First of a series of three sermons - warning, long post!
Are you sitting comfortably? That’s a shame, because Lent is many things, but comfortable it is not. Lent is the season of disturbance, of separation, of examining and facing down temptation and sin. Like Advent, Lent is a penitential season, but while Advent is a time of joyful anticipation, Lent is altogether more serious. When I told the prison management team that I was planning to start Lent with an Ash Wednesday service, one person said, ‘Ash Wednesday, that’s a bit of a downer, isn’t it?’
Are you sitting comfortably? That’s a shame, because Lent is many things, but comfortable it is not. Lent is the season of disturbance, of separation, of examining and facing down temptation and sin. Like Advent, Lent is a penitential season, but while Advent is a time of joyful anticipation, Lent is altogether more serious. When I told the prison management team that I was planning to start Lent with an Ash Wednesday service, one person said, ‘Ash Wednesday, that’s a bit of a downer, isn’t it?’
Yes, possibly. But
Lent is not necessarily sad, or painful.
It is, however, challenging. This
is where the Christian life gets serious.
The Christ child, the cute baby in the manger, has grown up and is
looking down the long road to Jerusalem.
We leave Epiphany and the beauty of Candlemas behind and follow Jesus
into the desert to find – what? Some
peace? Some space? Jesus goes into the wilderness and finds
hunger, thirst and temptation. Jesus is
challenged in the desert, and for centuries the church has taken this forty-day
period as a time to reflect on, and face up to, our own challenges. Lent is given to us as a time to focus on
repentance, on obedience and on sacrifice, and my three Lenten sermons will focus
on these three themes.
Repentance is not a fashionable word. Preachers nowadays tend not to command
repentance from the pulpit, at least in our tradition. Hopefully we have learned enough humility not
to command people to do anything, but perhaps we can point the way. Repentance is a basic, biblical
requirement. Jesus is clear that
repentance is essential to salvation.
From the time of his baptism to the ascension, Jesus preaches
repentance.
I have come to call
not the righteous but sinners to repentance.
St Peter carries on the message:
‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
St Paul doesn’t let up either:
Do you not realize
that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Repentance. It is so
unfashionable we forget what it means.
To repent is to turn from sin, to turn towards Christ. It means more than saying ‘sorry’ or feeling
sorry, however deep those feelings run.
Remorse, penitence, they are first steps, but true repentance life-changing.
Repentance. Comes from the Greek metanoia – meta, to change,
and noia, mind. To repent is not just to
feel sorry, but to change, to transform, the way you think and act. Repentance is a transforming experience of
grace, and Lent is our time to seek repentance.
The final proclamation of Jesus, before the ascension, is
reported like this:
’Thus it is written,
that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and
that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all
nations.’
Repentance and forgiveness of sins go hand in hand. True repentance, entering that state of
grace, means to accept forgiveness from God, to offer forgiveness to others and
to turn away from sin.
We confess our sins, we receive forgiveness and we confirmed
and strengthened in all goodness. We are
not to confess one day and commit the same sins again the next. The process starts with forgiveness and ends
with positive change. Jesus is in the
business of changing people to change the world. God’s kingdom draws nearer when people change
for the better.
It is, however, easy to get stuck at the first hurdle. Accepting forgiveness is difficult. It requires us, honestly and unflinchingly,
to account for our sins and to admit them before God. Confession is good for
the soul. We do not need to confess to a
priest, only to God, but there are times when confession to a priest may be
helpful, as long as it is clear that God does the forgiving.
But if accepting forgiveness is difficult, forgiving others
is even harder. We have to forgive,
again and again. Seventy times seven,
Jesus says. Let it go. Forgive.
Because forgiveness is the only way to move forward. Without forgiveness no conflict can end, no
broken relationship can be healed, no angry family row can be forgotten. Forgiveness heals both the giver and the
receiver.
I say this often to my other congregation in Cookham Wood,
many of whom come from a culture based on pride and revenge. I ask them about forgiveness and they say,
well, some things you can’t forgive.
They say ‘you can’t just let things go’. Sometimes they listen, often
they don’t. I don’t know if I’ve helped
them to let go, but it has certainly helped me.
I realised that I was suggesting that they forgive violence and abuse of
the worst kind, to let their bitterness go and to accept that the only person
you can change is yourself. I was
suggesting to the young people what is almost impossible – to let go of all the
awfulness that has been done to them, to step out and refuse to perpetuate the
endless cycles of domestic violence, gang conflicts, robbery and debt. I make this enormous demand in the name of
Christ, and assure them that they will be given the strength to do this great
work of forgiveness. I cannot then come
home and fail to forgive the sins done to me.
And if forgiveness seems impossible, in Christ we have the
ultimate example – innocent, blameless and forgiving his enemies all the way to
death. It is only by his grace that we
can find the strength to forgive. It may
take time before we are ready, it may take support, it may take counselling or
therapy, but I firmly believe that forgiveness is the route to true healing of
the soul. There is time. This doesn’t have to happen overnight, and it
may happen in stages, but we are all called to do this task of forgiveness and
reconciliation.
And that’s the hard work done. Without the baggage of guilt from our own
sin, and bitterness from others, we are free to change. We can be the people God wants us to be. We can turn to Christ, we can live in peace,
we can be agents of change, we can take that healing grace into a broken world.
Of course, that is not the end of the story. The potential to sin is always with us – a
‘human existential’ as the theologians have it.
We can, and will, continue to fall, but grace stays with us. As we grow, year on year, we meet and fail
new challenges, but the grace of God lifts us up again to carry on. Repentance is not about dwelling on past
sins, it is the opposite. Free from old
sin, we look to a free future. Repentance assures us of our own freedom. We are free to sin or not to sin. Whatever has happened to us in the past,
whatever sins we have endured or committed, we have that precious freedom. Our choice is to be bound by sin or to be
free in Christ.
To return to my starting point, Lent is not sad. Repentance is the hopeful heart of our
faith. With and through the grace of
God, we are healed, forgiven, restored and empowered.
I wish you a holy Lent, a time of grace and peace. I hope that together we can overcome our
difficulties and challenges.
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