Dear Dr. Solín, Thank you for inviting me and my husband to participate in the Lord’s Supper at last evening’s service at Rye Chapel, but I’m not quite sure of the “requirements” to participate in the Fort Worth Assembly, particularly in the matter of fasting. Can you give any guidance on the matter? Thanks again. (signed) Elizabeth, “mother of John the Baptist, who was cousin to Jesus”
Note: In deference to Matthew 7:6 and 1 Corinthians 11:27 and in the long tradition of both the Catholic and the Protestant, First Puritan practices a “closed” communion—with the Lord’s Supper reserved for those who have been baptized, have confessed their sins, and have been welcomed to the Assembly. Contact Dr. Solín at Contact Us for more information.
Dear Elizabeth,
Fasting prior to the Lord’s Supper is a Catholic/Orthodox tradition that was discarded by the Protestants and is not a tradition that is practiced at First Puritan, nor practiced even by those who celebrated “the last supper” (Passover) before it became The Last Supper.
In the Jewish community, only the first-born child fasts (from sunrise to sunset) before the Passover meal (the Lord’s Supper)—labeled “The Fast of the First Born” (Ta’anit Bechorot or Ta’anit Bechorim). The point, of course, is that the fast by the “first-born” member of the family remembers how the first-born sons of Israel were saved from the plague that killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians. And yet even the mitzvah (one of the 613 Jewish “commandments”) to fast on this day is one that is merely d’Rabbanan (from the rabbis) rather than something that is prescribed in the Torah.
And yet the Catholic Church made it “mandatory”?
As if the Holy Spirit of the Old Testament and the traditions of the Apostles in the New Testament were not “holy enough”?
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Older Catholics remember (as do I) being required to fast from the prior midnight before receiving the Eucharist; in 1957, Rome reduced its required fast to three hours; in 1964, Rome reduced the fast to one hour.
Members of the Eastern Orthodox rite remember (as do I) that followers were required to fast not only from food and drink but to abstain from marital relations!
Translation: rules that can be changed willy-nilly—or that are now portrayed as having been only “suggestions” (i.e., we got caught in our overreach and now wish to claim “we really didn’t mean it”)—are rules of a false religion.
I wish to be very clear: it is not a matter of disagreeing with the church practice of the Catholic as we fully concede that our Catholic Brothers and Sisters should have full authority to decide the matter for themselves (under a “Presbyterian” form of church governance that has a “super-Elder” in the form of a pope). It is, however, a matter of the Catholic Church being unable—such as in the case of “Holy Days of Obligation,” mortal sins vs. venial sins, indulgences, purgatory, amulets to receive “days off” from time in Purgatory, unbaptized children being consigned to hell, the selling of annulments to dissolve a marriage, “no-meat Fridays,” etc.—to decide what the Catholic Church truly believes. It is specifically for this reason of inconstancy that I withdrew from Catholic seminary.
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There is no Scriptural mandate to fast—either from food or sex—prior to coming to the table of the Lord’s Supper.
So, Elizabeth, here’s my best advice: Next Sabbath, wake up, have a coffee and a couple of donuts, and then head back to bed to make love with your husband.
Then, get on your knees to thank God for the donuts and for the pleasures you were able to give and receive—pleasures that God gave to you to be given and received. And then come to service.
(But set the countdown on your cell so that you’ll still have time to arrive at service by six bells 🙂