{"id":1422648,"date":"2022-04-06T20:29:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-07T00:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1422648"},"modified":"2022-04-06T20:29:40","modified_gmt":"2022-04-07T00:29:40","slug":"chicago-area-church-puts-a-woke-spin-on-celebration-of-lent-says-it-is-fasting-from-whiteness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chicago-area-church-puts-a-woke-spin-on-celebration-of-lent-says-it-is-fasting-from-whiteness\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago-Area Church Puts A Woke Spin On Celebration Of Lent, Says It Is \u2018Fasting From Whiteness\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchicago-area-church-puts-a-woke-spin-on-celebration-of-lent-says-it-is-fasting-from-whiteness%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1422648&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/95DA5615-39B7-4E7F-9928-B2A21EE0E0B0-scaled.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A church in suburban Chicago is putting a woke spin on its Lenten fast, announcing that it is \u201cfasting from whiteness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstunitedoakpark.com\/\">First United Church of Oak Park<\/a> announced that it was celebrating Lent, the 40-day season commemorating the 40 days Jesus Christ spent in the desert before he began his public ministry, by giving up liturgical orders and music written by white people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor Lent this year, First United is doing a mix of \u2018giving something up\u2019 and \u2018taking something on,\u2019\u201d the church said in a statement on its website, via the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/04\/06\/chicago-area-church-fasting-from-whiteness-during-lent\/\">New York Post<\/a>. \u201cIn our worship services throughout Lent, we will not be using any music or liturgy written or composed by white people. Our music will be drawn from the African American spirituals tradition, from South African freedom songs, from Native American traditions, and many, many more. For Lent, it is our prayer that in our spiritual disciplines we may grow as Christians, united in the body of Christ with people of all ages, nations, races, and origins.\u201d The Church also posted a sign on the front lawn of the building, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tpusa.com\/live\/first-united-church-fasts-from-whiteness-for-40-days\">Turning Point USA<\/a>, which said that it was \u201c[building] our worship life around the voices of Black people, indigenous people, and people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>First United announced the move at the commencement of Lent, during its Sunday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=z3n5X5Sg3tM\">worship service<\/a> on March 6. First United Associate Pastor of Education Lydia Mulkey explained the fast before the congregation. \u201cLent is a time of preparation, as we approach the mystery of Easter, and Lent is a time when we re-prioritize, and think about what is most important,\u201d Mulkey said, adding that Christians traditionally choose a fast to commemorate the Lenten season.\u201dThe fast that we are choosing this year at First United may not be one that you have chosen before. It may seem like a strange kind of fast. We are fasting from whiteness\u2026. Now, in this fast from whiteness, of course I cannot change the color of my skin or the way that that allows me to move through the world, but I can change what I listen to, whose voice I prioritize. And so that is kind of the plan for our worship services, through Lent, that we would fast for a time from prioritizing white voices, and that we would use the music and poetry of black, indigenous, and people of color, and see what the [Holy] Spirit might do among us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>First United issued an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstunitedoakpark.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Press-Statement-of-First-United-Lenten-Theme.pdf\">updated statement<\/a> Wednesday, reacting to previous news coverage and defending its decision. \u201cOur Lenten theme has spurred considerable discussion, with some people questioning the message,\u201d the church wrote. \u201cIn practice with the Lenten spiritual discipline of fasting, our intent was to lay aside our usual frames of reference and open ourselves to hearing the Gospel message through the voices of Black People, Indigenous People, and People of Color. Our worship services in Lent have been diverse and beautiful. We pray that God oils the hinges of our hearts\u2019 doors that they might swing open gently to receive the good news of Christ\u2019s resurrection, which we all await at the culmination of Lent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same?\u00a0<a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member now and join our mission<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A church in suburban Chicago is putting a woke spin on its Lenten fast, announcing that it is \u201cfasting from whiteness.\u201dFirst United Church of Oak Park announced that it was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1422648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1422648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1422648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1422648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}