Lent

Holy Week Reflections: The Journey of Repentance

Return to the Lord Your God with All Your Heart – With Jesus, we set our face toward Jerusalem. We make our pilgrimage with Him by the way of repentance, and thus, return to the dying and rising of Holy Baptism.¹

In the gospel of Luke there are five mentions of Christ’s intention to go to Jerusalem. In Luke 9:51 we are told that “when the days draw near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” The language here for “set his face” describes Christ’s determination, “his steely resolve” to do His Father’s bidding. I believe it’s our call as well in this season of Lent to set our faces toward Holy Week.

I’m mindful of the significance of entering fully into all that this week holds. As I read the different gospel accounts of Holy Week I confess a preference for Luke’s gospel account. He is such a grand storyteller and how he leads us into this time is particularly profound. As I have been studying this week I’ve also been struck by the range of emotions we see in Jesus.– His sorrow over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41), His wrath in the temple (Luke 19:45), His grief in the garden (Luke 22:45-46), and His joy in the cross (Heb. 12:2).

I think it’s fitting for us, on the eve of Palm Sunday, to do the work of the prayer of examen. (If you want the specifics of the prayer of examen or confessional prayer, I did include the link in my last post, but you can also click here: https://hamewith.org/2023/12/confessional-prayer/)

Let’s find a quiet place and begin to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us those sins, habits or attitudes that need to be forgiven. I think we cannot (or should not) do this work on our own. That would probably put us in jeopardy of either minimizing our sin or keeping us bound in unhealthy guilt or shame. The apostle Paul can help us here -in Col. 3:5-10 he is thorough in describing those sins we were called to put to death in our baptisms. (But I would also recommend finding a trusted friend or pastor to be with you in your confession).

It is the work of the Holy Spirit that we need as we come to confession of sin. We need Him to reveal Christ to us; we need Him to show us our hearts; we need Him to awaken in us a holy contrition, and sorrow over our sins and our forgetfulness.

So, as we come to this prayer, we cry out – Show us Christ, Lord, show us the Father’s love. Let gratitude rise in our hearts in this holy time for all that You, and the Father and the Son have done in our hearts and lives… We remember Your goodness, Your provision for us, Your great faithfulness. We come to this confession as the psalmist did in Psalm 139:23 -24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Test me and know my thoughts! See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!”

We don’t need to make a ruthless inventory of sins – but we do need to be as specific as we can. Use your prayer journal to do this, or even better do what I suggested earlier: find someone who can be a witness to your confession. As we name them, and confess them we can pray – “Lord, I repent. I turn from this sin.” Alexander Schmemann in writing about repentance says that “repentance as regret, as a desire to return, and a surrender to God’s love and mercy… “is a gift to every Christian. He goes on, “repentance is the shock of man, seeing in himself the ‘image of the ineffable glory,’ [and] realizes that he has defiled, betrayed and rejected it [as bearers of the image of God] in his life.” ² This sort of contrition and compunction is a gift of the Holy Spirit as we yield our sins up to Christ.

We then go on to ask the Spirit to search our hearts to reveal to us the roots of those sins. If I confess the sin of gossiping about someone I need to see what is at the heart of that sin. Is it envy? Bitterness? Scorn? These too Paul addresses in Colossians 3.

After our confession of sin, we must go on to receive God’s forgiveness in Christ. This is a critical part of our confession. We leave our sins at the cross and take deep into our hearts the grace and mercy of God. “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom 6:3)

“The power of sin to rule [our] lives has been destroyed in the cross of Christ: we have died with Christ and have been raised up together with him in newness of life.” (Richard Lovelace)

“Therefore, we are not to set the estimates of our power to conquer sin according to past experiences of our will power but are to fix our attention on Christ and the power of his risen life in which we participate: for we have died, and our life is now hidden with Christ in God.”³

This is the work of every believer. This is the work of love. Confession of sin deepens not only our love for God but for ourselves and others too. Truly confessing and repenting has a way of uniting us with the Body of Christ. Today is the Day of the Lord. Today he calls us to set our eyes on Jerusalem. Begin this journey by bringing your sins, regrets and forgetfulness to Christ. Let this week be a new day for you – a call to once again live out your baptismal identity. We were dead in our sins, and Christ brought us back from death into life. Thanks be to God!

¹ http://www.stpaullutheranchurchhamel.org/ashwednesday.html>

² Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha (St Valdimir’s Seminary Press, 1969), 65.

³ Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal (Inter-Varsity Press), 115.

The Power of the Cross: Reflections for Lent

Friends, it is the middle of Lent 2025 and we begin to turn our faces to Holy Week. I find myself in need of lifting my eyes to what Christ crucified truly means to us, His Bride. In the worries of the day, I have not slowed my heart down, I have not stopped to contemplate both the cost and the wealth of what was purchased for me (and for us) at Calvary. Will you join me in turning our eyes, our attention, our prayers toward the Cross on the hill?

This is a beautiful hymn by Sovereign Grace and I was moved not only by the refrain, but by the opening line of each stanza. “Oh to see my name written in the wounds” was a line that I found myself singing, but I had forgotten the context and the actual name of the song. How happy I am for search engines! I found balm for my restless soul, as I let each stanza and every refrain envelop me with the truth of what Christ has done on the Cross. I pray it is inspiring to you as well. Listen to this version as you read and pray through the hymn.

Oh to see the dawn of the darkest day
Christ on the road to Calvary
Tried by sinful men, torn and beaten then
Nailed to the cross of wood

This the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us, took the blame, bore the wrath
We stand forgiven at the cross

Oh to see the pain written on your face
Bearing the awesome weight of sin
Every bitter thought every evil deed
Crowning your blood stained brow

This the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us, took the blame, bore the wrath
We stand forgiven at the cross

Now the day light flees, now the ground beneath
Quakes as its maker bows his head
Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life
Finished, the victory cry

This the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us, took the blame, bore the wrath
We stand forgiven at the cross

Oh to see my name written in the wounds
For through your suffering I am free
Death is crushed to death, life is mine to live
Won through your selfless love

This the power of the cross
Son of God slain for us, one above, one across
We stand forgiven at the cross.

photo by Photo by Wim van ‘t Einde on Unsplash

The Beginning of Our Lenten Journey

“A journey, a pilgrimage! Yet, as we begin it, as we make the first step into the “bright sadness” of Lent, we see – far away—the destination. It is the joy of Easter; it is the entrance into the glory of the kingdom. And it is this vision, the foretaste of Easter that makes Lent’s sadness bright and our Lenten effort a “spiritual spring.” The night may be long and dark, but all the way a mysterious and radiant dawn seems to shine on the horizon.” (Alexander Schmemann)

Just as Advent was a journey to the Incarnation of Christ, so is Lent a journey to Easter. When Schmemann talks about the “bright sadness” of Lent he speaks of the tension between the walk and the journey’s end. In the walk to Easter, we begin with the temptation of Christ in the desert, and it’s there we embark on our own journey as we contemplate our sins and moral failures. Yet there is a dawn! There on the horizon waits our Savior risen in His glory! I often think about how my daily life seems so myopic, so restricted to the cares and concerns of my daily life – with its struggles, with its pains and with its sins. Just a few days ago, my husband and I were driving through the West Virginia mountains. It was early morning, and the fog was dense. But as the sun rose, we caught glimpses of these magnificent mountains surrounding us on the road. I remember looking up and seeing those massive hills and the sun was just barely rising on the horizon. I found great peace in looking up and out at the beauty and just letting my eyes rest in their greatness. Lent is like that – It’s a somber journey as we follow Christ through the desert and through all the ways he endured suffering for us. Our journey is a return from the far countries of our sins and excesses.

“It’s the walk back from the pigsties of our personal ‘far countries,’ where we feed on mere food and pleasure, in diminishing returns, to the house of the Father, who always, always, seems to meet us more than halfway down the road.”
Touchstone Magazine

But to return to Schmemann’s language of “bright sadness” it’s the dawn on the horizon that makes that sadness bright! It’s the resurrection of our Lord, and the promise of our own resurrections that spur us on!

In many traditions of the Church both now and in the early church, new adult converts to the faith would spend the season of Lent preparing for their baptisms on Easter Sunday. This was a season of learning and discernment that they were ready to be fully initiated in the faith. As well, baptized Christians were given the exhortation to re-affirm their own baptisms. And that is what I propose for us to do this Lent. As we make our way to Easter, we look to our baptism promises and re-affirm them. What a season to turn our hearts back to the Lord, what a season to remember the journey home from the far country!

Father Schmemann refers to baptism as a “rule of life.” I suggest that we take up his exhortation here and do jut that for Lent – that we let our baptisms be the measure of our becoming as Christ would call us to. May it be the source and power of our lives!

“…to remain faithful to his baptism, living by it, making it always the source and power of his life, a constant judgment, criterion, inspiration, ‘rule of life’.”
Alexander Schmemann, Of Water and the Spirit

Our re-affirmation includes the following promises:

That we have renounced Satan and all his ways
That we have turned from our own ways and from sin
That my allegiance is to Christ and that I have chosen to walk in all his ways
That I will look to the Holy Spirit to empower me to continue to live out my baptism and to equip me for all good deeds to the glory of Christ’s kingdom.

This promise to God sets us on the path toward Easter but it also sets us on the path to further maturity and formation in Christ. It might be reframed in a simple way by asking the question when we wake up every morning: “How shall I live out my baptism today?” Take a moment now and bring that question before the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to form in you truth that remains, truth that goes deep into your soul. Ask Him to reveal the Father, Son and Spirit to you this Lenten season. In Christ’s baptism we see the fullness of the Trinity – the voice of the Father, and the appearance of the Holy Spirit and of course the Son immersed in the waters of baptism. In our own baptisms we can also know and receive the fullness of God – in His revelation of the Himself as the Three in One. There are unlimited areas of grace that God can renew in us.

As we go through Lent there are certain practices we can take part in that will help us in practical ways. I’ll write more on that soon.

But this is where our journey begins. It begins with water – and the references in the Old Testament speak to the power of water. The Catholic catechism says this: “If water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a symbol of death and so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this symbolism Baptism signifies communion with Christ’s death.” So, we look to the crossing of the Red Sea as the beginning of the liberation of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, and thus our own liberation; we look to the Jordan river as the water of the promised land for Israel and eternal life for us given by the Father through the Son!

In Paul’s letters we see that he constantly speaks the language of baptism. (I urge you to read Paul looking for the language of death and life, and baptism. In every letter but two (1 Thessalonians and 1 Timothy) his writings declare that we who have faith in Christ have died to sin and have been raised with Christ. Paul has turned the experiences of the Christian life and made them theological truth. A language of sanctification emerges then which gives voice to how we are called to live our lives. Lent affords us the opportunity to study the Scriptures and be renewed and strengthened by them in this concrete way. Take Paul’s words here in Romans and write them on your hearts – “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:4

St Gregory of Nazianzus calls baptism “God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift. . .. We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift.

It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own;

Grace since it is given even to the guilty;
Baptism because sin is buried in the water;
Anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed;
Enlightenment because it radiates light;
Clothing since it veils our shame;
Bath because it washes; and
Seal as it is our guard and the sign of God’s Lordship.
(St. Gregory Of Nazianzus, Oratio 40,3-4:PG 36,361C.)

My invitation to you friends, is that we immerse ourselves (pun intended) in the beauty of the baptismal waters. If you have strayed, or simply forgotten, Lent affords us this opportunity – to remember the power of what Christ has done in and with us. May we encourage each other with this truth. In fact, I would encourage you to invite someone else into your Lenten journey. Share it, speak of it, live it, receive it. Amen.

The Gratitude Project: Moving toward Resurrection

This month (March 23) marks the fourth anniversary of my grandson’s going home to be with Jesus. (For those of you unfamiliar with Zekey’s story I would encourage you to read my son’s blog (thesometimespreacher.com) and my daughter-in-law’s blog (breeloverly.com). Zekey passed into the arms of Jesus at four years old, after suffering a rare neurological disorder called Batten’s). Because of its proximity to Good Friday and Easter I associate his death with both Lent and Holy Week. In my last post I wrote of Zekey receiving the ashes of Ash Wednesday. And his journey continued from there until he passed into the arms of Jesus almost a month before Easter that year. I am reminded that with my memories of Zekey, just as in the memorial of Good Friday there is the paradox of conflicting emotions. We are relieved because Zekey no long suffers but we miss him with the longing for that reunion that will only come in heaven.

I believe we can honor Christ’s sacrifice by being both saddened (sobered) that the world had come to this place in our brokenness and sadness and sin that God’s only son had to die and joyful (grateful) that in his death is glory. The glory of the cross. I wonder if Satan rejoiced at Christ’s death or did he already know that in Christ’s dying the world was made new again – that Redemption was purchased through the blood of Christ? Christ experienced both the humiliation of death by crucifixion and its glory because it was through that death that He once and for all could demonstrate his unfailing, his eternal, his lasting love for us, sinners that we are.

How can we turn our backs on that love – either in our presumption to believe we are no longer sinners, or in our despair to believe that nothing can take away our sin? Our task both during Lent and throughout our Christian lives is to live in that space between sin and glory, death and eternal life.

Alexander Schmemann called Lent the season of Bright Sadness. And he did so, in the knowledge that we as Christians are called to walk the journey (passover) to Resurrection.

“For each year Lent and Easter are, once again, the rediscovery and the recovery by us of what we were made through our own baptismal death and resurrection”.

It strikes me that Christian maturity has a lot to do with our capacity to live in tension – to know we are sinners and at the same time saints; that we are called to die daily (to our sin) and to live daily (to the hope we have in Christ!) And such is Christian gratitude, which is so much more than the world offers. With Zekey, we could hate the “unmaking” of disease, but be eternally grateful for the redemption of Easter, of Resurrection. Because of Christ – #zekeylives.

One practice of gratitude that I find so helpful is the naming of the sin that binds me, and moving through that confession (to God and others) to receiving God’s grace, His unwavering love, and His unmitigated forgiveness of that sin. I do not need to be grateful for the hard circumstances of my life, or my sin, or the world’s sin… but I can be grateful that God, through His Son redeems what Satan intended for evil. How about you? What part of your story have you seen God redeem? And how does this journey to Easter reflect it?