Thomas Costain, in his book The Three Edwards, relates a historical episode from the fourteenth century. Two brothers, Raynald and Edward, fought bitterly. Edward mounted was against Raynald, captured him alive, and imprisoned him in Nieuwkerk Castle. But it was no ordinary prison cell. The room was reasonably comfortable. And there was no lock on the door – not a bolt, not a padlock, not a crossbeam. Raynald was free to come or go at will. In fact, it was better that that: Edward promised Raynald full restoration of all rights and titles on a single condition: that he walk out of that room. Only Raynald couldn’t. The door was slightly narrower than a typical door. And Raynald was enormously fat. He was swaddled in it. He could not, with all his sqeezing and heaving, get himself outside his cell. He might more easily have passed a camel through a needle. So in order to walk free and reclaim all he’d lost, he had only to do one thing: lose weight. That would have come easy to most prisoners, with their rations of bread and water. It did not come easy to Raynald. Edward had disguised a great cruelty as an act of generosity. Every day, Edward had Raynald served with the richest, sauciest foods, savory and sweet, and ample ale and wine to boot. Raynald ate and ate and grew larger and larger. He spent ten years trapped in an unlocked cell, freed only after Edward’s death. His health was so ruined, he died soon himself. To reclaim his kingdom, all he had to do was stay hungry. Doesn’t this story sound horrible? I think it does. I’ve been reading a book by Mark Buchanan called The Rest of God, I especially enjoyed the chapter on feasting. He writes: “Some quality of life should mark the difference between our days of rest and celebration and our days of toil and production. Times of indulgence mean nothing if all times are that: always eating, never feasting. But if we reserve our feasting for a few occasions, for holidays and holy days, for times set apart, then each acquires a richer luster, a purer and sweeter tone.” You’ll ask me what’s the point in feasting only on special occasions and not everyday? Well Buchanan says; “We eat ourselves stuffed daily. There’s nothing to anticipate, nothing to make us stand back, astonished and thankful. “Without a fast,” Dorothy Bass writes, “it’s hard to recognize a feast.” Overabundance is our common lot, muchness our birthright, and all Sabbath serves up is more of the same. And when we see anything as birthright, it ceases to be a gift.” I remember when I was in Saskatchewan this spring. I didn’t want to spend much money on my food so I didn’t eat big meals often. I had enough every meal and that was it. But usually, on Sundays when I would get back from church, I’d make something different, usually spaghettis. I was always excited as I was preparing my meal, my feast. I never enjoyed my food as much as when I would stop from eating so much and so well all the time. It’s good to “fast” that way, it brings real joy and thankfulness when we actually sit in front of a feast. Bank for Native Missionaries: 7$ as of August 9, 2006 Please visit www.banknm.blogspot.com for more information.