“In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation. I Corinthians 6:2
According to the church calendar, as of yesterday, we have entered a new time of year. It begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts through the forty days of the lent season, ending at Easter Sunday. This season is a time to do some cleaning of our hearts. Life in the world and in our sinful flesh creates a build-up over time of actions, attitudes, and desires that need eliminated. The lent season is a gift to us of space to reflect on the ways we displease God and to acknowledge our need of a Savior. Awareness of these two truths leads us to do the cleansing work of confession so that our hearts are ready to receive the new life that comes through Christ’s resurrection.
When we clean out a closet in our houses, we get rid of the clothes that don’t fit any more. We throw away anything useless. We rearrange what is left. This work is done to create space for the new. Our spiritual lives function the same way. We admit where we are wrong. We give to God the places that are hurt. We get rid of the useless habits that weight us down. When we’ve done this work in confession and repentance, our hearts are clean and ready to replace the sinful with the new and the eternal.
If anyone is in Christ the new creation has come: The old is gone and the new is here (2 Corinthians 5:17). This verse tells of new strength. New power. New insight. New life. All of these come after a period of confession.
If you had the chance to attend an Ash Wednesday service, you may have received a black cross on your forehead made of ash while someone said to you, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
This doesn’t seem like a very uplifting message, and yet it helps us keep in mind the fact that we will someday die. Our bodies are mortal, intended to last for the span of our lives, and then they die. We were made from the dust and our bodies go back to being dust.
But that isn’t the end of the story. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4 that even though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. This is what lent is about. We accept our frail and mortal human frames, the limitations they have, and the redemption they stand in need of while doing the work of repentance that brings renewal.
In the end, eternal life wins. We share with Jesus the sufferings and afflictions of our flesh so that we can stand with him in the victory and the glory of new life.
Lent is an important time of growth, and we must do our best to let it have its way with us. Over the next forty days, how will you clean house in your soul? What are some attitudes or habits that you need to get rid of? Below are some prayers you can use as you spend time in confession and repentance.
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our sinfulness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Most holy and merciful Father, we confess that we have sinned, through our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have sinned against you. Amen.
Prayers are taken from the Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019.
