This coming Sunday marks the beginning of Advent. This period of the church year has traditionally been viewed by Christians as a time of waiting, of looking forward, of expectation.
Most obviously, Advent is a time of looking forward to the celebration of our Lord’s birth at Christmas. Advent is also a time when Christians have traditionally looked forward to our Lord’s return in glory on the Last Day.
With these themes in mind, it’s surely no accident that Advent has also been associated in many church traditions with the practice of fasting. Just as Advent is a time of unfulfilled hope, when we’re longing for something that hasn’t yet come; so also fasting is a way of saying with our bodies that things in the world aren’t yet quite right.
To put it another way, Advent is a time when we remember that the world is deprived of the presence of Christ in his bodily glory. In a similar way, fasting is an experience of being deprived of the food we need. The feeling of “emptiness” that fasting brings is a bodily echo of the emptiness of a world that is not yet completely free from sin.
It’d be a great idea to consider fasting during Advent, perhaps especially if fasting is something you’re not in the habit of doing at other times of year.
You’ll find no shortage of resources online to help you think through the theology and practice of fasting – just let St Google be your guide. If you want to take a look at some of the approaches we’ve taken at Emmanuel, then feel free to check out the resources below:
- Sermon: The Forgotten Blessing of Fasting
- Forum: Interactive discussion about Fasting
- A Beginners’ Guide to Fasting
- Getting Practical About Fasting
- Another sermon on Fasting, this time by Peter Leithart
