Yes, it is Friday… and… I am still stuffed…
So, thank God we have a Penitential season just around the corner—well, actually starting this Sunday!
Yes, Sunday starts the new church year. It is Advent. The Advent of Our Lord Jesus.
No, it is not the start of the Christmas season…
Even if so many think so. No, we won’t change it.
Why would we? We need to change instead.
Let’s not let the world change the church, please.
Advent is looking for the coming King, both on the Last Day and in Bethlehem on Christmas.
We can say that it is a preparation for Christmas—you know, “make Him room” as the Christmas carol goes…
So how do we? How are we to act…
… what do we do…
… during penitential seasons in the church year?
We fast, pray, and let God’s Word show us our sin.
Then we repent, and look to Him… the Lord Jesus through the Spirit for the Grace, Mercy and Strength to amend our lives.
But not to earn—no we don’t DO to earn a thing. That has already been done. Completely. We are in, already.
When people talk about “giving something up” for Lent, it is fine, but do they know why and what for?
Yeah, so what is fasting for?
Lutherans don’t talk much about it. In fact many will give you an odd look if you ask—at best—or they will tell you that such things are legalistic… have no place in the Gospel…
Or something like that.
They are partially correct.
Only the Gospel CAN save you.
But…
As even our Catechism …(and by the way, this is in the 6 chief part, so it is binding, unlike the Q&A section, which isn’t)…
Yes, so even our Catechism says, in being prepared to partake in the Lord’s Supper, that “Fasting and bodily preparation are indeed a fine outward training; but…”
And yes, Christians fast. Again, not to earn anything. It is not sin if you, or if you don’t.
If you fail when trying, it is not sin.
So why do it?
Ah, that is a good question.
Simply, it trains our flesh to do without.
We live in full mode (especially we westerners) all the time. What do you think prompted the creation of “convenience stores” on every corner? Why did gas stations add snacks and drinks? Why are there Starbucks in Targets?
So…
If we do without something… our flesh will complain and throw a fit. It will.
But…
If we say NO for a period of time…
Then this training will help us ward off those sins (as the Letter to the Hebrews says) that “so easily beset us.” [Hebrews 12:1].
Fasting is not for health reasons—unless it is. But here it has nothing to do with that. Do not mix the two.
And Luther is not telling us not to fast in the Small Catechism, he just says that it is not necessary to be properly prepared for reception of the Lord’s Supper.
Faith in these Words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” is enough. Of course there is more to it there too.
We must be baptized, aware of our sin, repentant of them, desire to be forgiven and to want to amend our lives, and also to believe that this is His true Body and His True Blood there with the bread and wine.
But penitential seasons help us focus on our condition. Remind us of our need—our dependence upon Christ and His Righteousness. Fasting helps focus this—it shows us just how demanding our sinful flesh is. And how much we indulge it!
We need to be able to say NO! to it more often.
This does not change us. We cannot make any change in ourselves. But fasting can help us keep from indulging it. It helps keep it under those drowning Baptismal waters.
So intentionally choose something, and say no for these 3 weeks of Advent.
Then feast at the beginning of Christmastide.
Yes, that starts Midnight, Christmas Eve. Then there are 12 days of Christmas feasting.
What? You thought it was all about lack, want, and all dreariness? No!
We have feast days too!
Because we are too full and want for almost nothing (what do you get people who have everything?) we don’t know about being able to do without, nor do we know how to feast!
Lack makes the heart grow fonder…
You will like the feasts all that much more—trust me!
So… yes, we are still full, but…
Sunday, Advent 1 is coming…
Let’s prepare Him Room… or at least think about how we can…
Pushing that flesh aside for a little while…
This coming Sunday – First Sunday in Advent – November 30th 2025
Readings:
Old Testament – Jeremiah 33:14-18
Epistle – Romans 13:11-14
Gospel – Matthew 21:1-9
Psalm – 25
YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU – Based on the Gospel reading
Prayers:
For a lasting peace that would be established and would remain between the people of Israel and Gaza as well as for the People of Russia and the Ukraine. For our congregation that it would please our Lord that we would increase in numbers and there remain in this place a congregation that calls upon Him rightly, practicing the faith according to the Scriptures. For those who are being persecuted and murdered because they call upon the name of Jesus—especially in Africa. For the end of violence in our cites and that our schools and congregations would be protected from those who wish them harm. For our families that parents would courageously discipline their children and raise them in the fear of the Lord, teaching them about salvation in Jesus alone.
Reflection from Luther on fasting:
“Of fasting I say this: It is right to fast frequently in order to subdue and control the body. For when the stomach is full, the body does not serve for preaching, for praying, for studying, or for doing anything else that is good. Under such circumstances God’s Word cannot remain. But one should not fast with a view to meriting something by it as by a good work.”
—-(St. Louis Ed. Vol 19, 1017)
“No commandment of the Church, no law of any order, can enhance the value of fasting, watching, and labor as means of re- pressing or mortifying the flesh and its lusts. . . . For the body is not given us for us to kill its natural life and work but merely to kill its wantonness. . . . On the other hand, care must be taken lest a lazy indifference to such suppression of the flesh grow out of this freedom; for the roguish Adam is exceedingly tricky in pleading the ruin of body and mind (as a reason for indulging his wanton desires).”
—- (St. Louis Ed. Vol 10, 1353f)
