Related articles and links |  1 of 5

Our Daily Hope * In recent months, I've thought much about resurrection. In theory, Christians appreciate the words and reality of Christ's resurrection (inasmuch as we can apprehend any miracle), but until death or disability hits close to home, resurrection seems to re main just that, theory.

So why have I been thinking about resurrection? As children so often do, our five-year-old son has provoked these big thoughts. Conor, who was born with several congenital and physical deformities, has been asking a lot of questions about his new body in the resurrection. He wonders about Jesus' fleshly body after he rose on that first Paschal day and how he (Conor) will "look" once he joins Christ from the grave. These are serious questions for a young man who has lived his short life without thumbs, an unresponsive right arm, and a diaphragm that doesn't work properly.

Thankfully, Prof. Loren Wilkinson reminds us afresh of Paul's words: "If Christ has not been raised … " and of the incarnational reality of the Easter celebration ["How Green Is Easter?" April 5]. The hope of the physical resurrection is very real for Conor. And, because of Conor's presence in my life, I'm reminded of this hope daily.

George W. Sweetman
Markham, Ont., Canada

I enjoyed reading the thoughtful article "How Green Is Easter?" Having been a hospice nurse and volunteer for 20 years, my families have enriched my life and taught me so much about how to live life and share their values.

Jean Eckelmann
Desert Hot Springs, Calif.

Fasting's Comeback—and Pitfalls
Christine J. Gardner's special report on fasting, "Hungry for God" [April 5], is an interesting overview of how this spiritual discipline has made a comeback among evangelicals. Fasting is a biblically sanctioned means by which God's grace can work in our souls and, as the article points out, may be connected with spiritual revivals in society.

I was disturbed, however, to find no mention of the mortal danger of fasting when it becomes a compulsive form of behavior. That evangelical teens are especially drawn to fasting is a fact that pastors should view with concern. Fasting needs a warning label. It should be encouraged only with great care and caution. Among girls especially, body-image issues cannot easily be separated from spiritual yearnings.

"Hungry for God" cites the history of revivals in America but fails to mention that compulsive fasting also became a problem in the nineteenth century. Historian Julius H. Rubin identified "evangelical anorexia nervosa" as a syndrome in his 1994 book, Religious Melancholy and the Protestant Experience in America.

Fasting has its place as a God-ordained discipline. But Satan is good at using Scripture and "masquerades as an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14).

Pastor Charles Hambrick-Stowe
Church of the Apostles
Lancaster, Pa.

I enjoyed reading the article. I am 53 years old and not until the last four years or so have I had such a hunger for God as now. I am drawing closer to the Lord every day.

I disagree with one thing: In the sidebar, "What Conditions Precede Revival?" you listed shouting, weeping, and fainting as "extreme emotional responses" and "extravagances," stating these were potential problems of spiritual awakenings. This past year I find myself weeping almost daily as I experience the love of God touching different areas of my understanding.

Shouting. The Psalms do it. Circumstances invite it.

And fainting. If you were to suddenly see God in all his glory you would die. That would be a dead faint.

next page... |  1 of 5

May 24 1999, Vol. 43, No. 6