Hungry?

This year, for the first time, I practiced the discipline of a Lenten fast. Starting on Ash Wednesday, and ending on Good Friday with a salty, doughy cross shaped pretzel, a product of Trinity’s Good Friday cross crafts, I gave up eating bread and pasta. These foods were staples of my diet, not only because of their convenience, but because they’re yummy. I have an Italian recipe book called “The Top 100 Pasta Sauces.” My family enjoys dinner from that book at least once a week.

I thought my Lenten fast would be difficult to maintain. I thought that I would never be satisfied following a meal minus the carbs.

In an article called “A Christian Diet,” (From The Christian Century, April 6, 2010, p. 35) David Grumett recalls a sermon by John Wesley. “Wesley lists various grounds for fasting: a natural sense of affliction, sorrow or penitence, the limitation of sensual appetites, self chastisement and the aiding of prayer. He does not present these grounds as necessary reasons to fast, but as reasons why Christians choose to fast.”

My fast surprised me in a few different ways. I was indeed more mindful of what I ate at every meal. I ate less food in general, not really missing the bread with dinner, skipping the pasta that came with an order of scallops at a restaurant. I was indeed satisfied after a meal that filled me up just so I was not hungry. I never once during Lent had a stomachache after eating more than I should have.

What I was missing was the connection. I wish I would have read Grumett’s article before Ash Wednesday. I think I would have been more mindful of why I was doing what I was doing. The discipline part of it did not really connect with the faith part of it for me, at least this time. Grumett writes, “By fasting during Advent and Lent, one experiences an absence that enables one to long physically for Christ’s incarnation and resurrection… The key point is to use our food practices for the good of our community and to develop our connection with God.” (p. 36)

I think I am going to continue with my discipline of fasting. I have resolved to be more aware of what and of how much I am eating, where it comes from and who has prepared it. I will continue to read ingredient labels to avoid high fructose corn syrup. And the fresh fruits and vegetables that have become staples will continue as staples – I am looking forward to summer’s abundance of local produce!

Grumett writes, “We may use food as a means of reconnecting to our spiritual heritage and traditions and marking the Christian calendar and the seasonal calendar – which itself is God-given.” (p. 37)

I pray that my continued discipline and mindfulness of the faith-food connection will help me to “[recognize] the link between food and spirituality, and [subject] eating to the scrutiny of Christian conscience and tradition.” (p. 37) I challenge you to be mindful, too.