The other day I was tuning into local Christian radio and heard Chuck Colson’s daily radio column “Breakpoint.” Chuck Colson is a man whom I respect a great deal. His personal testimony is powerful and his work with Prison Fellowship is outstanding. While his radio column sometimes veers into the political scene more than I would care for, he often has many good insights and thoughts and I enjoy listening to him.
I was intrigued by his column on this particular day because he was talking about Lent. Lent is a season of the church year leading up into the time of Easter. It is not typically practiced among Evangelical churches, so I was especially keen to hear what he had to say as I particularly love this season. His point was on fasting from idolatry as opposed to simply fasting from chocolate or some other simple indulgence. However, along the way he mentioned that several bishops in the Church of England have proposed a carbon fast and that he was quite “skeptical of the spiritual value of their proposal.”
I’ll admit that I was offended off the bat. My first thought upon hearing of a carbon fast was that it would be a great way to teach both spiritual discipline and an awareness of our energy consuming mentality. Upon reading further about the proposed carbon fast, the bishops have recognized that those most affected by our environmental unconsciousness (the poor) have the least control over doing anything about it. Besides some practical energy-conserving advice, the bishops proposed finding a prominent lighting fixture in your home and removing the light-bulb from it for the 40 days of Lent as a consistent reminder of how our energy choices may affect others.
Colson’s main critique is that turning off the lights, using less water, etc. have no actual impact on the poor around the world. The critique is valid, despite the fact that I believe that the first step towards building a solution to a problem is building awareness of it.
But my main offense was really taken because of the tone with which Colson took what seemed to be a cheap shot at these bishops in the Church of England. As a person raised in a conservative environment, Colson’s tone immediately infers to me “those liberals in the Church of England have no real grasp on Christian discipline and spirituality.” I’ll admit that’s reading between the lines, but in an age where there is so much division within the church, particularly between the more conservative and liberal branches, the comment hardly seems to help breed a desire for unity.
What was finally most ironic was Colson’s ideas about fasting from idolatry. He seemed to entirely miss the possibility that instant energy and its unlimited use could indeed be one area where we are guilty of idolatry. Rather than seeking a connection between the bishop’s proposals and his own, he chose to dismiss them as worthless and instead elevate his own concept of spiritual practice. Unfortunate, to say the least, and potentially antithetical to the work of God’s Kingdom, at most.
This Lent, whatever your own practice or lack of practice may be, perhaps we could choose to fast from our judgmental attitudes towards others within our faith and rather seek the common ground. Perhaps then, when Easter arrives, we can greater celebrate the significance of His resurrection, not only for our own eternal destination, but the power that it brings to those who together will seek first His Kingdom.
You can read more about the proposed fast here, and Chuck Colson's thoughts about it here and here.
