Some practical thoughts on how to apply prayer and fasting during Lent

However you go about participating or not participating in this season of Lent leading up to Easter, I want to first say…no judgment. I grew up in a Methodist background. We did practice certain aspects of the season that I have learned later in life were a mixture of many Christian faith backgrounds. I would say my mom led the charge on how we observed Lent, but my dad completely supported and followed suit.

We attended additional services during the weeks learning up to and on Easter, we gave up something we particularly like and we did not eat meat on Friday. I recognize now that not all Protestant faiths do these, but they were a way our family set this season apart as special for self-reflection and denial of immediate gratification. I am thankful for the tradition of it and have continued to practice elements of it as an adult.

Each year I prayerfully consider how I will spend the forty plus days of Lent. Last year I gave up social media as my fast. I plan to repeat that as it was a good way for me to fast. I will outline that for you here and share a bit about how it applies to a fast for this time. I believe the fast needs to be something that you do or like to do or have and when you remove it, you notice its absence.

In its absence, you are prompted to reflect on how that missing thing normally “fills” you and then find a way to turn to God on a deeper level. For me, social media is a distraction, a form of entertainment, a way of connecting with others and a place where I feel significance. So let’s look at those as they relate to this fast:

Distraction – when I am wanting to avoid a task, trying to kill some time waiting in a restaurant or pickup line, sitting down at the end of a long day…I scroll. The scrolling of exercise, recipes, lovely home decor, funny memes sucks up large amounts of time and keeps me from having to deal with the actual world around me and what I need to be doing. It becomes a problem when I neglect other duties because I allowed my feed to feed me. I don’t think deeply but allow social media to provide me with thoughts.

Entertainment – Those same categories above make me laugh or smile or cry. I am not a big television watcher but I enjoy the photos and insights into other people’s creativity and lives. I end up filling myself up with all of this instead of focusing on growth and time spent reading, study and prayers that will fill my soul and transform me more into Christ’s image.

Connecting with others – I feel I know what is going on in the world and in my friends’ lives when I see their posts. I rely on social media to remind me of birthdays, to know what is happening in town, and I post thoughts and photos that I want to share. But it is a somewhat lazy way to connect with people. It means I don’t reach out to one friend to just let them know Caroline lost a tooth or I saw the first robin on our bird feeder that morning. It keeps me from really thinking about what information I am giving out and what I am taking in.

Significance – Someone is having an event…and I share the post. A small business is promoting their wares…I am helping them by liking, commenting and sharing to my story. Birthdays are happening and I need to make sure I leave a greeting on the page What if someone thinks I am not happy for them when I don’t leave a “Beautiful!” comment on their vacation pictures? By fasting from social media, I am reminding myself that the earth will continue spinning on its axis and all will be fine if my two cents are not added to the mix for a few weeks. Everyone will be fine and life will go on without me posting my random photo of the snow or sharing some funny thought that came to mind.

As an added example, Russ gave up a different thing – a food item. Since we eat together, this affects me as well (as does my social media ignorance affecting him as we communicate throughout the day!). A couple of times already, we have switched gears on our dinner plans based on his fast. Again – a reminder nudge for both of us that this is a special season and we want to set apart some of our “normal” to draw closer to God.

Another aspect of this is not just removing something but replacing it with a spiritual practice. So when I reach for my phone to click on Facebook or Instagram and remember that I had to move the icons for both to a way back screen on my phone that I never open, I have something in place to do. Same with Russ. When we start to order or I go to meal plan and remember we aren’t eating that…I want to use that to stop and ADD this spiritual practice.

The practice I have replaced these with is specific prayers for each member of our family. I am attempting to add a prayer written based on Scripture for each one during my morning devotions. Then during the day, when I reach for my phone or am reminded, I pray that thought for them.

This particular idea was born from a card I received at church for our Wednesday noon prayer time last week. There were some suggestions for ways to practice both fasting and a spiritual discipline so I want to share those:

Prayer:

Sit in silence with God for 10 minutes twice a day (morning and evening)
Read through the Psalms
Pray for a different country of the world every day
Read through one of the four gospels
Pray for at least one different friend, neighbor or family member every day
Start and end each day with the Lord’s Prayer

Fasting:

Give up sweets
Skip one meal a day
Fast from all food one day a week
Give up any drink other than water
Delete social media from my phone
Not watch TV

These are just a few ideas – you should prayerful consider how God wants you to fast and pray and then be intentional in how you set that up.

I also want to share a few places where you can go for time with believers as a special part of the season of Lent. There are others, but in our sphere we like to attend the Lenten service on Wednesday nights 6:30 pm at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and our own Wednesday prayer service from 12:15-12:45 at First Christian Church.

Finally, I have to add for full disclosure.

While some of you read this because you subscribe, others do use social media to find my posts. I also do a Friday post for the store where I work, and I will continue to do that during Lent. So I will share to Facebook and respond to any comments left there during this season on those two sections only.

I will not be checking other posts or acknowledging any other areas of social media. I also use 20 minutes on Sunday to visit the recipes and exercises I have saved on Instagram, but never revisited so I can clean those out. I will not be doing any fresh scrolling.

So that’s kind of a snapshot of how I do this. It’s not for everyone, but hopefully gives you some insight into how I view the practical ways to engage in a deeper expression of this season. I do believe that discussing it with others is a way to encourage ourselves in the faith, so please share with me or someone else how you desire to spend the next few weeks growing closer to God.

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