Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Lenten Meditation
Ash Wednesday
"Yet even now," says the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments."
Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and repents of evil.
Joel 2, 12-13
Today the Church begins the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Ashes have long been a sign of penance, of the willingness to repent, forsake our sinful ways. True repentance is based on sorrow for our wrongs, contriteness of heart, compunction, the knowledge that we have put the barriers between God and us, not God.
The passage from Joel, though, warns us that true penance, the penance that is life-changing, is not merely a matter of sackcloth and ashes. In his day, ripping your garments as a sign of grief and remorse was common. But Joel tells us forget meaningless outward signs, if they are not signs of what's going on inside of you. Rend your heart, he says. Humble yourself with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
In the Gospels, there are plenty of examples of the right attitude when seeiking forgiveness from God. The action of the son in the parable of the Prodigal son. The woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears. The parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. In these, and many other examples, the person who is forgiven their sins has come to God humble, small and grieved over the wrong he has done.
This, then, is the place where the walls between God and man are broken down, in our willingness to say, "Lord, I am truly sorry."
May Lent be a time for you where you can open the doors and draw ever closer to Jesus.
Ash Wednesday
"Yet even now," says the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments."
Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and repents of evil.
Joel 2, 12-13
Today the Church begins the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. Ashes have long been a sign of penance, of the willingness to repent, forsake our sinful ways. True repentance is based on sorrow for our wrongs, contriteness of heart, compunction, the knowledge that we have put the barriers between God and us, not God.
The passage from Joel, though, warns us that true penance, the penance that is life-changing, is not merely a matter of sackcloth and ashes. In his day, ripping your garments as a sign of grief and remorse was common. But Joel tells us forget meaningless outward signs, if they are not signs of what's going on inside of you. Rend your heart, he says. Humble yourself with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
In the Gospels, there are plenty of examples of the right attitude when seeiking forgiveness from God. The action of the son in the parable of the Prodigal son. The woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears. The parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. In these, and many other examples, the person who is forgiven their sins has come to God humble, small and grieved over the wrong he has done.
This, then, is the place where the walls between God and man are broken down, in our willingness to say, "Lord, I am truly sorry."
May Lent be a time for you where you can open the doors and draw ever closer to Jesus.
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