Isaiah 58:5
Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Eseia 58:5
Ai dyma sut ymprydio dw i eisiau – diwrnod pan mae pobl yn llwgu
eu hunain, ac yn plygu eu pennau fel planhigyn sy'n gwywo? Diwrnod i orwedd ar
sachliain a lludw?
Lent
is traditionally a time of fasting, of giving things up to get ourselves right
with God. The thing is, I have been thinking, a dangerous thing I know, but, is
fasting, giving things up, what God really wants of us? Does giving up
chocolate for a month, or not eating from sunrise to sunset do anything? Does
it change us or the world?
In
Isaiah 58 God addresses the kind of fasting they want, loose the bonds of
injustice, untie the heavy yoke, free the captive, share your bread with the
hungry, bring the homeless into your house, clothe the naked, make yourself
available and give your time. Jesus was asked why his disciples did not fast,
he said, "Because they have me with them."
As
we move into the time of lent then, what if we focused less on ourselves,
thinking of what we might give up or fast from in order to deepen our
relationship with God. What if we turn our focus to the ones in need, to our
neighbour, to our enemy? What would 40 days of concerted loving others do?
Would it change us? Would it change the world?
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