"Feature: Anyone for Fasting? Well, Yes"
Clyde B. McDowell
by Clyde B. McDowell, associate pastor for pastoral care, Wooddale Church, Richfield, Minnesota
Do ordinary, busy Christians fast anymore? That was the question that popped into the mind of our board-of-elders chairman, Austin Chapman. Pastor Anderson had mentioned fasting in a sermon, and now the lay leader was getting practical: What about it? Should we—a large, modem church in a Minneapolis suburb—take fasting seriously? John Wesley once said, "Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it." We certainly knew which category we were. So we did what any group of uneasy churchmen would do: we referred the matter to the discipleship board for further study. In a matter of weeks, board member Jeff Jonswold presented a report that didn't let us off the hook at all. He noted, among other things that: • Fast and other forms of the word are used 78 times in Scripture. • Moses, David, Elijah, Esther, Daniel, Jesus, Anna, the disciples of John the Baptist, Paul, Barnabas, and others all fasted. • Jesus seemed to think of giving, praying, and fasting as a trio of spiritual disciplines (see Matt. 6:1-18, for example). Jeff listed four reasons to fast: (1) to better focus the mind on God; (2) to share, in some small measure. God's own grief over sin; (3) to turn attention away from material needs toward the One who supplies all; (4) to intensify our praying. He concluded with eight practical guidelines for those who fast (see box). On September 9, 1980, the paper was officially discussed at a special joint meeting of all boards. Within two weeks, George Penland, chairman of the discipleship board, sent a letter to all who were present encouraging a trial period of prayer and fasting. ...
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