2/22/23

One of my frequent houseguests told me that he ran across a picture of himself from decades ago with an ashen cross on his forehead. He said he kept it like one would keep a vaccination card – he’s one and done; no need to ever do it again!

I told him that’s not the way that it works. 

Tonight is Ash Wednesday, which  ushers in the season of Lent, a time for self–examination, confession, fasting,  and repentance. As believers who want to live lives pleasing to God, these are important practices all year round, but this time is set aside especially as a season to do some Spring cleaning (which is appropriate because Lent means “Spring”). 

But, self-examination and repentance can become a problem as well. Too much self-examination can lead to self-absorption. If people have self-esteem problems, they can get caught in an endless cycle of confession and repentance. They become like the proverbial one–legged duck, just swimming round and round in circles, never getting anywhere.

The purpose of repentance is to move on.

The Old Testament word for repentance is shuv, and it means to turn around. It comes from the world of the nomads, those who wandered in the wilderness, traveling from oasis to oasis. If you’re taking your flocks into the wilderness and you discover the direction you’re headed is taking you away from water and towards certain death, what do you do? If you’re smart at all, you’ll shuv! You’ll turn around – repent – and head the other way toward water and life. 

And that’s what should happen in repentance. We discover the way we’re traveling is taking us away from the source of our life, from the springs of Living Water. What do we do? If we’re wise, we’ll turn around and go the opposite direction. If we stand still and just keep turning around and around . . . well, we’re back to the one-legged duck! 

No, the purpose of repentance is to move on. Repentance is not an end in itself. 

Another Lenten practice, done to show we are serious about our self-examination and repentance, is fasting. Fasts during Lent can be anything from giving up chocolate to giving up a meal a week or abstaining from meat or alcohol. 

Sometimes fasting comes with an ulterior motive. For example, I can fast for Lent and also fast to lose weight. I had a young friend who was going on the so-called “Daniel fast,” an absolutely horrid practice of becoming vegan for 90 days. He wasn’t sure he could keep it up, so I volunteered to go through the fast with him to support him,  and we would do it as part of our Lenten practice. He lasted 3 days. I did the entire 90. I’ve never been angrier and hungrier in my life! It did NOT produce the fruits that Lent should produce, I can assure you (just ask my co-workers at the time). 

Again, fasting, like repentance, is to produce a change in our lives (and not just dropping a few pounds). In a passage Staci so memorably read to us a few weeks ago from the Message version of Isaiah 58:5-7, God says, 

“Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.”

This is more than giving up chocolate or cussing. 

In fact, this isn’t so much giving up as it is taking on. God is saying, “The sort of fast I want is a fast from wrong-doing AND, if you really love me, I want you to replace your wrong-doing with the things I’m concerned about: taking care of the needs of others” (and here we are again: “Loving God . . . Loving Others”). 

So this Lent, repent, yes, but once you’ve turned around, keep going forward. Fast, yes, but fast from doing wrong and replace that fast with something good. It can be a personal change like reading the Bible every day (which I hope you’re doing anyway), but I would encourage you to do something beyond that. Because it would truly delight the heart of God, find some way to make a difference in the life of someone else. 

I’ll speak some more about this tonight at 6:00 for our Ash Wednesday service. I hope you will join us for what I believe will be a beautiful, moving service. 

Blessings, 
Pastor Terry