Hunger

Fasting during Lent is a discipline that goes back to the early church. To this day, many Christians abstain from food and drink on certain days during the calendar. While not explicitly commanded by the Bible, the purpose of fasting is to learn discipline, to gain control of those things that are indeed within our control but that we so often allow to control us. That is, if we can't discipline ourselves in terms of what goes into our mouths, we will hardly be in a position to discipline ourselves with regard to what comes out of our mouths. Some see fasting as a particular sacrificial act that unites our hungry bodies with the suffering of Christ on the cross.

Today's lectionary text speaks of radical faith in the face of famine:

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
and there is no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.

(Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Praising God when there is a famine is radical faith at its utmost. I bitterly complain when I have to eat leftovers and can't have Chick-fi-la or Chipotle. Wars have been and will be fought due to food shortage. Anthropologists have learned that our ancient ancestors necessarily binged on high-calorie foods when available so that now our DNA is hard-wired to crave such foods. Now, the CDC states that more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese. 

The paradox, though, is that 48.1 million Americans live in food insecure households. This says nothing of the hundreds of millions across the world who are chronically malnourished. For millions upon millions there is no fruit to be found on the vine. 

Lent is a time for us to remember how things ought to be. We can start by fasting in order to catch even the smallest glimpse of what millions experience every day. This doesn't have to be some huge, grandiose act or life-threatening. Simply give up a favorite food or drink for a day, and unite your spirit with the millions who suffer each day. Then make a donation to your local food pantry, send a donation to Food for the Poor, or some other way of sharing the grace of God with others.