"Is this really the kind of fast I want, to bow your head like a bulrush?" The question is posed on God's behalf by the ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah. (references are to Isaiah 58: 1 -12, NRSV or paraphrased).

Isaiah is commanded to announce that God has seen the people's rebellion. At first the people don't sound rebellious. Day after day they seek God and delight in knowing God's ways. Then they wonder why God doesn't hear their prayers. Me, I might wonder too.

The nature of their rebellion is the next topic. "Look at yourselves.You keep the fast days, but you serve your own interest on that day. You fast, but still you quarrel and fight." While following the instructions to fast, they are doing it to earn God's help and to demonstrate their piety. They are serving their own interest.

The prophet goes on to declare the kind of fast that does win God's approval: "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke." That last line is powerful: break the bonds so that no one will be oppressed again.

In case they don't get the point, the prophet gets concrete: share your food with the hungry, take the homeless into your home, cover the naked rather than hiding your eyes. If they take on these tasks, their light will shine in the darkness.

This passage was an assigned Sunday reading a couple weeks ago, but as I got ready for lent, it hit home. There is an old tradition of fasting for lent, giving something up.

People give up chocolate. At every grocery store checkout, they are reminded not to reach for their favorite bar. They are being self-sacrificing, giving up a favorite thing. A line comes back to me: "is this really the kind of fast I want, to bow your head like a bulrush?"

I went looking for other suggestions. There is a site that makes suggestions for the modern family: don't buy anything you don't need; don't eat after supper; declutter your house by throwing something away each day for forty days. Not buying something you don't need is not much of a sacrifice. Decluttering is pretty trendy. This list is also self-serving, looking after your own family and house.

A couple years ago, Pope Francis shifted the message of fasting for lent saying that if people want to fast this year, they should fast from hurting words and say kind words, fast from anger and be filled with patience, fast from pessimism and be filled with hope, fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others, fast from holding grudges and be reconciled. This is different from punishing ourselves in little ways to earn God's blessing. This kind of practice would also shift our attention from how we look after ourselves to what others need.

The only thing is these are not a concrete repeated practice. It is repitition that helps shift our patterns.

Another "fast" came to my attention through the local Knights of Columbus: 40 cans for Lent. A few years ago, a man in Texas had an idea in the middle of the night: "everyone should give one can of food for each day of lent to a charity that feeds the hungry."  

This is a practice, an action repeated every day. It is a sacrifice, giving something up. But primarily it is an act of giving for lent. What might you give for the forty days of lent?

Maybe giving 40 cans for lent makes good sense to you. But there could be other ways to practice giving. Have a jar in the kitchen and give a twoonie a day to a charitable organization. Give time: each day, call or visit someone who is lonely. Give gratitude: each day, write a thank you note to a person who you know is kind or organization that does good work in the community.

The thing is to make it a practice, something we do each day that reminds us of what we value and what we can give. Because, as Isaiah told us, the fast that matters is not the one that serves our good but the one that lifts up others, and if possible, changes the world.

Cathy Hird is a United Church minister living on the shore of Georgian Bay.