Lent is often described as a season of fasting, repentance, and preparation. Yet within the Christian tradition, fasting has never stood alone. Scripture holds fasting and feasting together. Lent is about release and reception, humility and joy, restraint and abundance. Growth happens when we make space for it.

Each weekday of Lent invites us to "Fast from" something that is not life-giving, so that we can "Feast on" what nourishes and restores. Paradoxically, the fast feeds the roots that hold us fast and makes new life possible. The feast rises not as a reward, but as fruit from a practice grounded in Scripture and tradition.

Jesus spoke of fasting as a normal part of faithful life (“when you fast,” not if), but he also cautioned against making it performative or navel-gazing. Through the prophet Isaiah, God asks what kind of fast truly gives life: one that loosens injustice, feeds the hungry, shelters the vulnerable, and allows light to break forth like the dawn. Discipline and delight are the roots and shoots of the same plant.

Each day’s Fast/Feast is accompanied by a Scripture suggestion for prayerful contemplation. There is no fasting image on Sundays. Why? We are given each Sunday as a reminder that grace comes first. We know how this story ends: Lent is held within the resurrection.

This year, we engage this practice during an in-between time in the life of Cedar Park United. We are accompanied by our pastoral minister Jessica Gauthier as we prepare to welcome Michael Caveney as our lead minister on July 1. In moments of transition, the church often finds itself returning to what it already holds. In 2019, Elisabeth Jones led Cedar Park United in a Lenten practice of fasting and feasting shaped by Scripture, justice, and hope, inspired by a poem/litany written by American pastor William A. Ward (1921-1994). This calendar draws from that treasure—not as repetition, but as renewal.

Jesus speaks of a steward who brings out of the treasure chest “what is new and what is old” (Matthew 13:52). This Lenten practice is offered in that spirit: an old wisdom explored anew, as we root ourselves more deeply in the Way that leads to life.

*The calendar will be posted soon—in the meantime, follow our social media for the first days’ fasting and feasting prompts.