Fasting and Feasting

  • March 28, 2018
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  • John Tillman

Scripture: Philippians 2.3-5
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

Reflection: Fasting and Feasting
By John Tillman

The one biblical feast most Christians know about is Passover or Pesach. This celebration is a combination of fasting and feasting. Families abstained from specific ingredients and indulged in others. Modern Jewish Seders are large, celebratory meals intended to be shared with guests and specifically the poor.

Christians have stripped this feast down to a cracker and a thimble.

This isn’t to say Christians have completely abandoned feasting. Liturgical churches designate many feasts and times of fasting throughout the year. Evangelicals have not completely abandoned feasting or fasting but have abandoned any structure or organization to their observance.

However, many Christians still don’t think of “feasting” as a holy activity. As much as we love potluck suppers and dinner-on-the-grounds, they are rarely held up as anything other than a social event. Even when meals are institutionally celebrated feasts, Christians of all denominations tend to speak of these celebratory meals with apologetic tones. Many an honored deacon or pastor has publicly prayed, “Lord, bless our bodies despite that of which we are about to partake.”

We shouldn’t flagellate ourselves much for misunderstanding and misinterpreting feasting and fasting. They have always been topics of controversy and religious struggle.

John the Baptist came fasting and Jesus came feasting, and both faced harsh critique. John was damned for doing it and Jesus was damned because he didn’t.

Many of the condemnations of the biblical prophets concern violations of the spirit of, if not the actual practice of, the festivals and feasts that God had established.

Like the Israelites’ celebrations, which went from being a trumpeted memorial before God to being something God despised, our fasting and feasting can easily become meaningless rituals that make us feel good about ourselves but are despised by God.

To prevent this we can’t allow the purpose of these observances to become obscured by the details of their practice. To do so robs them of any spiritual power.

Whenever there is a form devoid of spiritual power, law will take over because law always carries with it a sense of security and manipulative power. — Richard Foster

As we engage in feasting or fasting, during the season of Lent and beyond, may we not grow secure in legalistic, moralistic rules, but stay insecure, relying on God and seeking him more fervently than legalistic perfection.

Prayer: A Reading
Just at this time, some Pharisees come up. “Go away,” they said. “Leave this place because Herod means to kill you.” He replied, “You may go and give that fox this message: Look! Today and tomorrow and the next day I must go on since it would not be right for a prophet to die outside Jerusalem.” — Luke 13.31-33

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 15 (Listen – 3:36)
Philippians 2 (Listen – 3:45)

Rejection

  • March 27, 2018
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  • John Tillman

Scripture: John 19:15
But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

Reflection: Rejection
By Matt Tullos

Rejection: When walls go up, and you stand alone. Completely discarded and unwelcomed.

Away with him!

These heartless words are scattered across the landscape of a world full of religion, judgment, and bloodlust. And worst of all, the cruel apathy that pushes divine grace aside like a dead weed.

“Away with Him!” they shouted, as if this suffering Hero had the looks of last week’s garbage– vile and putrid under the haze of a bitter sun.

How often I have dismissed the precious Lamb of God from my life. I, like Pilate, have whisked Him off the throne at the slightest moment of inconvenience, seeking to please the masses by releasing the Lamb who knew no sin.

“Away with Him!” I’ve said, when life seemed unsure.
“Away with Him!” I’ve said in my exhaustion.
“Away with Him!” I’ve have said in times of pride and vainglory.

And we, the bride He so loved have said, “Away with Him!”
…from our culture,
…our schools,
…our homes,
…our values,
…our bank accounts,
…our futures.

We, like Pilate, have called out, faultless though Jesus is, “Away with Him!” We have washed our hands of this divine enigma.

Lord, Jesus Son of God, have mercy on us.

We have condemned you with our actions in exchange for the false security of our personal idols and jewels. Lord, have mercy on our country for we too have condemned innocent blood.

There was no one standing beside You that day.

You stood alone without a defender. And in this moment, I draw strength from the thought that through You, I too may stand alone in my desperate hour of need. When I am treated unfairly, help me to reflect on that moment in History when, under the greatest anguish known to man, You suffered rejection as a balm of hope on my behalf. You stood under a cascade of shame and rejection so that I may draw strength and help in my darkest hours.

Lord Jesus, Son of God, I thank Thee for the power to stand alone, defenseless.

Amen.

Rejection challenges you to discover the steadfast companionship of the One who walked through complete and utter annihilation to redeem to you.

Reflect upon a rejection you’ve experienced in your life and the effect it has had upon you.
Is there something about that experience that shapes your decision making today?
Does it still haunt your emotions?

*From a series Matt Tullos wrote called 39 Words. A few of these posts (including this one) are available in audio form via Soundcloud. — John

Prayer: The Greeting
Your statutes have been like songs to me wherever I have lived as a stranger. — Psalm 119.54

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 14 (Listen – 3:45)
Philippians 1 (Listen – 4:03)

Purpose

  • March 26, 2018
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  • John Tillman

Scripture: Ephesians 6.10, 13
Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power…so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. — Mark Twain

Reflection: Purpose
By Matt Tullos

Purpose: When the song of our lives synchronizes with the heartbeat of God.

Yesterday evening—Palm Sunday evening.
The road is scattered with green branches quickly turning brown, trampled by a festival of triumph.
The darkness settles in as shadows fall on the city sky.
It seems as if the shouts still echo through its gates.
His feet drenched in alabaster and tears.
He begins his walk toward the torment of a world’s curse.
Mary senses things only a mother could feel.
The week begins.
Jesus weeping alone… No one else was less deserving of Friday. But in a transcendent, eternal sense there was no one else in the history of the universe qualified for Friday.

A deep and unfathomable dichotomy of grace and truth, joy and sorrow, pain and bliss.

Soon, in the final hours of Jesus’ life, he will face the horror of the coming brutality, minutes outside the door of the Roman Governor’s court. Jesus stands before him and says, “I was born for this.” Blessed be the one who rises above the pain to apprehend His purpose.

Jesus shows us how it’s done.

What could possibly be greater than standing for Jesus just as He stood for us? If only men and women viewed their call to suffer as Christ suffered, to live as Christ lived, and to serve as Christ served. If only we would seize the helm of holy opportunity and say these same words, “I was born for this! I have come into the world for this!”

What mission and purpose gives you bliss, contentment and meaning?
How could you embrace your purpose with more passion and desire?

We each have a unique purpose, but also we all have a universal purpose. It is found at the cross and it calls out to us every day we live…

Lay down your life. Put others first. Don’t manipulate people. Swallow the tendency to whine when you aren’t the center of the universe. Give the world and the Jesus family service, second to none. Embrace your divine calling every day. Cling to what God has promised and discard the rest.

This is our purpose. Simple. True. Beautiful.

*From a series Matt Tullos wrote called 39 Words. A few of these posts are available in audio form via Soundcloud. — John

Prayer: A Reading
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant…
He has come to the help of his servant Israel,
for he has remembered the promise of mercy… — Luke 1.46-48, 54

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 13 (Listen – 2:45)
Ephesians 6 (Listen – 3:17)

When We Fast from the Feast

  • March 23, 2018
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  • John Tillman

Scripture: Ephesians 4.22-24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Scripture: Luke 14.17-18
At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses.

Reflection: When We Fast from the Feast
By John Tillman

We already know how to fast. We have simply been fasting from the wrong things.

Our culture has steadily, for decades, been encouraging us to abstain from spiritual disciplines in favor of activities that we are led to believe are more profitable.

Our culture tells us that rather than read scripture in the mornings, we must pound through more emails. Productivity trumps biblical literacy.

We are told rather than praying at noon, we should skip lunch to work at our desk or take lunch with a valuable business contact. Productivity and self-promotion trumps prayerfulness and relational spirituality.

Rather than living simply and giving extravagantly, we reverse the equation, making our giving a simple percentage that satisfies a legalistic requirement or gains a tax benefit. Moral satisfaction trumps active compassion.

Rather than draw away from the world to worship in community with other believers, we draw away from others to worship with our headphones in—shutting the world out via podcast or streaming music and worship services.

When we have had just enough of God to make us feel more emotionally healthy and morally superior, we wish to move on to productivity, profit, and success. (All with the implied blessing of God of course.)

Many of us, when Christ has enabled us to overcome one or two sins that were an obvious nuisance, are inclined to feel (though we do not put it into words) that we are now good enough. He has done all we wanted him to do, and we should be obliged if he would now leave us alone. — C.S. Lewis

We’ve pushed our chairs back from the banquet table of God’s Word and placed our hand over our glass to prevent being refilled with the wine of his Holy Spirit.

God invites us to the feast of the kingdom. But many are fasting from God’s feast in order to binge on the benefits we can wring from the world.

May we return to the table and to the fellowship of believers with gusto, pushing aside distractions and false supplements that aren’t real spiritual food. As the voice of Christ cries through the prophet, Isaiah, “Why spend money on what is not bread?”

Spiritual disciplines of daily Bible reading, prayer, and meditation are not the spices and subtle flavorings of life—they are the main course. Everything else is sprinkles of garnish.

Prayer: The Request for Presence
Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me under the shadow of your wings. — Psalm 17.7-8

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 10 (Listen – 3:34)
Ephesians 3 (Listen – 2:41)

This Weekend’s Readings
Proverbs 11 (Listen – 3:41) Ephesians 4 (Listen – 3:58)
Proverbs 12 (Listen – 3:07) Ephesians 5 (Listen – 3:42)

Easter Wings :: Throwback Thursday

  • March 22, 2018
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  • John Tillman

Scripture: Ephesians 2.1, 4-6
You were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ…

Reflection: Easter Wings :: Throwback Thursday
By George Herbert – (1633)

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With thee
O let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did begin:
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine
And feel this day thy victory:
For, if I imp my wing on thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

Editor’s Note:
That our fall and affliction may further our flight is a part of the miracle of Easter. Not only Christ rose from the grave. We, with him, arose to newness and life.

George Herbert’s beautiful poem explores both the rhythmic shape of these thoughts in meter and their physical shape on the printed page.

May we become “thinne” that Christ’s fullness may shine more fully through us. We must decrease and he must increase. — John

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for my hope has been in you. — Psalm 25.20

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Proverbs 9 (Listen – 1:50)
Ephesians 2 (Listen – 3:04)