We didn’t say “Quick”, we said “Fast”.
Each person on this planet is linked to another through the food we eat, the things we buy, and the air we breathe. We are all connected, and as people of faith we are called to honour that connection and respond to God’s call for justice….But how?
Think of “fast” as a noun instead of an adjective. We’re talking about the kind of “fast” that means voluntarily giving something up and making connections between the choices we make in our normal daily lives, and our spiritual journeys.
In Isaiah 58 it says that choosing to fast means “to loosen the chains of injustice and untie the bonds of oppression, to set the captives free and break every yoke … to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter”.
The word “fast” comes from the Hebrew word “tsom”, which refers to the practice of self-denial. This is not something that comes easily to the average person in North America.
Our lives overflow with too much of everything, too much television, spending, and driving; and for many of us, too much food. Pop culture messaging urges us to indulge our desires; to have the biggest, the newest and the best, rather than go without.
What would you do to act and reflect on how you are connected to the other 850 million people in the world who DON’T get enough to eat?
What fast would you choose as a symbolic and prayerful act? Would you fast from Food? Silence on the issues? Over-consumption?
Click here to find out how you can journey with us and End Hunger Fast.
Click here for some ideas to get you started.