Trinity Lutheran Church | 200 East Main St. Cyrus, MN 56323 | Tel: (320)795-
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Pastor’s Message
“A TIME FOR REPENTANCE”
In liturgical churches the color for Lent is always purple or violet, the color of repentance. Sometimes, these colors have a slight hint of red to represent the cost of our sin— the blood of Christ. Many congregations, like we, place ashes on worshipper’s foreheads the first Wednesday in Lent as a sign of repentance—of sorrow for one’s sins and the sins of all human beings.
Of course, repentance isn’t a seasonal thing. Martin Luther, in his explanation of the Sacrament of Baptism, declares: “Our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned with daily repentance.” Nevertheless, a special time in the church year for thinking about our shortcomings help us zero in on our checkered relationship with God.
We cannot repent unless we know where we stand before God. The first thing we’ must realize is that everyone one of us is a part of a broken, sinful world. Sin is woven into the very fabric of our society and we can’t escape it. The very air God has given us to breathe is polluted by modern industry, and we aid such pollution when we buy manufactured products. The land we live on once belonged to another people who were driven from their homes, and we share in that theft, for we profit from past illegal actions. The taxes we pay support programs we may not approve of, but we do wrong if we refuse to pay taxes. Jesus told his disciples they were in the world though not of the world, but as long as we live in this imperfect world, we all participate in its sin.
In addition, we must realize that we are weak. Even with the best intentions, we fall short. Simon Peter is the patron saint of most of us, for he swore he’d not betray Jesus and yet did so anyway. Paul knew this feeling when he wrote: “1 do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15).
And of course we sometimes do wrong things intentionally. Each of us has a rebellious streak. Note how both the Old and New Testaments record the evil deeds of good people. Noah got drunk, Abraham lied, David committed adultery. These stories were recorded to show how even good people fall into sin.
So we all need a time of repentance. But why Lent? Shouldn’t our eyes be turned to the cross? Shouldn’t out thoughts be centered on the one who died for us, instead of our sins? Of course Jesus should dominate the Lenten scene, but it’s precisely because of him that we should be moved to repentance.
Unfortunately, most Christians have never fully understood what moves people to feel sorrow for their sins. They expect denunciations and the reading of the law to bring repentance. They want the preacher to scold the congregation and to threaten everyone with judgment and damnation. And all too often we preachers have obliged.
But true repentance comes most readily when we see what God has done for us. The image of Jesus on the cross, suffering pain and agony, moves us to sorrow for our shortcomings. The more we look to the cross, the more we’re aware of how we all fall far short of deserving God’s love. And it is this realization which causes us to repent of our sins.
There are two ways to move a millwheel. Water either rushes under the wheel or falls on the paddles from above. The overhead method is the most successful. So human hearts are more quickly moved to cry, “Forgive me, Lord,” by God’s love coming down to them than by threats of hell from below.
Lent is a time for repentance, for examining our lives and seeing our shortcomings. It’s a time to think about our need for the love God showed all of us in Christ Jesus. Isaac Wafts caught this whole relationship between the cross and our repentance when he wrote;
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
(LBW 482)
Pastor John
On which the prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
(LBW 482)
Pastor John