The Sunday After Election Day
An invitation to your church...regardless of who wins on November 5th
I’m imagining churches across the United States fasting on the morning of Sunday, November 10th.
The Sunday after Election Day.
I’ve been thinking about this as I’ve sat with Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:16-18:
And when you fast, don’t put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward. When you fast, brush your hair and wash your face. Then you won’t look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
When y’all fast…
There’s an assumption that the people of God fast - refraining from food or water, or both. Why? What role would fasting have played for the people of God as Jesus taught them?
Through the lens of the Hebrew Scriptures, we see that fasting is a response to moments when God is dishonored or disobeyed, or when his people suffer defeat, disappointment, dehumanization or death.
In other words, we fast in imitation of our God who grieves when life in this world is not the way it’s supposed to be.
That brings us to the Sunday after Election Day.
I imagine several reasons a church - your church - might want to fast on November 10th:
Because the United States - for all of its benefits and regardless of election outcomes - actively resists the moral imagination of the way of Jesus;
Because the Church far too often seeks political power rather than God’s kingdom (see Leviticus 16:29-31 and 23:26-32);
Because the failure of both Church and State results in justice that is not done, poverty that is ignored, and suffering that goes untouched by people or policy (see Isaiah 58).
Fasting, then, is an act of solidarity with both God and man. In choosing to not eat or drink - even for one meal - we practice life together with those who have little to no access to clean water or nutrient-rich food. And in choosing to do so with a broken heart, we mimic what God thinks and feels about the dark powers of sin, death, war, violence, injustice and a failure to actively love neighbor, stranger and enemy.
If we’re listening to Jesus in Matthew 6, this invitation to fast in response to election outcomes has the potential to reorient your church away from “winners and losers” and towards our collective theological vocation as the people of God who embody the ethics of God that demonstrates the kingdom of God through a life of love and justice for all.
How? Because fasting from food creates a need in us that can only be met by God who directly - through the Spirit of Jesus - nourishes, sustains and renews our soul. What we lose by setting aside a meal is more than made up for by the God who loves us and empowers us by giving Himself to us.
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