“Have mercy on me, God, according to your
faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion! Wash me completely
clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin!” (Psalm
51:1-2, CEB)
This Wednesday (March 6, “Ash Wednesday”), Christians around the
world will begin our annual journey towards Easter with 40 days (not including
Sundays) of spiritual preparation. Known
as “Lent”
(from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten, “spring”),
it’s a season in which we are reminded of how – like springtime bringing life
back to the deadness of winter – the “winters” of our spiritual lives can be
brought back to life through Jesus Christ.
As such, one of the major themes of this
season is the remembrance of our brokenness and inclination toward sin and
wrongdoing as human beings. In the words
of one traditional liturgy for the receiving of ashes, we are asked to “remember that you are dust, and to dust you
shall return.” All of this invites
us to confront our own mortality, and to confess our own sin and shortcomings
before God within His imperfect community of faith, the Church.
When we recall this reality, it tends
to put all of our prideful human wisdom and knowledge into proper perspective. In our human divisions, no longer can we arrogantly
proclaim that our “side” has all the “answers” to life, or holds the one and
only “correct” view about truth or God’s kingdom. It reminds us of Jesus’ words in Matthew
7:1-5 about the dangers of judging others of the unrepentant sin in their life before we first judge ourselves for the unrepentant
sin in our own – “first take the log out
of your eye, and then you’ll see clearly to take the splinter out of your
brother’s or sister’s eye,” Jesus says there.
The reality, you see, is that none of us as broken and imperfect human
beings is worthy of the love of a holy and perfect God. Consequently, a major message of Lent is that
we ALL stand in need of prayer, repentance, and God’s healing and forgiveness. And the good news is that Lent is also a recognition of God’s power and
ability (and desire) to do all of these in our lives! The ashes that we place on our foreheads on
Ash Wednesday are a way of God saying to each one of us, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”
(Isaiah 1:18). The entire Lenten season,
in fact, is God’s way of saying that our human brokenness – though significant
and deep – is never the end of the
story… that His power through Jesus overcomes even our human brokenness and
sin.
So, I don’t know what you stand in need
of forgiveness from God for in your life today.
Perhaps it’s a spouse or family member who has hurt you that you are holding
a grudge against. Perhaps it’s something
you did or said that you know you shouldn’t have done or said. Perhaps it’s the way you treated a workmate,
schoolmate, or fellow member of your church.
Perhaps it’s a feeling of despair or even anger over the recent General
Conference decision. As for me (while much
improved)… I still am in need of healing from a hardness of heart I allowed to
develop within me from my experiences at a previous church – that is my brokenness.
But whatever it is for you, this Lenten
season, I encourage and invite you to allow God to bring you His healing and
forgiveness, so that you may be whole once again. Remember the words of Psalm 51 at the top of
this post – God always has “faithful love”
and “great compassion” towards
us, and that it’s that love and
compassion which enables Him to “Wipe away [our]
wrongdoings…”, to “wash [us] completely
clean of [our] guilt” and to “purify [us] from [our] sin!”
Yes, you and I (and all around us, in
the church and outside it) are broken human beings. However, through Jesus Christ, we can be forgiven,
healed and made whole again! During
these next 40 days of Lent, will you claim his wholeness for you? Remember, God
loves you and I do, too!
