First Sunday in Lent

2. ADVENT ~ Week 1
~ Today’s Service ~
the first sunday in
mark 1:9-15
~ Sunday, February 18 2018 ~

3. ChristInTheWilderness
Matthew17:1-13
-Kromskoi;Moscow(1872)–

4. JesusIsTempted
Mark1:12-13
-Cameroon,Africa(1973)–

5. ArrestofJohnTheBaptist
Mark1:14
-Ghiberti;Italy(350)–

6. Artist of souls,
you sculpted a people for yourself
out of the rocks of wilderness and fasting.
Help us as we take up your invitation to prayer
and simplicity, that the discipline of these forty days
may sharpen our hunger for the feast of your
holy friendship, and whet our thirst for the
living water you offer through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
A Lenten Prayer

7. In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
And just as he was coming up out of the water,
he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit
descending like a dove on him.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my Son, the Beloved;
with you I am well pleased.”
Mark 1:9-11

8. And the Spirit immediately drove him
out into the wilderness. He was in the
wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan;
and he was with the wild beasts;
and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of God, and saying,
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
Mark 1:12-15

9. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit
into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
He fasted forty days and forty nights,
and afterwards he was famished.
(Then) the tempter came…
Matthew 4:1-3a

10. WADI QELT
Jericho & The Dead Sea
Springs

11. Fasting, by Scot McKnight

12. Fasting is the natural, inevitable,
full-bodied response of a person to
a grievous or sacred moment in life…
- Sin
- Death
- Impending disaster or disaster relief
- Lack of holiness, love, etc.
- Impoverishment/suffering of others
- Absence of justice/peace/love
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF
FASTING

13. Fasting, by Scot McKnight
A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF
FASTINGFasting is the natural, inevitable,
full-bodied response of a person to
a grievous or sacred moment in life…
Sacred Moment Fasting Results
A B C

14. Fasting, by Scot McKnight
A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF
FASTING
Typical approach: C -> B -> C
Fasting is the natural, inevitable,
full-bodied response of a person to
a grievous or sacred moment in life…
Sacred Moment Fasting Results
A B C

15. Fasting is the natural, inevitable,
full-bodied response of a person to
a grievous or sacred moment in life…
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF
FASTING
Sacred Moment Fasting Results
A B C
Biblical approach: A -> B -> (C?)

16. Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy
mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the
day of the Lord is coming A, it is near…Yet even now, says the
LORD, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting B, with
weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts, and not your
clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for He is gracious and
merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing. Who knows whether He will
not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him…C
Joel 2 (excerpts)

17. Fasting
Going without all food/drink
(sometimes including water)
for a specific, short period of time
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
FASTING v ABSTAINING

18. Fasting
Going without all food/drink
(sometimes including water)
for a specific, short period of time
Abstaining
Choosing to go without a specific thing
(other than all food/drink/water)
for a specific period of time
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
FASTING v ABSTAINING

19. Fasting
Going without all food/drink
(sometimes including water)
for a specific, short period of time
Abstaining
Choosing to go without a specific thing
(other than all food/drink/water)
for a specific period of time
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
FASTING v ABSTAINING
* What I’d actually been doing…
* What I’ve often said I was doing…

20. Fasting
Going without all food/drink
(sometimes including water)
for a specific, short period of time
Abstaining
Choosing to go without a specific thing
(other than all food/drink/water)
for a specific period of time
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
FASTING v ABSTAINING* Lent is for both

21. Stationary Fasts: Wednesday & Friday
All early Christians (health-issues aside)
were encouraged to fast every W/F;
it was a communal commitment not
to eat in some mutually-agreed-upon
rhythm (i.e. not until noon, or 3pm, or…)
Typically because Jesus suffered betrayal
on Wednesday, crucifixion on Friday
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
FASTING IN CHURCH HISTORY

22. Days When There Was No Fasting
Generally no fasting on the Sabbath
(Saturday; exception: Holy Saturday)
or the Lord’s Day (Sunday)
“…the former is the memorial of the creation,
and the latter of the resurrection.”
(Constitution of the Holy Apostles)
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
FASTING IN CHURCH HISTORY

23. Dangers
- Spiritual: vertical effort to manipulate God
- Spiritual: horizontal self-righteousness; attention
- Physical can be practiced through extremism; anorexia…
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
DANGERS & BENEFITS OF
FASTING

24. Dangers
- Spiritual: vertical effort to manipulate God
- Spiritual: horizontal self-righteousness; attention
- Physical can be practiced through extremism; anorexia…
Potential Benefits
- Spiritual: vertical creates space to experience God
- Spiritual: horizontal stirs empathy/compassion, etc.
- Physical might help to break bad habits
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
DANGERS & BENEFITS OF
FASTING

25. Fasting is the natural, inevitable, full-
bodied response of a person to a grievous
or sacred moment in life…
Fasting, by Scot McKnight
A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF
FASTING
Sacred Moment Fasting Results
A B C
Biblical approach: A -> B -> (C?)

26. Why Don’t We Fast More Often?
“Perhaps what we need to become deeper
in fasting is bigger eyes and bigger hearts.
What we need is greater sensitivity to
the plight of others and the grievousness
of life’s sacred moments.”

27. Why You Might Consider Fasting…
“Perhaps what we need to become deeper
in fasting is bigger eyes and bigger hearts.
What we need is greater sensitivity to
the plight of others and the grievousness
of life’s sacred moments.”
- Black history month, social injustice
- Plight of undocumented immigrants
- The condition of creation
- Personal grief, loss, pain, sickness
- Gun violence; school shootings, etc.

28. Vincent J. Donovan
“The (pastor) should be an uncompromising
adversary of injustice and oppression,
an enemy of unjust structures of economic
and social exploitation, without necessarily
becoming an advocate of an opposing
political and economic structure and system.
He (or she) is not an advocate of any (one
particular) system, (but is) an adversary
of injustice (and idolatry).”

29. Ancient Idolatry For the Sake of “Safety”
MOLECH
- A Canaanite god that demanded
child sacrifice in exchange for
provision and protection
- The Hebrew God (YHWH)
told the Israelites repeatedly
that God wanted no such thing,
that it didn’t even enter God’s
mind…but they did it anyway,
out of fear and a lack of trust

30. Modern Idolatry For the Sake of “Safety”
MOLECH
“The gun has become an absolute
and unquestionable object of
American idolatry. It demands from
us blood offerings, and we oblige
daily…If child sacrifice is required,
then what you worship is not God
but an idol.” (John Thatamanil)

31. An Invitation to a Stationary Fast…
For whatever reason – in response to
whatever “grievous, sacred moment” –
I invite those of you who are able
to embrace the Christian tradition
of a “stationary fast” throughout
the season of Lent (through Good Friday)
- Wednesday and Friday
- Choose to skip lunch (and breakfast?)
- Set an alarm for prayer (however brief!)
- Leave any potential results up to God…

32. God of wilderness and water,
your Son was baptized and
tempted as we are.
Guide us through this season,
that we may not avoid struggle,
but open ourselves to blessing,
through the cleansing depths of repentance
and the heaven-rending words of the Spirit.
Amen.
A Closing Prayer

33. Hear, O Israel:
the Lord our God, the Lord is one;
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
And, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment
greater than these.
Mark 12