Would You Rather?
If you are a parent of multiple kids and you also grew up with siblings, I’m sure you will relate to the irony of history repeating itself. The sibling fights of “who is touching whom,” or “why” they are “hitting themselves” or the classic comeback of, “I know you are, but what am I?” Nothing grates at my nerves more, though, then the never-ending car game my boys play called, “would you rather?” They come up with ridiculous scenarios – both of which are unpleasant, and the player must pick which one is “less” unpleasant.
Would you rather, “get a paper-cut between your fingers every time you touch paper or bite your tongue every time you eat something”? (Why must I choose?)
Would you rather, “spend your lifetime homeless or your lifetime in prison?” (and then the endless debate why the choice was “wrong”).
The end result, of course, is to decide which is less uncomfortable. Indeed, our world tells us to figure out how to be as comfortable as possible with the least amount of effort as possible.
Perhaps that is why we all tend to give a little secret (or not so secret) sigh when we know Lent is here. We know it’s good for us, but... it's uncomfortable.
“The food is an obvious, daily disruption to our usual lives to remind us that this season is different. It should point us back to our faith.” (Paraphrased) “When You Fast,” L. Joseph Letendre
Back in Biblical times, the old attitude toward fasting and almsgiving was that they were religious obligations, often tainted with self-promotion and hypocrisy. Jesus flipped this concept upside down with His teachings that fasting and almsgiving are meant to be integrated into our spiritual life. Both sacrificial and holistic.
That is, we fast not just to sacrifice, but to anticipate a heavenly, fruitful response. Similarly, almsgiving might be an act of sacrifice, but the point is to act out of Christlike love and mercy seeing the whole person in front of us.
“The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.” St. Basil the Great
I love that quote from St. Basil because the idea that the bread I’m throwing away is stealing from the hungry is a convicting way of looking at my surplus with compassion. No wonder fasting was meant to be coupled with almsgiving – it’s not just about the food; it’s about the comfort we take for granted and the surplus we waste while others do not have.
This Lenten season, our FLIPPED series will be focusing on various concepts that were turned upside down by Christ’s teachings, such as fasting, compassion, almsgiving, service, hope, peace, and more. We hope to challenge our teens to push themselves this fasting season to really see transformative fruits by disrupting their usual comforts.
After all Christ did not come to “abolish the Law of the Prophets… but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17.
To help you jumpstart your Teen Program this Lenten Season, please enjoy the first FLIPPED lesson on Fasting HERE – we hope you find it a valuable tool for your Sunday School class.
The rest of the unit is available HERE. Have a blessed Lent!