Quick Summary:

The Lord has a lot to say about fasting in Isaiah chapter 58, and most of it is critical. God comes down hard on his people. What was their problem? It seems that they had no problem going without food. In fact, they were pretty good at it. They would put on sackcloth and bow their heads and make a grand show of it all. But they failed to connect this ritual of fasting with God’s cry for justice and care for the hungry and homeless. Our invitation this Lent is to re-connect the dots between our spiritual practices and the realities that face our human and other-than-human neighbors.