March 22nd, 2026
Sunday, March 22
Day after day my people seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen -- to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say:
Here am I.
~Isaiah 58:1-9
Day after day my people seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen -- to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say:
Here am I.
~Isaiah 58:1-9
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Lent invites us to inward reflection and outward concern. With Lent we are reminded that we all are mortal, humans whose end is death. No one is different on this score. No one is exempt. No success, status, or wealth will change this. Lent asks that we turn around, gain appropriate clarity, and live accordingly, instead of living in accord with the fiction we’ve created that there are distinctions and differences on the basis of made up categories, like “middle class,” or “executive.”
During Lent, we are invited to hear the prophetic witness that reveals God’s desire for humans to live in the sort of community that reflects the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The gospel imagines a world where the categories “Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free” do not define status or worth (Galatians 3:28).
In the Scriptures, God calls his people to Sabbath and to fast. These are not personal spiritual growth practices. They are communal practices to form God’s people and to refocus attention on the human community that God desires, but that human kingdoms have destroyed. When kingdoms of the earth have built categories and systems that exploit advantages over others, then a fast is needed, a Sabbath – a “stopping” – is necessary. To be prophetic witnesses is to live this out in real life.
Isaiah’s words echo this sentiment. The fast God has chosen is one that breaks the bonds and systems that oppress and keep some in a position where leisure comes easily for some, but rest from labor for others is impossible. It is a fast that turns attention to the poor and marginalized, to recognize it is God who has established God’s people.
When God’s people do this, says the Lord, then light will shine; their glory will break forth; the Lord will hear them and answer. But this takes the prophetic witness not of individuals, but of God’s people together who live as a prophetic community, a kingdom of people in the world whose priorities bear witness to a different way of imagining human life and how we spend our time.
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For reflection:
Prayer: God of freedom, you made a world for all people to flourish together. We live in a world where we don’t see that. Inspire in your church the bold witness to live so that the world might know your created purposes. Amen.
Lent invites us to inward reflection and outward concern. With Lent we are reminded that we all are mortal, humans whose end is death. No one is different on this score. No one is exempt. No success, status, or wealth will change this. Lent asks that we turn around, gain appropriate clarity, and live accordingly, instead of living in accord with the fiction we’ve created that there are distinctions and differences on the basis of made up categories, like “middle class,” or “executive.”
During Lent, we are invited to hear the prophetic witness that reveals God’s desire for humans to live in the sort of community that reflects the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The gospel imagines a world where the categories “Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free” do not define status or worth (Galatians 3:28).
In the Scriptures, God calls his people to Sabbath and to fast. These are not personal spiritual growth practices. They are communal practices to form God’s people and to refocus attention on the human community that God desires, but that human kingdoms have destroyed. When kingdoms of the earth have built categories and systems that exploit advantages over others, then a fast is needed, a Sabbath – a “stopping” – is necessary. To be prophetic witnesses is to live this out in real life.
Isaiah’s words echo this sentiment. The fast God has chosen is one that breaks the bonds and systems that oppress and keep some in a position where leisure comes easily for some, but rest from labor for others is impossible. It is a fast that turns attention to the poor and marginalized, to recognize it is God who has established God’s people.
When God’s people do this, says the Lord, then light will shine; their glory will break forth; the Lord will hear them and answer. But this takes the prophetic witness not of individuals, but of God’s people together who live as a prophetic community, a kingdom of people in the world whose priorities bear witness to a different way of imagining human life and how we spend our time.
____________________________________
For reflection:
- What systems and categories do we have in our world that define people? How do these systems and categories result in a world that is not of God’s good purposes for humanity? How does the church still play according to these systems and categories? What might God’s prophetic word to the church be today, as it was for the Israelites of Isaiah’s time?
- For those with kids: How do you see inequality in our world? What people have it easier than others? Do you know people who are treated as less important? Why are they, do you think? What would God say the church should do about it?
Prayer: God of freedom, you made a world for all people to flourish together. We live in a world where we don’t see that. Inspire in your church the bold witness to live so that the world might know your created purposes. Amen.
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