast members in a Lent fast this year from March 5 to April 19. During this time, pray every day for God to mold your heart after his own, for your own needs, for your friends and neighbors, for our church, and for those in need around the world. The booklet Quest for the Heart of God contains daily scripture readings about humility and God’s heart for the poor and the immigrant, suggestions for how to pray, and suggestions for how to engage fasting, serving, and community during the 40 days of Lent. This booklet was distributed last Sunday morning at our service and will be available again this coming Sunday. I’m also happy to mail you one if you can’t pick one up in person. Just email me at with the address I should send the booklet to. It is my hope that, as we fast and pray together in the coming weeks, God will draw us near to himself, speak to us about his heart, and show us what he desires from us in this season.
Love in Christ,
Michelle
