The readings for tomorrow can be found here. Sarah will eventually post her usual misings. And I took a peek at the Christian Century (the Isaiah passage). There are a few things floating the net that have been helpful. But the most helpful source has been the conversation we had Wednesday evening.
Fasting is not just about abstaining from food. One may need a context to support the discipline. Perhaps a community would be helpful. We may begin to understand that consumption is about more than food and abstain from buying more than food and other necessary things for 40 days. We may experience solidarity with the poor. We may simply wrangle with our own limitations. There is so much to the discipline...the spiritual fruit that it may produce.
That is what I think that the psalm for Sunday highlights for me. Those who go out weeping, shouldering the sheaves...
Fasting creates a certain emptiness. We often experience empty places in our life. Lonliness. Misfortune. Anxiety. Grief. These empty places are the areas of our life that God can transform. These are the "God-shaped" holes. God may enter through community or prayer or creativity...even through disciplines like fasting. Who knew? And this is what a discipline can teach us...God is ready and willing to transform us. We only need to make the room.