Fasting

My latest book from the Book Sneeze bloggers program is called "Fasting" by Scot McKnight.  While this might seem a curious title to read around the holidays, I did enjoy reading the e-book version on my new Kindle.  This is the fourth title that I've read in the Ancient Practices series and probably one of my favorites.  I really love McKnight's writing style and how he weaves in teaching about the ancient Jewish understanding of his subject as well as the early church understanding and how it has evolved over time.  As an associate pastor, I have often taught on and lead groups through various fasts, especially through the season of Lent.  But after reading McKnight's book I have a slightly different take on fasting.  Most of that is through his assertion that fasting, in the Biblical sense, can only be defined as refraining from food and/or water.  He made the distinction of abstaining from certain things (caffeine, TV, etc) is not really a Biblical fast.  Probably the biggest revelation for me is his central thesis of how a fast "works."  I put works in quotations because fasting is not some formula that we plug certain things into and then expect a certain result from God, although many do feel that way.  McKnight brought to my realization that fasting is a response from a God event, where the one experiencing the event is moved to repentance and a further longing for connection with God, and in some cases there is a result that does occur.  He diagrammed this as a movement from A > B > C.  Of course there is more to his point and I will leave that to the book to explain.  I would definitely recommend this book.