Faster...

When I was a pastor in Redding, CA. we had a family who operated one of the local marinas on Lake Shasta.  Once a year they would make available to us a huge patio boat as a home base for a congregational lake party.  People would bring their speed boats and all would join in for a great outing on the lake, especially all of us who didn't have boats.

One year as we were heading out of the marina, I was behind the wheel steering this huge barge of a boat like I knew what I was doing.  The woman who operated the marina was concerned that we were exiting the marina a bit too fast, and so she starts saying, 'Pastor... Pastor!' I, on the other hand, with the breeze in my face and the wheel in my hands, heard her say 'Faster... Faster!'  Fortunately for us all, it didn't take her long to start yelling, 'Slow Down!'

We are fast approaching the season of Lent, a time when God starts yelling at us, 'Slow Down!'  Left to our own devices, we will just run ourselves into the ground.  I cannot tell you how many conversations I have with teens that begin with the phrase, 'I don't have time for that!'  They are good kids, doing great things, but it seems that from 6 am to midnight they have no free time.  Is that really the world we want to live in?

Fasting is one of those ways we slow down.  When we fast, it effects our metabolism and forces us to slow down.  Just as important, our gurgling stomach reminds us that we are indeed a blessed people, and that life is a gift generously shared with us by a loving God. Through fasting we are reminded of what we have lost and all that has been given us.  Fasting provides a perspective that enables us to see what we typically take for granted.

Finally, fasting is a means to identify with those for whom fasting is not a voluntary act but a way of life.  Fasting is more than a spiritual practice, but it is an act of suffering that enables us to better appreciate the needs of those around us who suffer on a daily basis.  When we rush from one appointment to the other, we really don't have time for those who are not on our approved list, the ones who will benefit us.  Yet when we fast it has a way of opening our eyes as well as our heart to all those whom the world typically chooses to ignore.  It opens our hands perhaps to grasp the hands of Jesus in our midst.  (Matt. 25)

We want to go faster in our attempt to get a head start on everyone else.  God invites us during this season of Lent to fast, so we might slow down to discover the beauty around us.  Consider the lilies of the field...

Peace,
Pal