Advent 2020: Fasting as
Hunger

Activity: Crave

What do you crave today? What is something you desire? We often crave foods - salty, sweet, savory, or comforting. In certain seasons we crave specific things, too. Teenagers crave autonomy. New parents crave sleep. Grievers crave the presence of the one lost. We hunger for what is not yet in our vicinity, what is not yet or not longer here.

We crave food and sleep as remedies for depleted energy. We desire individuality in community, as we crave to know others and to be known by others. We hunger for hope, love, joy, peace, and light in a weary, dark, unjust world.

But we can also crave, desire, and hunger for unhealthy things. We crave because of addiction, or as a coping mechanism, or as a means of escape. All blessings have shadow sides in overabundance and overindulgence. And sometimes we just find ourselves participating in dark and dangerous activities because of a million reasons and decisions that have led us to this sinful place. We focus our pain and comfort on things, activities, or people instead of healthy outlets and processes.

Yet all cravings, desire, and hunger teach us, though, that there are better things ahead.

Written in the depths of every human soul is the realization that the world as it is is not as it should be. Craving and hunger preach this message every day. One day there will be no empty bellies, no empty homes, no needs, no poverty. This is a message preached about hope - Hope in Christ for when he returns in final victory, hope about the renewal of the entire world, the righting of the entire Created Order. Chaos, war, pain, striving -- these will not occupy our minds and our space when Christ is the last and final victor.

Pause for a moment and reflect: What do you crave? What do you desire? What do you hunger for? Spend some time in prayer and tell God about these cravings, desires, and hungers. Lay it out and be honest with God.

Fast something today -- food, light, technology - something good you will miss, and when you miss this thing, pray. Ask God to use this craving to teach you about hope, about craving for Jesus to come again.