Lord, as we are about to look to Your Word today, may Your Light shine on our hearts that we may understand and walk with you in Your Salvation. May these words of truth come alive in us and make us alive in God. Guide us in our voyage into understanding Your Words of Life with Your light. Amen Isaiah 58:1-12- taken from the Good News Version True Fasting 58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Here, God is not only talking to those at the time but also talking to us – we need to remember that to fast is not a self-centred action but a time for putting others before ourselves. Unlike many who take up a fast for Lent within which they give up something that they enjoy, and frequently build up what they would typically have eaten or used during this period to simply gorge themselves on it come Easter Sunday, in Isaiah God reminds us to rather use this period of removing something from ourselves to instead give it to someone else. God will direct us in the way he wants us to go, even if it is against what those around us think and tell us simply what is the right thing to do, the thing we have to do. God encourages us to do what is right, though doesn’t force us to do anything, and suggests to us that we should encourage others to do the same. Through Lent, therefore, we should use what we give up – be it chocolate, meat, crisps – and, rather than simply not have them and then have them again come Easter Sunday, use what we would have spent – be it time or money – in helping others. Action for Children runs a charity period called Count Your Blessings during lent to suggest money, prayers and thoughts about how you can help charities or people in need. Each day they give some information about the charity or people they have or are hoping to help, and then suggest you donate e.g. 20p in honour of someone you’re thankful for, or suggest you take a moment to e.g. pray for children and families who need help. To take part or just see what it is about, follow this link to their website: https://media.actionforchildren.org.uk/documents/1521_Count_Your_Blessings_DIGITAL.pdf Isaiah 58:1-12 suggests that to fast is not to give up something that you enjoy for a short period only to return to it, but to start and form a habit of helping, being self-less, and giving up rather something troubling which you may have picked up. In our discussion, we suggested that this had pertinence to some recent topics, such as the Black Lives Matter Protests last year, and we discussed using this period of Lent to do as much as we can to further such causes and contemplate our own place within such issues and what we can do to help remove the oppression, as the discussion of 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injusticeand untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?” is still as important today as it was when the Bible was written, if in different ways. We also discussed how the opening of the chapter suggests that God wants to ensure that everyone is aware of their sins, encouraging us to understand and turn away from that which we do which is not right. Here, though, as in our everyday life, God is asking others to point out this within us, not him directly telling us, demonstrating again that God is encouraging us to understand on human terms what it is that we have done wrong rather than God telling us on God’s terms what it is. From this, we thought about the passage in Matthew (6:1-6, 16-21) where Jesus is talking about this passage in Isaiah, talking about both how to fast and how God sees all and therefore you don’t need to demonstrate your faith and your fasting to others as God sees you in the quiet and unseen. God sees everything you do, and therefore, you don’t need to shout everything good you do to the world as the only one who needs to hear you is God, who can see you and hear your thoughts to know what you are doing. Also, we talked about even if you do the right thing, God knows if you are doing it for the wrong reason, which is in some ways as bad as doing the wrong reason, and therefore we should always intend to do things for a good reason, rather than just to show others that we have We thank you, Lord, for allowing us to gather and share this moment together. Thank you for giving us time to rest through our busy lives and remind ourselves that no matter how busy our lives are we can spend time to listen to You. Thank you for the joy and wonderful times we have spent together in discovering what your Word says to us and the world. As we walk into another day, may we walk with you and be guided by you in everything that we do. Amen