Lent 2: Resist and Repent

 The Baptismal Covenant in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer offers a road map for living a Christian life as we try to serve Christ in each other and share the love of God. Jesus told his disciples, A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Last week we looked at the first of the promises or vows we make at our baptism. If we are really young our godparents make these responses for us. Older children and adults make their own vows. We (the congregation and family) hear them and respond every time there is a baptism. We promise to remain in the “apostles teaching and fellowship, and the prayers.”

The next question might, and should, bring you up short. “Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?”

Last Sunday we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness. Perhaps you were reminded that we are all tempted by power and prestige and applause. These can be subtle ways that we slip into sin. This Sunday we hear that Jesus’ followers must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me…[because] what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? (Mark 8:31-38) Like Jesus in the wilderness, we are to refuse the temptations to be like everyone else or to be in control or to know it all or to have the most or… whatever it is for you.

That’s not easy in a culture that prizes ‘winning’ and ‘having the most toys’ above nearly everything else. And so, we return to our baptismal vow to resist evil. When we fail, and sin, then we are to repent and return to the Lord.

Repentance means a turning around to a new way of life. It’s turning away from whatever pulled us away from God’s love. What is that for you? It might be snarky responses on Facebook that are hurtful. It could be refusing to share what we have. It looks different for each of us. Maybe it’s being unkind to our family or ignoring a need right in front of us.

Once you have identified the evil or sin you want to repent of and turn from, then the hard work of making that happen, begins. Jesus point to the paradox of living into the Good News. It is in what seems like loss that we gain. It is in the loss of our insistence on ‘my way’ that we draw closer to God and God’s way of love.

In this season of Lent, the image of the cross is in the forefront because we know that what Jesus says in the beginning of the Sunday Gospel is true. The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. It is our call to accept our own cross of giving up our life for the Gospel.

What is the temptation to evil (sin) in my life?

How can I resist evil and truly repent.

In what way am I taking up my cross?

Lent 3: REMIND

Throughout the season of Lent, we are exploring ways to RE-turn to God. The prefix ‘re’ means to do again or go back. We’ve found that we can RE-solve to take on, or give up, some activity or food in order to draw closer in relationship to God throughout Lent. Because we aren’t perfect, we can fail in our plan and then we RE-Pent.

The Epistle from the Revised Common Lectionary for Lent 3 is Romans 5:1-11. In it we are told that since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace…knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us…God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us…

As the Epistle reminds us, God takes the first step in bringing us back into relationship. Now that we are about half-way through the season of Lent we may discover that we need to REMIND ourselves of what we are doing, and even more importantly WHY we are giving up chocolate or social media. We may need to REMIND ourselves why we decided to add an hour of Bible study, or a new devotion was a good idea. It’s all about deepening our relationship and love in response to God’s love. This image of an Albuquerque sunrise reminds me of God's never failing love. There is a hymn with the line "new every morning is the Love, our wakening and uprising prove"! Sunrises like this can be God's way or REMINDING us of God's love.  

Again, the collect from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer gives us insight and comfort. It notes that we aren’t strong by ourselves, but only in Christ can we be protected and guided. Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

LENT BOX

We continue with our Lent box (a small box, plastic bag or storage container). We have the ribbon from Lent 1 to remind us of our Lent Resolve, and we have the pebble or bead from Lent 2 as a reminder that we can fail and need to Repent.

This week pick up your ribbon and tie a knot in it both as a reminder of your Lenten discipline and as a reminder to UN-tie and release the bad habits and actions that separate you from God and all creation.

Living Lent

The knot in your ribbon can help REMIND you of why you are keeping a Lenten discipline, and that God’s love is first and foremost a free gift.

You may want to write down what you have learned so far during Lent based on what you decided to give up or take on.

Pray the prayer in this meditation or one of your own to ask God’s help in maintaining your Lenten discipline.  

Lent 2: REPENT

The Second Sunday of Lent gives us the opportunity to REPENT. During the first week, we made our individual RESOLVES of what to do for Lent. Have you been able to maintain what you promised?

Luckily, we can REPENT if we’ve slipped up. The word ‘repent’ means to ‘feel regret or remorse’ for something. The same root word is found in the word ‘Penitence’. During Lent we are called to look at our lives and REPENT of the things we have done wrong.

In Acts 3, Peter and John heal a lame man. Then Peter speaks to the crowd telling them Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19-20). Repenting is good for us. It is also hard to admit that we are in the wrong.

The Collect in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer gives us a way to turn again to God. “O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

None of us is perfect. We are all going to slip in our Lenten resolution(s). God is always full of grace and ready to give us another chance. When our children make a mistake, and apologize, we say ‘that’s OK, don’t do it again’.

In the first chapter of the Book of Isaiah, God says, Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

God’s love and grace are greater than ours and God wants us to succeed and grow in relationship with God and one another.

LENT BOX

Throughout Lent, we are creating a Lent box using any small container (a small box, plastic bag or storage container) to hold the symbols you will add each week. Last week we started with a ribbon to remind us of our Resolve to do something different in Lent.

This week we add a bead or stone as a symbol of our personal hardness of heart and our lack of repentance.

Living Lent

Pick up the bead or stone. Hold it in your hand. Think of something you did wrong and ask God to forgive you.

How can we live our repentance?
Is there something concrete I need to REPENT for? Take that to God in prayer, using the one in this meditation, or your own. Even something simple like, “Father God, I’m sorry for…” is perfect.

Lively Lent-Prayer

The baptismal service states we are to “persevere in resisting evil, repent and return to the Lord”. For many, that is the only thing Lent is about. “We have to repent because we are ‘terrible human beings’.” And repentance is important. If we think we are perfect and getting along just fine, we will start to think we don’t need God. Pausing and taking a look at our faults and our good attributes is important.

We aren’t supposed to wallow in our sin, though. The next step is to repent and turn around, stop doing things that we know aren’t really quite what God wants us to do. Quit acting in ways that are contrary to the mandate to “love one another as I have loved you”.

How do we do that? We take time to be with God who loves us, like a parent-a father or mother. We cuddle up in God’s arms and say, “I’m sorry and I’ll try to do better.” That’s called prayer. And some of us are intimidated by it.

Consider it conversation with God rather than some big report that you have to come up with and use fancy words in. Do you talk to your friends with ‘$100 words’? Or do you just chat? While conversation with God is maybe a bit more than an informal chat, it is still not something you have to prepare for. Just sit down and open your heart to the One who loves you more than you or I understand.

This Lent might be a time to try out a different prayer style or new prayer discipline. If it doesn’t feed your spirit and bring you closer to God, you can always abandon it. However, you may find a new route to conversation with God. An easy way to begin is by using the ACTS touchstone to pray (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication).

There are some other special disciplines that can help us focus in our praying. Last year, about this time, I posted a series of prayer aids on the Varieties of Gifts blog. You can check them out here.  Some suggestions are things like praying with the psalms, keeping a prayer journal, arrow prayers, 5 finger prayers and using a rosary. Other aids can be candles, walking, vigils and many others.

Sometimes we try a prayer discipline and it just doesn’t feel comfortable. We struggle while others rave about how great it is. Things like Centering Prayer and Journaling can be a good fit for some and difficult for others. That’s because we have different prayer personalities. These have fancy names like Augustinian and Ignatian, Thomistic, and Franciscan. If you know your Myers Briggs personality, you can look up which type might fit you here. Having said that, don't give up on something new after just one try-you may discover that sitting in the quiet of contemplative prayer or writing and drawing your thoughts in a journal are actually helpful-once you get used to the discipline.

Next time, we’ll take a look at one specific prayer and spiritual aid: Journaling. This isn’t something that everyone thinks they will like, but there are many ways to journal that don’t involve just writing pages and pages of your thoughts. Check back for some hints.