Lent 2 | Repentance & Rest
The Word
“But now, now, says the LORD, ‘Come back to me with all your heart’…. Return to the LORD your God again, who is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness and ready to forgive.
The Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.’”
The Wondering
To many, the old call to “Repent!” rings with threat and thunder. Yet biblical beckonings bring promises instead. When John the Baptist cries, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” he proclaims a present reality that is right here, right now. Will we turn around to notice it?
“Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32) Repentance is an opportunity – a door waiting to be opened. Perhaps if you and I turn away from what is besetting, distracting or diminishing, we may see the gifts that await us: wisdom, restoration, healing, a taste of the life we’ve been missing.
Where regret and wrestling leave us stuck, repentance offers release – and a measure of rest. Repentance allows us to rest in forgiveness, regroup, and float for a while, upheld while we learn to swim in the current, or walk unburdened, or do a dance of deliverance, day by day letting go of the past and entering fully, with an open heart, into the present, where an open Heart longs to receive us.*
Where do you sense regret and wrestling in yourself? What might repentance look like today?
*adapted from Marilyn McEntyre in Where the Eye Alights: Phrases for the Forty Days of Lent
The Wisdom
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
The grace of the gospel, which is so hard for the pious to comprehend, confronts us with the truth. It says to us: you are a sinner, a great, unholy sinner. Now come, as the sinner you are, to your God who loves you. For God wants you as you are, not desiring anything from you – a sacrifice, a good deed – but rather desiring you alone. God has come to you to make the sinner blessed. Rejoice! This message is liberation through truth. You cannot hide from God. The mask you wear in the presence of other people won’t get you anywhere in the presence of God. God wants to see you as you are, wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and to other Christians as if you were without sin. You are allowed to be a sinner….
from Life Together