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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Doing without to grow within


Karen Weddle prays in solitude at Rock of Ages Christian Fellowship on Friday morning. Weddle, like many people of various faiths, fasts as part of her religious life. 
 (Holly Pickett / The Spokesman-Review)
The Spokesman-Review

Her stomach growls as the smell of hot, buttery popcorn wafts through the air.

Karen Weddle, however, ignores the hunger pangs.

She won’t be eating much in the next five weeks. The time she usually spends consuming food and preparing meals will instead be devoted toward a much higher calling: prayer and her relationship with God.

Skipping meals isn’t always easy, but being without food has heightened her spiritual awareness. “It’s a joy for me,” said Weddle, the prayer pastor at Rock of Ages Christian Fellowship. “It’s my gift to God.”

Fasting – giving up a favorite food, skipping a meal or refraining from eating at all – is a spiritual practice that exists in many faith traditions. While it’s often associated with Roman Catholics during the season of Lent, which began this week with Ash Wednesday, fasting has become a common practice for millions of evangelical Christians.

In the past five to 10 years, thousands in the Inland Northwest have started fasting to enhance their prayer lives, especially as they implore God to bring “revival,” or spiritual awakening, to Spokane.

“Fasting is a cry of humility and an act of desperation,” said Maurice Smith, of Deer Park, who is working on a book called “Not by Bread Alone: Daily Fasting Devotionals for the Hungry of Heart.”

“The heart of fasting is to humble our souls and to repent before the Lord,” he said.

People give up food for a host of reasons: to lose weight, to flush toxins from the body, to practice obedience and discipline. Some seek spiritual clarity; others want to make a sacrifice.

Many religions have fasting days. Jews don’t eat or drink on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink from before the break of dawn until sunset. Catholics usually give up something such as sweets or television during Lent, as well as refrain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and on Fridays. Mormons also are asked to fast during the first Sunday of each month and donate the money they would have spent on food to charity.

Fasting “is a purification practice,” said Lama Inge Sandvoss, of Chagdud Gonpa-Padma Ling Buddhist Center in Spokane. “It improves health, and it’s cleansing.”

In a country where consumerism rules and obesity has become an epidemic, fasting has become a way to simplify life and become more mindful of the food we put into our mouths.

For many people of faith, however, it is a path to spiritual awakening.

The late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, once described fasting as “the spiritual atomic bomb that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil and usher in a great revival and spiritual harvest around the world.” Bright’s emphasis on biblical fasting in the mid-‘90s helped popularize the practice among evangelical Christians across the nation.

In Spokane, Christian churches revived the “lost art” of fasting in 1997, when congregations here decided to fast and pray in unison. Many felt God’s blessing after that experience, said Dan Grether, of Free Indeed Ministries.

“When we humble ourselves, God promises forgiveness,” he said.

Last Wednesday, the roughly 130 members of Rock of Ages embarked on a 40-day fast to pray for Spokane, its leaders and the people. The congregation has fasted together in the past, including the time when one of its members, former Kaiser Steelworker Kevin Cowell, was dying of lung cancer.

During this period of prayer and fasting, some at Rock of Ages have chosen to give up a meal a day. Others fast for one day a week. Some deprive themselves of the Internet and other things that they deem as a distraction from their relationship with God.

Weddle, a case manager at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, has given up sweets for the entire 40 days. She also has chosen to severely limit her food intake Monday through Friday. During that time, she eats no meat and consumes only a few hundred calories with light soup or salad during the day and a piece of toast at dinner.

During one of her recent fasts, Weddle cooked a prime rib dinner for a birthday party and didn’t eat a bite.

“Because it’s a sacrifice, it makes you more aware of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us,” said Weddle, who has fasted several times a year for the past four or five years. “It gives you more time to spend in prayer and creates a closer relationship with Jesus.”

The first few days of a fast are always more challenging, especially for those who abstain from food and drink only juice for long periods of time.

Two weeks into a 40-day fast earlier this year, Smith woke up in the middle of the night with cramps so excruciating that he thought he had to go into the emergency room. He ended up getting the flu. But Smith endured the pain and continued his fast, which involved only one meal of soup a day.

“There is a physical price to pay,” said Smith, who began fasting on a regular basis nine years ago. “But you have to ask, ‘What is it that you want God to do in your life? What price are you willing to pay?’ “

In his guide to fasting, Bright advised people to consult their doctors before abstaining from food. He suggested preparing the body by avoiding foods that are high in fat and sugar shortly before fasting and instead eating raw fruit and vegetables.

Smith loses about 20 pounds every time he fasts for a long period of time, only to quickly gain the weight back when he resumes eating. While Smith admits that his fasting may seem a little extreme to some, he emphasized it’s not the length of time that matters but the transformation that takes place as a result of their prayers.

“When you begin to fast, it’s like opening a window, a season in our lives,” he said. “It’s opening a window in which God speaks more intently.”

Sometimes, people don’t notice the benefits of fasting until after they start eating again, some say. They become more aware of scents and tastes and develop an appreciation of food and the benefits of tempering one’s appetite instead of constant indulgence.

“I want to be a faithful servant to the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Grether. “I shouldn’t be doing things that destroy my body. I should be eating food that produces health all the time.”

People also have seen concrete evidence that God has listened to their prayers, he said. He attributes the improvements that have taken place in the West Central neighborhood – the closing down of drug houses, the outreach to the poor, criminals turning their lives around – as signs that their fasting and prayers have been answered.

The Rev. Douglas Malott, longtime pastor of Rock of Ages, said he has often felt a mental and emotional energy during fasts. That feeling becomes more intense during Bible study, prayer time and Sunday services when they gather in the sanctuary as a church family.

“Our prayer times are richer and deeper,” he said. “(Fasting) adds this sense of passion and seriousness to the spiritual dynamics of our service. We share in that heightened awareness.”