Organize a Fast for Change worship service for your church

Use the text of Isaiah 58:1-12 as the theme, and work from there. Consider including one of the Steve Bell videos at offertory time. See below for some ideas:

Sample Litany 1

Voice 1: Shout out, and do not hold back! Announce to my people their rebellion!

All: Day after day we claim to seek God and delight in God's ways. Yet our nation does not practice righteousness. We serve selfish interests while workers are exploited and oppressed. We point fingers of judgment, quarrel and fight.

Voice 2: Religious rituals, even fasting, will not please God. Let us "walk the walk" instead of "talking the talk," showing our love for God by our actions to benefit humanity

All: When we share out bread with the hungry, bring the homeless poor into houses, and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then our light will break forth like the dawn.

Voice 3: God will satisfy our parched places, water us like a garden, and make our bones strong.

All: We will rebuild the ancient ruins and bridge the gaps that divide us. We will be called "restorers of streets to live in."

Voice 1: This is the Sabbath, the holy day acceptable to our God.

All: When we truly delight in God by living justly, we will be lifted up and fed with the heritage of our mothers and fathers in faith. This is God's promise; it can be trusted. Thanks be to God!

Adapted from Christian Aid

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Sample Litany 2

Reader 1: Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not take notice? Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers.

Reader 2: Lord, we are experts in serving our own interests. We know how to make sure we do all right. We have helped set up and keep going a whole world trading system to serve us. No wonder our worship rings hollow in your ears.

Silence

Lord, we’re sorry for all our selfishness and greed. Give us the will to change ourselves. And help us to start changing the world.

Reader 1: Lord of all the world,

All: Listen to our prayer this day.

Reader 1: Is this not the fast that I choose? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house?

Reader 2: Lord, too many of your people are hungry and homeless. Too many live in dire poverty. Too many die before they should. And in the rich countries of the world, we have done too little to change this. In fact, our governments have sometimes been leaders in making things worse rather than better.

Silence

Lord, help us make our faith more effective. Help us to challenge the hearts of those in positions of power. Help us to speak out against the policies that keep people poor.

Reader 1: Lord of all the world,

All: Listen to our prayer this day.

Reader 2: If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom shall be like the noonday.

All: Lord, give us the courage to speak to our friends and neighbors. Give us the resolve to advocate on behalf of the hungry. And take our efforts and multiply them into change.

Reader 1: Lord of all the world,

All: Listen to our prayer this day.

Adapted from Christian Aid

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Sample Prayer of Confession 1

One: Holy God, God of righteousness and justice, we pray for your mercy.

All: Day after day, week after week, Sunday after Sunday, we claim to seek after God. Yet we continue to serve our own interests, and in so doing, blindly oppress our neighbors, here in Canada, and overseas.

One: We confess that we use our acts of piety to make ourselves feel good about ourselves, to assure ourselves that we are Christians, to confidently claim that we are different from the rest of the world. We turn our heads upwards to the heights of heaven, walking blindly, unaware of our destruction.

All: The piety you desire, O God, happens as we contemplate the ways the lives we enjoy may be negatively impact others. You call us “to loose the bonds of injustice, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke… to share our bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into our houses; and when we see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide ourselves from the needy.”

One: We pray that in your mercy, O Lord, you will go before us, preparing our eyes and ears to contemplate our lives, so that we may discover the consequences hidden from us, and repent of our ignorance.

All: O Lord, as your prophet declares, we may begin to see how your light shall break forth from our midst like the dawn,” and your healing hands will work through ours. We will be given the profound gift of serving in your Kingdom, participating in your work of redemption, joining our lives to yours and tasting the fruit of eternal life.

One: Hold us in your grace, O God, that we may practice this kind of piety, the kind of fasting that bears witness to the justice of your holy embrace with which you hold the whole world. Amen.

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Sample Prayer of Confession 2

Watchful God, we confess there is so much we do not know about the economy of food – how it is grown, who harvests it, who transports it, or how it is distributed. We eat what we are served. We select from the shelves at the store. An enormous system has developed around what was once a simple act. You grew the food you ate. You bartered for the food you ate. You knew the cost. Help us to recognize the hidden costs of our food. We want to see injustice clearly, the way Jesus did. We want to be awakened from our apathy and enraged by injustice, as Jesus was. Through Your grace we will learn, act, reflect, and change. God be with us. Amen.

From the National Council of Churches

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Sample Children’s Story

Objective: To get children talking about what it means to be grateful, and how God calls us to share our food by beginning with this object lesson.

Supplies Needed:

  • A Ziploc bag containing 400 grams of uncooked rice and 50 grams of dry lentils, beans or peas.
  • 50 ml of water in a glass.

Show the children the bag of food and glasses of oil and water, and ask them what they see. After they've described what they see, tell them that this amount and type of food and water represents a whole day's worth of food and beverage for many children (and adults) around the world. Compare this to a typical day's ration of food for the average Canadian. Have a supply of food on hand that demonstrates the amount and variety of food Canadians eat each day.

*If you are involved in a local Foodgrains Bank growing project or other fundraiser, share how your church is involved.

Adapted from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries

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Sample Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and disconnected relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with unrest at the unnecessary injustice of hunger, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from starvation due to war, poverty, discrimination, globalization, or destruction of Creation.

May you reach out your hand in service and be blessed with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, to go out and do what others claim cannot be done.

Adapted from Tearfund

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