OAK PARK, Illinois (WJW) – An Illinois church has declared that it is “Fasting From Whiteness” for Lent.
“For Lent this year, First United is doing a mix of ‘giving something up’ and ‘taking something on,’” First United Oak Park in Oak Park, Illinois, stated on its website.
The church said that includes dropping 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,” it said.
The church put up a sign on the property announcing the fast, stating that its worship services would be built “around the voices of Black people, indigenous people, and people of color.”
“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,” the church stated on its site.
Lent is a 40-day Christian season of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving that began on Ash Wednesday, March 2, and generally ends at sundown on Holy Thursday, which falls on April 14 this year.