The sun is still up so I haven’t eaten yet today because I am writing this on a Wednesday. Wednesday and Friday is when I fast. On Wednesday, fasting is for the betrayal of the Savior. Friday is for the Big Show.
I started fasting with the Tewahedo Church for many personal reasons that I keep to myself, but one pragmatic reason that I haven’t been able to shake since I started working on The God Flower. It’s pragmatic enough that I don’t mind sharing it, because there’s nothing “woo woo” about it: we eat kinda bad here in America.
Taking a visible act like fasting appears to have made my kids more interested in food. They want to know why I’m cooking things. They want to know why these things are healthy. I also don’t look as crazy for fasting these days because there’s a whole “keto” wellness trend, and bodybuilders are all about it too. I guess I’ll see those folks at Timkat.
The food I’m eating now is not especially expensive (lentils and chickpeas are cheap, brother), but all of it requires a lot of patience, resources, and general know-how. That takes awhile and access to that varies. Faith is personal and food is communal, thus writing faithfully about food is bound to violate some kind of socio-political something or other. Or maybe it would come off as shaming, who knows. Wouldn’t want that.
It’s more of a conversation than a blog. So, instead of doing that, I’m just going to keep the really dumb metaphor I had already typed up to end the previously-longer-but-then-reconsidered blog on a lighter note about why I’m fasting as part of my religious practice these days.
If you want to play for the Steelers, you’ve gotta wear the jersey. You can’t play a different sport. You can’t make a new franchise. If you did either of those things, you wouldn’t be playing for the Steelers. And if you aren’t playing for the Steelers, what’s the point in playing at all?
I’m not sure how else I’d sketch out the metaphor, but here’s a rough go so we can make more people feel involved:
Protestants: Baltimore Ravens (can’t argue with results, but I’m not a fan)
Russian Orthodox Church: New England Patriots (nobody likes them except guys who live there)
Greek Orthodox: Dallas Cowboys (not as successful as their rep; couldn’t protect homefield at Constantinople in the playoffs)
Roman Catholic: Green Bay Packers (really into their own mythology as a fandom, but they gave us Aaron Rodgers, too)
Coptic Orthodox: Detroit Lions (historical underdog; most football fans want to see them turn it around)
Jesuit: redacted
Church of the East / St. Thomas Christians: Not into football