Pastor Kevin's Midweek Devotion
March 10, 2010
The readings from Luke's Gospel during Lent understandably focus on Jesus' calling for repentance. I say "understandably" for two reasons: 1) Luke emphasizes the need for repentance in his collection of the sayings and stories of Jesus and 2) Lent is a time for repentance.
The Greek word we translate in English as repent means, literally, to turn around. Thus to repent is to change directions by 180 degrees. When we repent, we stop going away from God and begin to live anew walking with God. To repent is to say to God: "I have failed. Forgive me. Help me live as one who trusts You. Let others see You in me."
The Good News, as Jesus also says repeatedly in Luke's Gospel, is that God is eager to forgive us, because God never ceases to love us.
During Lent, I am reading a collection of Archbishop Rowan Williams' sermons, and one I read a couple of weeks ago states beautifully what authentic forgiveness entails:
"The occasions when we feel genuinely forgiven are the moments when we feel, not that someone doesn't care what we do, but that someone does care what we do because he or she loves us and that love is strong enough to cope with and survive the hurt we have done. Forgiveness of that sort is creative because it reveals new dimensions to a relationship, new depths, new possibilities. We can find a love richer and more challenging than before. If someone says to me, "Yes, you have hurt me, but that doesn't mean it is all over. I forgive you. I still love you,' then that is a moment of enormous liberation. It recognises the reality of the past, the irreversability of things, the seriousness of damage done; but then it is all the more joyful and hopeful because of that. Because this kind of love doesn't have illusions, it's also all the more mature and serious. It can look at and fully feel my weaknesses, and still say, 'I love you'."
-Rowan Williams, "The Forgiveness of Sins," Open to Judgement: Sermons and Addresses (1994), pp. 59-60
When we ask God for forgiveness, we "find a love richer and more challenging" than we knew before. For God says to us, in response to our admission of failure: "Yes, you have hurt me, but that doesn't mean it is all over. I forgive you. I still love you."
We, too, can hear these words. We simply need to turn around and follow Jesus again.
Grace to you and peace,
Kevin