Sunday, March 1, 1998

Protestants rediscover spiritual benefits of fasting

By STEPHEN HUBA / Scripps Howard News Service

CINCINNATI -- Ron Peake remembers acutely what it was like to not eat anything for 40 days last spring.

"It was far easier than what I expected when I began," said Peake, pastor of Agape Fellowship Church in Cincinnati.

"I really wasn't very hungry or tempted at the time. I was tired," he said.

Many in Peake's church fasted with him, and his wife fasted for 20 days.

Peake said his prayer was marked by an "increased spiritual awareness" during the fast.

The only thing he consumed those 40 days: water and a little fruit juice.

Peake and other evangelical Protestants are discovering the spiritual benefits of fasting, a practice more commonly associated with Catholics, Anglicans and Orthodox.

The onset of Lent, a traditional period of fasting for Christians, comes at a time of increased interest in fasting as a spiritual discipline across a wide spectrum of churches, observers say.

Lent in the West began Wednesday. The Orthodox Church begins observing Lent next Monday.

"Lots of people are entering into extended fasts," Peake said. "There's a heightened awareness across the nation of the need to fast and pray."

While evangelicals aren't necessarily keeping Lent, they are appealing to traditional notions of self-discipline and sacrifice in a countercultural attempt to change American values.

"It's a discipline that's probably been lost to some degree," said Steve Jacobs, chief organizer of Cincinnati's National Day of Prayer activities and a staff member of Campus Crusade for Christ International.

"There seems to be a resurgence of interest in fasting with prayer," he said.

Jacobs' employer is one of the lead ministries promoting PrayUSA, a 40-day national call to prayer and fasting that begins Sunday and continues through April 9. The timing of PrayUSA corresponds almost exactly with Lent, but its Protestant organizers stop short of calling it a lenten fast.

Participants will be asked to "synchronize" their prayers using a 40-day prayer calendar and to fast in some way.

Eddie Smith, national coordinator for PrayUSA, hopes the initiative becomes a catalyst for spiritual revival and repentance in America.

"I think it's important that we, more than any other nation on earth, fast because of the meaning prosperity and food have for us," he said. "If we deny ourselves anything, it's an exception, not the rule."

Last year's PrayUSA enlisted the involvement of dozens of denominations, hundreds of religious organizations and thousands of churches, said Smith, who senses a groundswell of support for such an effort. This year, its goal is for 2 million Christians to participate.

The Rev. Jerry Kirk said he became a believer in fasting four years ago and has attempted several fasts since then. Rev. Kirk is a Presbyterian clergyman and president of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, a Cincinnati-based anti-pornography group.

Kirk also is involved with Fasting & Prayer, an annual event sponsored by Campus Crusade. The Fasting & Prayer '97 gathering in Dallas ended with a call for a "national fast" this year.

"I definitely see a trend taking place," he said. "I see the momentum growing every year. The trend I see is that congregations are calling fasts."

Kirk believes Protestants can learn something from the lenten tradition of fasting and prayer. "We used to laugh at the idea of eating fish on Fridays," he said. "I'm not laughing anymore."

Catholics have taken another look at the practice of weekly fasting. During Lent, Catholics abstain from meat on Fridays and keep a stricter fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

But some U.S. bishops want to resurrect the practice of yearlong fasting.

(Stephen Huba writes for The Cincinnati Post.)