Decrease

“He must become greater; I must become less.” 
~John 3:30~

“When He calls us to fast strength—
when He drafts us into decrease—
God’s purposes are clear:
‘Remember how…He led you, to humble you…
causing you to hunger…feeding you with manna…
to teach you.’”
(Deut. 8:2-3).
~Alicia Britt Chole (ABC)~
(40 Days of Decrease, XV)

The fasting season, as in during Lent, is come and gone, and we step into a Resurrection season. What have we gained, when we fast? Have we gained hunger? What are the lessons learned?

The etymology of Lent is, quite literally, to lengthen. This season is typically a period of fasting “and regret for one’s sins” (Merriam-Webster) observed from Ash Wednesday to Easter. This would be forty days, not including weekends; a set-aside season in which we are invited to hit the pause button and spend intentional time on emotional and spiritual housekeeping.

The crazy dichotomy of fasting, or giving up something, is that of wanting to fill the emptiness with more of God, while at the same time keeping filled up so we want less of the undesirable emotional and spiritual “clutter.”

But what if, instead of fasting “from” chocolate or sweets or screens, we fasted instead from self aggrandizement, or fast stinginess, or appearances?

In a season typically set aside to fast because we regret sinning, what if we fasted from regret and filled up the empty with gratefulness?

“Regrets empties anticipation,
flattens dreams,
and suffocates hope,
 because regret is a form of self-punishment…
So…Do not feed it.
Do not give it space.
Let it go.”
(ABC, p.9)

Fasting, it appears, is an upside-down concept.

What if we fasted productivity for presence?

“Whether engaging this experience prior to Easter,
or at another time during the year…
I invite you to consider Lent as less of a project and more of a sojourn…
A ‘stay’ is about presence, not productivity.”
~(ABC, p.3)~

Moving forward from Resurrection Sunday, how can we remain present with our fasts, and how can we reimagine Lent as a life-long gift to experience throughout the year, not embedded within an isolated tradition?

Originally, Lent was christened Pascha, which is more closely related to Passover. As a believing Gentile, I have wrestled with my cultural norm of an Easter that receives more publicity and panache than Passover. Our permanent Passover lamb is Jesus, our new covenant or new Passover celebratory lamb. Jesus said, ‘This is my blood of the new covenant.” In so saying, He completed, reset, fulfilled the Passover (Matthew 26:28).

“Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed…”
1 Corinthians 5:7

We celebrate the Passover not with literal unleavened bread, but with a constant sincerity and truth. The powerful metaphor symbolizes the decrease in even the amount of baked bread.

“Do not be puffed up with pride.”
~Romans 11:21~

The feast of unleavened bread leads up to Passover, and Paul was tying the two together to help them rid themselves of sin, likening unleavened bread to sincerity and truth.

Let’s be willing to decrease. Decrease the desire to receive praise; instead, redirect our focus to praising God. Over the course of this next year, pen in a day or two to pull away in order to sit with your sorrow, or perhaps pray over the next steps in your life. If you haven’t “given up” anything for Lent, you haven’t “missed it.” Fasting is a leaning in to the Father that can happen any day, every day for the rest of your life, and not only during the Lenten “season.”

The directive in this specific fast is:  Don’t “speed past sorrow” or “distance yourself from sadness” (ABC, p.27) Sit with Jesus and converse with Him over the losses you are mourning.

Fast expectations.I am still learning this one, this concept of hope that conflicts with our belief system. After all, Lazarus, who was miraculously raised from the dead, eventually dies, but that doesn’t mean our hope in a resurrected life dies..

“Today, God provides bread. Today, God calms the storm. Tomorrow’s needs and storms cannot void the reality of today’s miracles any more than today’s miracles can void the potential of tomorrow’s needs and storms…the church, in general, panics when miracles miscarry.”
~Alicia Britt Chole, p.34)~