THE 5:2 diet has been gaining popularity in recent months. The
principle is that, on two non-consecutive days of the week,
adherents restrict their food intake to 500-600 calories. The other
five days, they can eat whatever they want. The attraction of the
plan is that self-denial is limited to short bursts of time.
Gratification is not cancelled, merely postponed for a brief
period. Last weekend, The Guardian suggested applying the
5:2 principle to other areas of life - for example, drinking,
shopping, relationships, etc. This raises the possibility of
further applications.
In spiritual matters, there is already an existing pattern, the
6:1 plan: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days
shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the
sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy
gates." To the Israelites, this was not a self-help exercise:
domestic animals and even, by extension, the crops in the fields
were included in the sabbath rest.
The 20th century brought the addition of Saturday (the original
sabbath day, of course) to create a two-day weekend. This produced
the 5:2 ratio between work and leisure, but it removed the
distinctiveness of Sunday. This trend has continued. Increasingly,
Sunday is being seen as the day to finish what did not get done on
Saturday, usually shopping. It is possible for this to be restful;
but the point of the sabbath is that it is less about a healthy
work-life balance than a healthy life-God balance.
The Church has not been good at establishing a spiritual pattern
for laypeople on weekdays. The Book of Common Prayer attempted to
adapt the pattern of the religious orders to parish life, and the
Canons still enjoin the minister to "make such provision for
Morning and Evening Prayer to be said or sung . . . as may best
serve to sustain the corporate spiritual life of the parish". The
lack of attendance at these daily services suggests that, in the
view of most people, religious observance can be safely left till
the next Sunday comes around. The six intervening days can be spent
in the usual manner: working (if in employment), eating and
drinking, child-rearing, recreation, and so on, uninterrupted. What
ought to be acknowledged is that to engage in any of these
activities is to have the potential to honour God in the midst of
them.
The object of the 5:2 diet, however, is to reduce one's weight.
Similarly, the 6:1 pattern is designed to increase one's awareness
of God. Lessons that take hold on the sabbath have the habit of
slowly infecting the rest of the week. A day set apart for prayer,
worship, thankfulness, and service is an indicator of how the whole
of life should be. Unlike the 5:2 diet, in which the special days
are ones of deprivation, the special day in the 6:1 plan is one of
enrichment.