Q: How can we enjoy fasting?
Short answer: If fasting is fun for you, you’re probably doing it wrong.
Long answer:
Ok, but seriously. Fasting is going without something that you want. Usually food. Often water also. (In the Mormon tradition we generally fast from both, usually for 24ish hours). If you don’t get hungry and thirsty, you’re not fasting. And chances are you won’t find it enjoyable (enjoying starving yourself is what you might call evolutionarily disfavored).
But just because it’s not fun doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Look at how many people throughout the ages have fasted. Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus: every major world religion has some sort of religious/cultural/ historical aspect that includes purposely starving yourself. Ramadan. Lent. Yom Kippur. People do it, like so many uncomfortable things (giving birth, watching Eat, Pray, Love) not because they find it enjoyable, but because they find it meaningful. In the scriptures, fasting is even talked of as a source of joy.
So, how do you find meaning in fasting? Usually it’s tied to having a purpose. Gandhi fasted for peace. Jesus fasted before he started his ministry. Alma of the Book of Mormon fasted and prayed “many days” to know that God was real. The discomfort of fasting serves as a link. A reminder. A personal communication between you and God and a powerful inner symbol of how much you want what you are fasting for. You should have the reason before you fast, not decide to fast and then be frantically casting about for a reason.
The exception to that last statement, for Mormons at least, is Fast Sunday. Like the Jewish Yom Kippur or the Muslim Ramadan, Mormons have a special designated time to fast as a group, which is once a month, usually on the first Sabbath. The day is called Fast Sunday, and during church services, instead of prepared sermons, anyone in the congregation is invited to come to the front and share why they believe. My guess is that the root of the question “how can we enjoy fasting?” is “how can we find meaning in fasting when our fasting is on a regular schedule?”
Most Mormons I know have some sort of personal reason to fast even on Fast Sunday. But that’s not required, and in my opinion, it’s not really the point of the day. Fast Sunday was set up during the early days of the church as a way to take care of the poor. Everyone went fasted for two meals, and then donated those two meals to the church, which distributed it to the needy. In our days, though, most of us aren’t living from meal to meal. We could probably just donate that money to the poor without needing to go without ourselves. Yet we still fast. The fast now becomes a symbolic sacrifice and a reminder of our duty to those who are needy
Another source of meaning, like the aforementioned Jewish and Muslim observances, is communal. There is power and togetherness and beauty in fasting as a faith community, to be part of a whole even if you don’t have a personal reason. Sometimes I don’t have a reason, but I still fast. I fast because I’m Mormon and it’s Fast Sunday, and that’s what we’re all doing on Fast Sunday.
I want to open this one up to my fellow Mormons, because finding meaning is pretty personal: any other perspectives on fasting?
The holy garment is clothing worn beneath street clothes of latter-day saints who have gone to the temple. When we go to the temple for the first time, we enter into an important covenant with the Lord. We promise, basically, that we will live in obedience to the Lord through sacrifice, purity, and giving. The Lord promises protection from temptation and physical harm, as well as a place at His right hand (if we honor our part of the covenant).
That Sunday church service is designated for witnessing or bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ by the members of the congregation. Besides abstaining from food and drink and attending testimony meeting, a true fast also consists of giving a fast offering to care for those in need. The offering, the sum of money that would have been spent on the two skipped meals, is given to the Bishop for any members who are struggling.
Isaiah notes the spiritual benefits and lists them in the 58th chapter of his book. When we obey the law of the fast he says, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward [or rearguard]. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; though shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” We are promised better health, protection, that we will be closer to the Spirit of the Lord and that the Lord will hear and answer our prayers.
When I lived in Uganda last summer I fasted for a number of reasons. I went there to do humanitarian work and “change the world!” I wanted Heavenly Father to show me what I could do that would make the most meaningful impact on the people I worked with. Thinking I could change things or fix problems was incredibly prideful, but I really wanted to make a difference. The biggest difference, of course, was with myself. The scriptures tell us to feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, etc., but I have never seen such practical application in my life. Everyone I knew in the U.S.A. had at least five pairs of shoes, plenty of food in the pantry and access to medical attention, but in Lugazi? No. It was while I was walking up and down dirt roads, having little kids who wore the same shirt everyday run up in their bare feet and grab my hands that I realized why we are asked to fast. Not everyone can have the experience I did in East Africa, but fasting gives people everywhere that little taste of discomfort that is so common around the world. It helps us to realize that there is so much work for us to do while Christ is away.