Philly Inquirer Focuses on Fast for PA's Vulnerable; Or, Never Believe Your Own Press Clippings

Our Fast for PA’s Vulnerable was featured in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.

Our mission is daunting. I get strength from scripture. One of my favorites – especially when tired of pushing against seemingly immovable objects, are these timeless words of encouragement from the 30^th Chapter of Isaiah:

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

-Isaiah 40: 28-31 NRSV

Keep both the Fast for PA’s Vulnerable and me in your prayers, friends. The Fast needs prayers and support. And I need your prayers, for I know the power of prayer to touch hearts and change lives.

I really appreciate the story. It always makes me at least a little uncomfortable to read about myself, or see myself on television. I am far from being a saint, and have always lived by the credo given my by one of my best friends, Steve Blakely: Never believe your own press clippings. 

Click here to see the Inquirer story. 

In 3rd Week, Fast for PA's Vulnerable Changing Me

Fast for PA’s Vulnerable entered its third week on Monday.

We are fasting to bring a prayer focus on Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable – children, the sick, the elderly and the homeless – during development of the 2011-2012 state budget. Pennsylvania, like many states, faces a financial crisis that includes making up a $4 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year. Some legislators want to chop nearly a half-billion dollars from programs serving the most vulnerable.

Our group is informal: Faith organizations - Christian, Jewish, and some others - committed to justice for the most vulnerable. We see this as a holy obligation, driven by our commitment to the divine.

Fasting is a spiritual discipline involving personal denial while focusing on prayer for God’s intercession. My fast involves a limited diet of juices, soups, and soy shakes until the budget is finalized.

The first few days were rough. It has always been tough for me to be a disciplined eater. A fast is way up on the scale of disciplined eating. It’s not a diet, but a lifestyle change that put a focus on prayer over consumption of food.

It’s a bit uncomfortable to write about fasting and prayer because it has turned into a very personal, intimate experience with God. I find myself praying at times and in places where I never consciously prayed before: lifting weights in the gym, trimming trees in the back yard, preparing a simple meal of mushroom-spinach soup, and even while watching hockey and basketball playoffs on television.

In its own way the fast has taken over my life. It is drawing me closer to God and closer to the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians I don’t know, but that depend on the Commonwealth for life-sustaining services.

I’ve been wearing our sticker – Fast for PA’s Vulnerable – when I go out in public. It has generated a number of questions about what it means. They are opportunities to share what we are praying for and to ask folks to join in any way they wish.

Maybe people are just being polite here in Central Pennsylvania, but I haven’t felt or experienced any negative feedback. Not even a figurative “that’s a nice thing to do” pat on the top of my bald head.

Our perspective is that prayer works. God makes a difference in unseen ways. It’s our responsibility to lay these concerns before God, and to invite other persons of good will to join in this effort.

Join us in the Fast for PA’s Vulnerable. Ask God to touch the hearts and minds of our legislators and Gov. Corbett. It’s worth the time. It’s worth the hunger pangs.

A few words of caution: If you’re going to fast by reducing your food intake, consult with your health care practitioner first.

Come by Here -- The Beginning

They seem to come out of nowhere.

It’s happened twice in the past few weeks. A ringing and hissing in my right ear – a byproduct of years of formerly untreated high blood pressure – disappears, replaced by the sounds of hymns.

It first happened as I was visiting my friend Al at the nursing home. In his final hours of his earthly life I wanted to tell him it was okay to let go. It was time to go home with God.

Hmm. The swishing sound, my constant unfriend in my head, was gone. In its place I heard myself singing the words from Swing Low, Sweet Chariot in my mind. And it became dawned to me: God’s calling Al home.

Totally out of character, I got up from the chair next to Al’s bed, leaning over close as he lay back on his pillows. His eyes opened. He lifted his hand. As I stroked his head, he relaxed, and I began to sing. 

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.

I looked over Jordan,
And what did I see,
Comin' for to carry me home,
A band of angels comin' after me,

Comin' for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.

If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I'm comin' too,

Comin' for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.

The angels were coming Al, bringing a chariot to carry you home.
The next morning, Al rode home on that chariot pulled by angels.

Three weeks later, it happened again.

Standing on the front steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol, the ringing, hissing sound disappeared, and I was hearing another song.

I’m participating in an interfaith fast-prayer vigil for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable citizens. We’re praying for God to touch the hearts of our elected leaders as they prepare a new state budget.

It’s a really tough budget year in which some want to drastically reduce aid to the sick, the elderly, children, and the homeless. We’re encouraging them to make the moral decisions and moral choices needed for a moral budget – a budget that gives the highest priority to the vulnerable in our midst. 

In my head, I kept hearing this:

“Come by here, my Lord, come by here.

Come by here my Lord, come by here.

Come by here my Lord, come by here.

Oh Lord, come by here.”

The refrain repeated over and over again in my mind.

Come by here, my Lord is one refrain of Kum by Ya, the Negro spiritual from South Carolina many of us know so well from around the campfire at church camp.

On this day, standing in a drizzle on the top step of the impressive front entrance of the Capitol, that refrain became a breath prayer.

Come by here, my Lord, come by here.

It will take more than lobbyists, demonstrators, and letters, phone calls and emails to make a difference here. God needs to touch on the shoulder, and remind them in God’s own ways of reminding them our first obligation is to those who are vulnerable and on need.

Come by here, my Lord, come by here.