Light for the Way

Lent: A Call to Repentance

By Pastor Wayne Bernau Immanuel Lutheran

The forty days of Lent prior to our celebration of our Lord’s resurrection on Easter are a time for deep meditation on our Lord’s sufferings, as well as a time for sincere repentance for our sins which helped nail Jesus to the cross. An old Lenten hymn puts it this way. “Do we pass that cross unheeding, breathing no repentant vow, though we see Thee wounded, bleeding, see Thy thorn-encircled brow?”

In his first thesis of the 95 Theses that Dr. Martin Luther wrote in 1517, Luther stated, “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying, ‘Repent!’ intended that the whole life of His believers on earth should be one of continual repentance.”

Additionally, in explaining the significance and meaning of baptism, Luther wrote in his Small Catechism: “It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

So, which sins should we be sorry for and repent of? Here it is helpful to examine our lives in light of what the Ten Commandments command and forbid. We might ask a series of questions, like the following. Is God always first in my life?

Is God’s holy name honored by my lips and life? Do I keep the Sabbath holy? Have I honored and obeyed those in authority over me? Have I hurt someone by my words or deeds? Have I honored marriage in my life? Have I stolen or cheated?

Do I defend my neighbor or demean him? Have I engaged in sinful desire by coveting what I want from my neighbor? Am I content and thankful?

Repentance involves a number of steps, which we may trace using several other words beginning with the letter “r.” Repentance involves realizing wrong in my life. Repentance involves regret or contrition or sorrow for our sins. Repentance involves returning something unjustly taken. Repentance is followed by the receiving of forgiveness and grace from God and from our neighbor. Lent is a call to repentance. Especially, it is a call to turn from sin and return to the Lord God. In our hymnal, we have a precious Lenten response we sing prior to the Gospel reading, which is taken from Joel 2:13. “Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and abounding in steadfast love.” Another favorite Lenten call of mine comes from James 4:7-10. I hope it will speak to you as well. May it bless your Lenten meditations and actions. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.