Lent is a superstitious Papist tradition that is still observed by some confused Protestants who don’t mind the fetid wafting malodorous stench of Romanism. The tradition is meant to commemorate Jesus’ 40 day period of fasting in the wilderness and begins each year on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later on Easter.
The Lenten “sacrifice” usually includes abstaining from an early pleasure as Jesus abstained from bread during his temptation. Then, Lenten observers usually brag about what they’re fasting from in social media, which is a pretty clear violation of how Jesus taught us to fast secretly in Matthew 6:16.
However, one Chattanooga pastor is fasting from…church.
Pastor Ryan May of Net Church posted on his Facebook that his family is taking a six-week break from church altogether.
To be clear, Pastor May is fasting from church fellowship, Communion, preaching, and the ‘means of grace’ in order to celebrate Lent and commemorate Jesus’ time in the wilderness.
However, when Jesus fasted in the wilderness he abstained from earthly pleasures, not heavenly pleasures, and he immersed himself in communion with God.
It appears that Pastor May-Have-Missed-the-Point may have missed the point.
The church website appears to indicate that the entire church is taking off for six weeks of observance as it says its calendar for Easter, “Things tend to come back to life on Easter, so we figured this is as good a time as any to start meeting again as a church…”
Pastor May’s last sermon (February 16) indicates the church is going through tough times. There’s nothing that says “what we do here is important” like taking six weeks off of corporate worship, preaching, and Lord’s Day observance.
With pastors like this, who needs pagans?
Jesus gave up bread during his fast, but answered back to Satan…
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”
This pastor will be eating lots of bread during Lent but is fasting from the Word of God.
