Start:Stop - Fasting and Feasting

Paul Cézanne, ‘Still Life with Skull' (ca. 1895-1900) 

You can hear an audio recording of this reflection at this link. Hello, my name is Phillip Dawson, welcome to our Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook for the first week of Lent. We begin with two short verses from the Gospel of Luke.

 
Bible Reading – Luke 4.1-2

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.


Reflection

This week we are invited to begin the observance of a Holy Lent through study of the scriptures, prayer and fasting, which, following Jesus’s example in the desert, is usually interpreted as abstaining from certain foods.  

My own, limited, attempts at fasting during Lent have rarely lasted more than a few weeks before I end up taking double helpings of whatever I had been trying to avoid. I don’t think “Lent in Lockdown” is going to make it any easier this year! I draw some comfort from the fact that I am not isolated in my inconsistency, as a fascinating study titled “Theology on the Menu” reveals. Looking back through the history books highlights the differences between the ways Christians through the ages have approached their relationship with food. Clement of Alexandria decried those who practiced what he described as the “useless art of making pastry,” whilst on the other hand Saint Benedict of Nursia called on his monks to look at their kitchen utensils in the same way as “the sacred vessels of the altar.” Perhaps these differences of opinion are particularly surprising amongst members of a faith whose central act of worship is a shared meal?

Some of the earliest accounts of Christian dietary practice relate to the Desert Fathers and Mothers; anchorites who withdrew to the deserts of Egypt, Palestine and Syria, modelling their lives on Jesus’s time in the wilderness. Abstinence was an important part of their spiritual practice and went far beyond the obvious restrictions imposed by the harsh desert environment. Avoiding eating meat was commonplace – although it is unlikely that this was on the grounds of animal welfare, since (like their role model, John the Baptist) they clothed themselves in fur. Some have suggested that the increasingly harmonious relations between Christians and the Roman authorities meant that as martyrdoms grew fewer and further between, abstinence was a way of proving spiritual endurance. Diet was not linked to bodily health in this period; growth (both spiritually and physically) was a gift from God.

In the time before Christian orthodoxy – our creeds and doctrine – had been formed, what you ate (or rather what you didn’t eat) was a way of identifying yourself as a member of the faith.

Augustine of Hippo used dietary practices to distinguish between what he saw as ‘orthodox’ Christians and members of other sects. He reserved particular criticism for the Manicheans – who counted Augustine himself amongst their number prior to his conversion. Manichean elders (who gained their status through rigorous fasting) were exclusively served foods which were considered rich in ‘light’ (cucumbers, melons, lettuce and the like) during a complex ceremony. During the process of eating, the elders were thought to be able to release these light particles (believed to be the reincarnated souls of the dead) into the spiritual realm. Such was the strength of Augustine’s attack on this vegetarian sect that it became important for orthodox Christian communities to be seen to consume some meat, to avoid being branded as heretics. Had Augustine not carried such baggage from his past, would all Christians today be vegetarian?

By the time Benedict wrote his Rule for monastic communities, extreme abstinence had been replaced by a desire for moderation. Benedict himself had experience of the ascetic life – surviving for three years in a cave on the side of a cliff sustained only by a small portion of bread lowered down on a rope. Whilst he encouraged his monks to live a life that was Lenten in character at all times, his Rule permitted a varied diet including poultry and fish – but abstaining from red meat, except for the ill and young. (It wasn’t until relatively recently - when agricultural technology allowed the widespread consumption of red meat - that it has become associated with being macho and strong, rather than weak and infirm).

Some scholars have suggested that Benedict allowed the consumption of those meats which, even when prepared for the table, still resembled (to some extent) the animals that had been slaughtered to create them; perhaps as a form of blessing. The theologian Carol Adams, who has written extensively about animal welfare, highlights how today we not only place physical distance between us and the processing of animals for consumption as food, but use language to socially distance ourselves even further – referring to “a leg of lamb” rather than “a lamb’s leg”; we eat ‘veal’ not ‘calves’.

As offering hospitality became more important than dietary discipline as a symbol of the faith, eating red meat became more acceptable in monastic communities – sometimes on a rota basis - to ensure that meat-eating guests didn’t feel uncomfortable; a move which led to extravagant meals being served in some medieval monasteries and large hoods to be worn by some orders, offering more privacy at the refectory table - to prevent accusations of dietary indiscipline.

During the Middle Ages, fasting during Lent and at other seasons of the year was enshrined in law. Cockfighting is thought to have originated at this time due to a Lenten ban on egg consumption that meant hens were unproductive. (Cock throwing became the first bloodsport to be outlawed in the nineteenth century). In 1538 Henry VIII is said to have had to repeal the ban on the consumption of dairy products in Lent to relieve pressure on fish stocks. A Book of Homilies for the Church of England published in the 1560s calls on the wealthy to strictly observe Lenten fasts because this leaves more food available and reduces the price to allow its purchase by the poor. 

Even the church Reformers, who rejected the formulaic approaches to fasting advocated by Rome, saw personal fasting – abstinence on our own terms - as a means of contributing to a greater good; a concept that is seeing a revival today at a time when our food choices and their environmental impact, are better understood. The Veg4Lent campaign in the late 1990s is known to have been successful in claiming at least one high profile convert to vegetarianism – a certain Richard Chartres, The Bishop of London, as I discovered when trying to feed him a sausage roll!

Perhaps it is understandable, for a faith which has declared all foods to be clean, to refrain from dictating what we should and shouldn’t eat, but to emphasise the important relationship between what we believe, what we pray and how we live our lives. During his time as Pope, Francis has sought to extend our understanding of fasting; to see abstinence from food in the wider context of self-denial. “Fasting” he says “involves being freed from all that weighs us down – like consumerism, or an excess of information.”  

It is only when we, like Jesus in the desert, are famished, that we can be completely filled by the grace and truth of God; as this Lenten Litany reminds us;     

Fast from judging others; Feast on Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from apparent darkness; Feast on the reality of light.
Fast from pessimism; Feast on optimism.
Fast from thoughts of illness; Feast on the healing power of God.
Fast from words that pollute; Feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from anger; Feast on patience.
Fast from worry; Feast on Divine Providence.
Fast from unrelenting pressure; Feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from negatives; Feast on positives.
Fast from complaining; Feast on appreciation.
Fast from hostility; Feast on non-resistance.
Fast from bitterness; Feast on forgiveness.
Fast from anxiety; Feast on hope.
Fast from yourself; Feast on a silent heart.

Amen

Thank you for listening. Due to the lockdown the church remains closed at present but services and events are taking place online by telephone and zoom. Please look at our website www.ststephenwalbrook.net for details about our service of Choral Evensong for Ash Wednesday and our Lent Study Group which will be exploring the Gospel of John.