Weekly Sermon

Fasting in a Fast Food Nation - March 5, 2003

The Reverend Anne Benefield

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Jesus said, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the churches, synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the churches, synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you… "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you." Prayer: Lord God, We have so much to learn and so many spiritual practices to renew. We bow our heads humbly before you. As we begin our Lenten journey, guide us to a deeper understanding of what it means to follow you. May your Word take hold of our souls in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. My husband John is currently teaching at Whitman High School. He's teaching three Advanced Placement Chemistry classes and three nutrition classes. That seems a different combination of classes, but John is enjoying it. The most interesting thing about the nutrition class is that every Friday they study a book entitled Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. The subtitle of the book is "The Dark Side of the All-American Meal." Schlosser tells troubling stories and gives dramatic statistics including the fact that Americans spend more on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music - combined. Schlosser's book is about the cultural and economic effects of fast food in America. Three sentences in the introduction grabbed my mind. Schlosser writes, "A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald. The only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition was Santa Claus. The impact of McDonald's on the way we live today is hard to overstate. The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross." [Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, (New York: Perennial, 2002), 3, 4-5] At least one central aspect of our fast food culture is instant gratification. We don't want to wait for anything. We want everything right now. The trouble is that Lent is a season of waiting and fasting. Being forced to wait and expected to deny ourselves anything is repugnant to us. As a result, Lent isn't the most popular season. Earlier this week, someone asked me what the topic of the sermon would be. I answered that I would be preaching on the traditional Lenten spiritual disciplines-prayer, alms giving, and fasting. Then I said, "That's what I always preach about on Ash Wednesday, and I'm going to keep preaching it until we get it right!" I think the reason prayer, giving alms, and fasting are not easy to do is that in a way each involves giving something up. Prayer involves giving time and power to God. Giving alms means sharing our money. Fasting is giving up food. For years, I've found myself in the unpopular position of saying you can't replace the idea of giving up something with just taking on something good. The spiritual disciplines of Lent are built on the reality that we need to give something away in order to have space and time for God. For most of us, a promise to pray more can't be fulfilled if we don't find some extra time. Let's face it: Prayer, giving, and fasting aren't popular. I'm not sure they ever were, even in Jesus' time. What was popular then and is popular today is showing off and Jesus has some words to say about that. Whether he is talking about prayer, giving, or fasting, Jesus says don't be showy about it. Practice your spiritual disciplines in secret. A pastor named John Purdy speaks about our tendency for self-aggrandizement. He says: "Fasting can be a form of body praying…Fasting has nearly ceased to be practiced among us as a religious duty. It has been replaced by other forms of self-denial. One of the most common of those among us is dieting, which is largely cosmetic and therapeutic. What is there to say about it? Perhaps only this: How much happier we should all be if persons who diet would just shut up about it!...The couplet that used to be quoted to those who quit smoking could well be modified and recited for dieters: 'Giving up eating too much isn't enough, It's giving up bragging about it that's tough.'" [John C. Purdy, "Returning God's Call, 51] The first message from Jesus about praying, giving, and fasting is don't be showy about it. The second message from Jesus on praying, giving, and fasting is that we do it to draw closer to God, to build a stronger relationship with God. There is a story about St. John of the Cross, who is known in Christian history as one of the most spiritual people ever to have walked the path of discipleship. One day, St. John of the Cross was alone in his room praying when he experienced a rapturous vision of Mary. At the same moment, he heard a beggar rattling at his door for alms. He wrenched himself away and saw to the beggar's needs. When he returned, the vision returned, saying that at the moment he had heard the door rattle on its hinges, his soul had hung in perilous balance. Had he not gone to the beggar's aid, she could never have appeared to him again. [As told in David Whyte, The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 62] We are called to share what we have - to come to the aid of the downtrodden - not for the glory it will bring us, but for the strength it gives to our relationship with God. As Karl Rahner wrote, "To keep on through dull, tedious, everyday existence can often be more difficult than a unique deed whose heroism makes us run the danger of pride." (Meditations on Hope and Love, 22) The third message from Jesus on prayer, giving, and fasting is don't pretend to be long-suffering through it all. The fact is that Jesus suggests looking your best as you practice these disciplines. I don't think Jesus is telling us to fake it. I think that as we strengthen our relationship with God through prayer, giving, and fasting, we find joy. God wants us to have a full life. Jim Valvano, the exuberant coach of the North Carolina State University's 1983 NCAA basketball champions, was known for his up-front, cards-on-the-table attitude. When he quit coaching at NC State under a cloud of scandal, instead of seeking some low visibility position, Valvano took a job with ABC and ESPN as a sports announcer. Then, a few years later, he was diagnosed with a virulent, fast-spreading form of cancer. Again, he chose to stay out front. Instead of retreating to the sidelines of life, he kept working - through chemotherapy, hair loss, weight loss, radiation therapy, gray days and good days. Just before he died, he was given the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage. In his acceptance speech, Valvano spoke about how dying of cancer had taught him how to live: "We should do this every day of our lives," he said. "Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears. If you laugh, you think, you cry," he said, "that's a full day." Amen.