Pastor’s Note

Awakened Through Fasting

As we come to the close of our sermon series on the spiritual disciplines, I give thanks for the ways our church family has engaged in these practices with sincerity and openness. Together, we have reflected on Sabbath, prayer, service, silence, and Scripture and we have learned that small disciplines produce extraordinary outcomes in God’s people. The spiritual disciplines are not about spiritual achievement or adding more to an already busy schedule but rather, they are about making room for God’s amazing grace to work more deeply within and through us.

This Sunday, we turn to our final discipline, fasting. For many of us, fasting feels unfamiliar or even daunting. Yet in Scripture and in our Wesleyan heritage, fasting has long been a meaningful way to re-focus the heart. It reveals what we cling to, what distracts us, and what truly sustains us. Fasting creates space to remember that we do not live by bread alone, but by the faithful presence of our God.

As we stand on the threshold of Lent, this discipline takes on even deeper significance. Lent is a season of reflection, repentance, and renewal and is a forty-day journey that prepares us for the joy of Easter: the empty tomb. Fasting has historically been one of the church’s ways of walking that journey with intention. It is not deprivation for its own sake, but it’s about reordering our lives and sharpening our awareness to grace.

My prayer is that this Lenten season will not feel burdensome, but purposeful, a shared journey in which we seek Christ more intentionally and trust that the Spirit of God is shaping us, empowering us, and transforming us, even in the wilderness, for resurrection life. May it be so.

-Pastor Margaret