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Christians around the world continue their Lenten observations, as this Sunday, March 20, marks the third Sunday of Lent of 2022.
Lent is known as a season of fasting — or “withdrawing from some things in order to draw closer to God and to others,” Glenn Packiam, lead pastor of New Life Downtown in Colorado Springs, Colo., told Fox News Digital in an email exchange.
“Fasting makes space in our distracted and comfortable lives to somehow share in the suffering [of the Ukrainians] by our own fasting and prayer.”
Packiam, who is co-author of “The Resilient Pastor” (Feb 2022), said that his church leadership invites its worship community to “embrace practices that help us disengage — and participate in practices that help us engage.”
He said that fasting, at its core, is about creating a space to truly see.
This is particularly key right now, as the ongoing tragedy of the war in Ukraine by Russian forces wipes away so many of the homes, workplaces and properties of Ukrainians.
UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR: LIVE UPDATES
“As we think of nearly 3 million Ukrainians seeking refuge in neighboring countries,” said Packiam, “we think of their faces and stories. Fasting makes space in our distracted and comfortable lives to somehow share in the suffering by our own fasting and prayer.”
Gutted cars are shown here after a night air raid in the village of Bushiv, west of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, March 4, 2022.
(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Here are three ways in which fasting during Lent helps us to see with our “spiritual” eyes, said Packiam.
1) Fasting creates space to see ourselves
In the Book of Genesis, the Bible tells us that Jacob, grandson of Abraham in the Old Testament, sent his family, servants and animals across a river and stayed behind to wrestle a “man” until daybreak, said Packiam.
In Genesis, this “man” is also referred to as God.
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Source : foxnews
