LENT: Sacrifice

This is the fifth Sunday of Lent. We have been focusing each week on a theme related to the suffering and death of Jesus as we anticipate and prepare for his resurrection on Easter Sunday. Our theme this week is sacrifice.

Jesus’ life was marked by sacrifice from the outset. He was with God before the creation of the world … with God in all of His glory. He was the center of unbroken praise among all of the angelic hosts of heaven. Coming to earth was itself an unthinkable sacrifice. Paul said that Jesus emptied himself and took on the form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7).

Not only was his coming a sacrifice, but Jesus’ entire life was marked by giving up his rights and spending himself for the sake of others. His feet were always walking toward the ultimate sacrifice of death on a cross.

The question that comes to mind is this: Why is sacrifice so central to God’s plan of redemption?

If you think about what it means to reconcile even a human relationship, you can see how sacrifice is always part of the process. Let’s say I offend you in some way. If we are to reconcile our relationship, you will have to sacrifice your right to be angry and move toward me with forgiveness. And I will have to sacrifice my pride and move toward you with confession and repentance. Without sacrifice there is no reconciliation. There is only hardness of heart and death of relationship.

In the same way, we must sacrifice to move toward God with confession and repentance. But we are not the ones who move first. It is not our sacrifice that saves us. God’s plan of redemption is about his sacrifice.

Redemption is a term of value, so there must be a cost involved. To redeem means to buy back. Because we are created in God’s image, He considered us worth the cost of redemption. However, the full cost of redemption fell on Jesus. All the curses of the Fall, including our sin, were placed on Christ.

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:5-14

Redeeming Family

Nobody "just knows" how to be a good husband or wife or parent. We learn by example. And the fact is, most of us are working from behind the 8-ball. We don't have good examples to follow. We haven't seen these things modeled well. Our families of origin are a mess. If there's anywhere we deeply need to experience redemption and renewal, it's in the areas of marriage and parenting.

It is this need that moves Coram Deo to offer the Redeeming Family seminar April 13-14. Many of you have heard about the seminar already. But I wanted to put it on the blog in order to invite those of you who live outside of Omaha to take advantage of this opportunity - and also, to help us get the word out. We would like to see 50-100 people show up to get some good training in marriage and parenting.

The goal of this seminar will be to talk about how the Fall has broken us in the areas of marriage and parenting, and to give some practical pictures of what Redemption looks like. How should the gospel affect our marriages? How should it color our relationships with our kids? On Friday night, we'll focus on parenting. I'll spend some time setting a biblical framework for good parenting. Then we'll bring in some of our favorite friends and mentors to offer breakout sessions on everything from disciplining your kids, to setting the spiritual tone in your family, to dealing with extended family who do not share biblical convictions about parenting. On Saturday morning, we'll shift our focus to marriage. Again, we'll start by laying a biblical framework for marriage; then we'll break up the men and women and deal candidly with some issues related to each.

If you're not a parent, you can come to only the Saturday morning session, but the cost is the same. For more info, look here. Please register as soon as possible to help us with advance planning. You can also help us out by passing the word to anyone who might be interested. Everyone is welcome!

"The Deo" is Moving

"The Deo," as my brother fondly calls it, will move to a new venue on April 1. In case you have missed all the announcements before this one, please allow this to serve as due notification. Our new facility is located on the campus of Grace University just east of 10th and Pine Streets.

Here are some photos of what will soon be Coram Deo's Sunday gathering space:

Ode to Peets

J Zoe Hooley,
Generous friend of Coram Deo,
We extol thee for thy gracious gift of Peet's Coffee.
From Chicago to Omaha
Thou didst bring the delicious bean
Knowing our fond affection for its delicate goodness.
As the scent rises to our nostrils
As our throats savor the robust brew
We delight in thy selfless act of kindness.
May the favor of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rest upon thee,
And may he ensure thy future welcome into the fellowship of coffee lovers above.

Keep the blog alive!

I am going to be tied up and will not be able to write anything for a week or so. But don't let the blog die in my absence. If you have anything to share related to Lent ... insight, experiences, observations, etc. then e-mail them to me (will@cdomaha.com). I would like to post writings from our readership on the blog this week.

In conjuction with our theme, I will persecute you if you do not send me anything.

-Will

The Fourth Sunday of Lent: Persecution

We have been focusing each week on a specific theme related to the Lenten season. The first two weeks we talked about repentance and humility, which represent the kind of spiritual formation we are hoping to experience during Lent as we turn from our sin and give up the things that feed our consumer lifestyles.

We focused last week on Christ’s suffering in the wilderness, and now we turn our attention to the persecution that he endured at the cross.

There are many prophecies in the Old Testament about Messiah. Some of them describe the suffering that Jesus would endure. In Psalm 22, David’s prayer depicts the persecution that Jesus would face on his way to death. Notice how accurately this foretells the words and experience of Jesus.

Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him" … I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me … I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

Jesus is described as a worm and not a man. This is an interesting metaphor in the context of persecution. I don’t know about you, but when I am insulted or accused or mocked, my inclination is to defend myself. The human tendency is to be annoyed, envious, resentful, anxious, and proud. We are not like worms. We are more like a snake that rears up and strikes back.

But Jesus is a worm and not a man. He was willing to let men tread on him. He did not strike back or defend himself. He went humbly and willingly to the cross.

Why did he do this? Because he had his mind set on something else.

Persecution has a way of intensifying your immediate surroundings and circumstances to the point that you get wrapped up in things like personal rights and your need to be right. It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.

The bigger picture in this case is something like loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you, rejoicing as one who is counted worthy to share in Christ’s suffering. Not the stuff of mere men.

Only by meditation on the life of Jesus can our lives become this way, which is why the writer to the Hebrews says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3).


SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 22

LENT: To share in his suffering

Every time I try to articulate my perspective on suffering I get stuck.

On one hand, I know that my hardships and afflictions are relatively insignificant compared to what I see around me; much less what I am aware of around the world. On the other hand, I cannot deny that I get sick, stretched, slandered, and snubbed. Privileged as they are, I feel burdened by my circumstances and frustrated with my struggle against sin. It’s dishonest to say I don’t suffer, isn’t it?

I get stuck because something doesn’t feel right about this dilemma. It assumes that suffering is a bad thing. I don’t want to say it’s a bad thing because my salvation was accomplished through Jesus’ suffering, and if there ever was a “bad” suffering it would have been that the pure and innocent Son of God was beaten and hung on a cross. I’m not glad he suffered, but I am thankful. I can’t say I wish it hadn’t happened.

Some preach that Jesus suffered so we wouldn’t have to, but everyone suffers in a fallen world. It’s more than physical hardship. It’s also emotional pain, relational woes, soul unrest, and spiritual attack. This is why the poorest man can also be the happiest. The point is that Jesus suffered, not to preclude us from suffering, but to give meaning to it.

Whether we are talking about the common hardships of life – the seemingly random and inexplicable things – or the more acute hardships in life – terminal illness, disaster, severe spiritual attack, etc. – we can embrace and even rejoice in suffering because we know that it produces perseverance, character and hope (Romans 5:3).

It might be fair to say that we are justified by Christ’s suffering and sanctified by ours. In this way we are reminded that suffering is not merely a setback to our agendas, but rather a reorientation to the agenda of God to form the character of Christ in us.

In other words, the same hardship could be good or bad depending on your goal. Those who have their minds set on earthly things are, in Paul’s words, “enemies of the cross of Christ … But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:18-21).

Earlier in this passage Paul says he wants “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” That’s why the phrase “enemies of the cross of Christ” is so poignant. It indicates that those who spurn suffering and make their primary aim comfort, success, and pleasure are at odds with the cross of Christ, the very symbol of his suffering. To shun our suffering is to shun his. To embrace his suffering is to embrace our own.


I realize I have left a lot unsaid here. So poke the holes and fill in the gaps with your comments.


SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Peter 4 (and Philippians 3 for more context to the verses quoted in this post)

LENT: Revise Our Taking

A bit unrelated to the topic of suffering, but Jenny Hooley (see insightful comments) sent me this Lenten prayer and I want to post it.

A LENTENT PRAYER

You, you giver!
You have given light and life to the world;
You have given freedom from Pharaoh to your people Israel;
You have given your only Son for the sake of the world;
You have given yourself to us;
You have given and forgiven,
and you remember our sin no more.
And we, in response, are takers:
We take eagerly what you give us;
we take from our neighbors near at hand as it is acceptable;
we take from our unseen neighbors greedily and acquisitively;
we take from our weak neighbors thoughtlessly;
we take all that we can lay our hands on.
It dawns on us that our taking does not match your giving.
In this Lenten season revise our taking,
that it may be grateful and disciplined,
even as you give in ways gracious and overwhelming.
Amen.

(Walter Brueggemann, Awed to Heaven, Rooted to Earth - The Prayers of Walter Brueggemann [Minneapolis:Fortress: 2003]

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 11:25-30 (For further meditation, compare Jesus' life described in Isaiah 53 with Jesus' words in Matthew 11:25-30 ... a new definition of "easy" and "light" I guess)

LENT: What is suffering?

This week’s theme for reflection and blogersation is suffering. And as we have been doing, I’ll begin by asking you, “What is suffering?” This one seems more difficult to answer, so let me elaborate the question a bit:

What does it mean to suffer? // Is suffering the mark of New Testament Christianity? // Are we supposed to want or avoid suffering? // Is all suffering godly? If not, how do you know the difference? // How do you reconcile what feels like suffering to us with the plight of so many in our world whose suffering is more constant and severe? Do you minimize your own context, or do you suppose that suffering is relative to context? // Did Jesus have to suffer … was there any other way? Why?

Okay, that should be enough fodder for thought. Pending your comments, I’ll plan on contemplating and writing about each of these this week.


A LENTEN PRAYER: (taken from ELCA.org)

Jesus, who knew temptation and hunger for our sake: Free us from all covetousness, and wake us from indifference to evil. For the life of the world, we pray; Amen.

Eternal God, whose image we bear: You have created us to live by more than bread alone. Nourish us through your Word and release us from the selfishness born of fear. In Jesus' name we pray; Amen.

Christ, who wept over Jerusalem: Look with compassion upon the cities of our time; that our children might live to adulthood and enjoy a future filled with hope. In Jesus' name we pray; Amen.

God, who searches for the lost: our season brings the lengthening of days and longer light reveals what had been hidden. Cleanse our hearts as we spring-clean our dwellings, that we give away what we no longer need and justice and kindness have ample room. In the name of Jesus we pray; Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 4

"My Silence Could Not Be Vindicated"

As I prepare to preach on St. Patrick next weekend, I have been listening to some biographical sermons by other preachers. Today I listened to John Piper preach about John Calvin, and I learned something about Calvin I never knew.

I wrote last Sunday that "one of my ulterior motives is to exonerate Calvin from some of the injustices that have been done to him by obnoxious, prideful theological neat-niks who claim Calvin's name without emulating his missionary heart." Little did I know then the impetus behind his major work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, written when he was 26 years old, and still one of the most important works of theology in the history of the Christian church.

Calvin wrote the Institutes while living in Basel, Switzerland, having been driven from his home country (France) due to religious persecution. Here is what he says about his motivation in writing:

...While I lay hidden at Basel, and known only to few people, many faithful and holy persons were burnt alive in France. . . . It appeared to me, that unless I opposed [the perpetrators] to the utmost of my ability, my silence could not be vindicated from the charge of cowardice and treachery. This was the consideration which induced me to publish my Institutes of the Christian Religion. . . . It was published with no other design than that men might know what was the faith held by those whom I saw basely and wickedly defamed.

The "consideration" which moved Calvin to write was the burning flesh of hundreds of young French pastors who died preaching the gospel. This fact gives an entirely different flavor to the strength and precision of his writing. Calvin is not a man who knew theology for the sake of knowing theology, but a man who was moved to expound the truth of Scripture after seeing his friends suffer and die for it. Surmises Piper: "I think we would, perhaps, do our theology better today if more were at stake in what we said."

A Lenten Prayer for Humility

from St. Frances Cabrini:

Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that you may fortify me with the grace of your Holy Spirit, and give your peace to my soul, that I may be free from all needless anxiety and worry. Help me to desire always that which is pleasing and acceptable to you, so that your will may be my will.

Grant that I may be free from unholy desires, and that , for your love, I may remain obscure and unknown in this world, to be known only to you.

Do not permit me to attribute to myself the good that you perform in me and through me, but rather, referring all honor to you, may I admit only to my infirmities, so that renouncing sincerely all vainglory which comes from the world, I may aspire to that true and lasting glory that comes from you. Amen

SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 105

LENT: Humility and Fellowship

In humility we are becoming less concerned with our prestige. Our wills are breaking and we are not demanding our rights anymore. Fear is losing its grip as we cling to our identity in Christ. Pride is being starved because we are letting go of or need to be right and our desires to be recognized. Humility is freedom to see who we are and become like Jesus.

But to see who we are, we must be seen by others. To use Dan Allender’s phrase, “You can’t see your own face.” That is, when God shines light on our lives, as we have been talking about, we become visible to others. And if they love us they will tell us what they see – the good, the bad, and the incidental.

It’s not that other people’s opinions are absolute truth, but neither are our isolated opinions of ourselves. Humility in this sense is being willing to be seen as we are, by at least a few people, over time. Our pride resists this kind of exposure, but what can I say: It takes humility to become humble! A final thought from The Way of The Cross on this topic:

Anything which shows us what we really are is light. But when we in any way try to hide what we are or what we have done, that is darkness. The first thing which sin in our lives will make us do is to hide what we are. When our first parents knew that they had sinned, they hid behind the trees of the garden. Sin has had the same effect on all of us ever since. When we have sinned, we try to hide it in some way.

We cannot show our real self, so we pretend to be different from what we are. We say one thing to someone and a different thing to someone else. We like to make things look better than they are. We excuse ourselves and put the blame on others. We can all do this by being silent as well as by saying or doing something. This is what John calls “living in the darkness.”

Perhaps the sin is only being self-conscious: but, remember, everything that comes from self is sin. Perhaps we hide it by pretending to be what we are not. Even this is living in darkness.

We cannot be in the light with God, and in the darkness with our brother. We must be as willing to know the truth about ourselves from our brother as to know if from God. We must be ready to let him hold the light to us, and we must be ready in the same way to hold the light to him. We must be willing to know ourselves for what we really are, and we must be willing for our brother to know this as well.

We will not hide ourselves from those with whom we should be in fellowship. We will not cover our faults. We will speak the truth about ourselves with them. We will be ready to give up our spiritual privacy. We will not keep bad feelings in our hearts about another person. As we live in this way we shall find that we shall have greater and deeper fellowship with one another. We shall not love oen another less, but far, far more.

If we aspire to love one another, then we aspire to be humble enough to give and receive whatever the light reveals.


SCRIPTURE READING: 1 John 1 and 1 John 4:7-21

LENT: Two Ways to Deal With Light

The question I asked a couple days ago was, “How can we become broken?” I want to offer another excerpt from The Way of the Cross in response to that questions:

How can we be broken? This is both God’s work and ours. God shows us that we need to be broken, but we must choose. We must be willing for God to show us the truth about ourselves. Unless we do this, we cannot have fellowship with him. We must be ready to listen to what God says to us. If we are ready to do this, he will show us the things which come from our proud, hard self.

When he does this we can do one of two things. We can become proud and refuse to repent, or we can humbly bow our heads and say, ‘Yes, Lord.’ The man who knows, day by day, the meaning of brokenness is the man who humbly agrees to what God shows him about himself.

We must be daily broken before God. This may cost us a great deal. We shall have to give up all our rights. We shall no longer live to please self. Sometimes we may have to give back something we have wrongly taken from others.

There is only one place we can be broken. That place is the cross of the Lord Jesus. He was willing to be broken for us. When we realize this we must be willing to be broken for him.

This is not something which happens only once in our lives. There will be the first time when God shows us these things and we die to self. But from then on we must always be dying to self. Only in this way can the Lord Jesus always be showing his life through us. The choice will be made hundreds of times a day.

SCRIPTURE READING: 1 Peter 2 (with particular focus on vs. 11-25)

Lent: Steps of Humility

We evangelicals excel at keeping our conversations in the realm of the theoretical and theological. Monks, on the other hand, tend to be eminently pragmatic. The entire life of a monk is structured around the spiritual disciplines, which means that monks tend to be pretty good at fleshing out in practice what we like to write about in theory.

One of the most dominant religious figures of the middle ages was Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century Benedictine monk who knew the Bible like the back of his hand (keep in mind, this was before the printing press). When asked by a novice to write down some practical advice about humility, Bernard contrasted the "steps of pride" with the "steps to humility." May his words serve as some practical fodder for us in fleshing out the "how" of humility.

FROM "ON HUMILITY AND PRIDE", by Bernard of Clairvaux

Pride = Curiosity about what is not one's proper concern.
Humility = Containment of one's interests, which shows itself in a humble bearing and lowered eyes.

Pride = Light-mindedness: chatter and exclamations about things which do not matter.
Humility = Quiet and restrained speech.

Pride = Laughing about nothing; foolish merriment.
Humility = Reluctance to laugh.

Pride = Boasting and talking too much.
Humility = Keeping silent unless asked to speak.

Pride = Trying to be different; claiming special rights.
Humility = Regarding oneself as having no special rights in the community.

Pride = Thinking oneself holier than others.
Humility = Thinking oneself less holy than others.

Pride = Interfering presumptuously in the affairs of others.
Humility = Thinking oneself unworthy to take initiative.

Pride = Self-justification; defending one's sinful actions.
Humility = Confessing one's sins.

Pride = Insincere confession.
Humility = Patience in the face of accusation.

Pride = Rebellion against superiors.
Humility = Submission to superiors.

Pride = Feeling free to sin.
Humility = Desiring no freedom to exercise one's will.

Pride = Habitual sinning.
Humility = Constant watchfulness against sin.

I don't know about you, but this has already given me plenty to ponder (and repent of).

SCRIPTURE READING: Deuteronomy 30

This is for Walker

LENT: Brokenness

The Old Testament connects humility with the experience of Israel’s slavery in Egypt – a poor, afflicted, suffering people. The New Testament idea is not far from this. The Greek that is translated “humility” or “humble” means “lowly” or “to make low.”

For example, Jesus said, "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4).

The picture of humility, then, is to empty ourselves of prestige. We demote ourselves in status and become like kids (who were not worshipped in Jesus’ day as they are in ours). We become last among men.

Humility sounds good in writing. It even has a cool, subversive vibe. But to step into the reality of your world is to remember how contrary this is to your thinking. In so many ways we are accustomed to building ourselves up – proving our worth, impressing people, wanting to be noticed and honored. Ironically, we even hope to be recognized for our humility.

If you thought giving up TV or chocolate for Lent was hard, give up trying to get recognition or attention for a day. You will find that our desire to be lifted up is subtle and pervasive.

In a little book called The Way of the Cross, Roy Hession wrote that “Revival is just the life of the Lord Jesus poured into human hearts.” The imagery depicts us as those who must be low enough to receive what is poured out. To be made low, our will must be broken. We must know what it means to say, “not my will but yours be done,” and “not I, but Christ.” This is truly what is at the center of denying self.

How do we humble ourselves in this way? Hession goes on to write penetrating words about the self:

First of all, our proud self must be broken. Our own self must give up its rights. Our self is hard. It does not want to obey God. It likes to show that it is right. It wants to go its own way. It wants to claim all its rights. It always seeks glory for itself. The self must bow to God’s will. It must confess that it is wrong. It must give up its own way. It must obey the Lord Jesus. It must give up all its glory. Only in this way can the Lord Jesus have all and be all in our lives. We must die to self.

So I will press the question further: How can we be broken? In other words, if this is what must happen, then how does it happen?

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 18

LENT: What is Humility?

The focus of our reflection this week - on the blog at least - is humility. I entered into last week’s theme (repentance) with a particular course in mind, but was quickly swayed in other directions by the insightful comments. They provided multiple “lenses” to look through, and as my friend Brett says, “Multiple viewpoints tend to capture reality better.”

So in the spirit of communal learning and growing, what are your thoughts about humility … How would you define or describe humility? You can be humbled by something external to you, but how do you become more humble in your character? What do you think is the significance of humility in Lent?

Click the "comments" link below to chime in.


SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 4:1-30

The Second Sunday of Lent

This is the second Sunday of Lent. Last week we began talking about repentance and humility, saying that repentance begins with humility. I want to pick up those themes again this week, paying particular attention to the humility of Jesus.

The 40 days of Lent parallels the 40 days that Jesus went without food in the wilderness. So one of the ways we identify with Jesus’ suffering is by giving up things. Whether its food or TV or gossip, we deny ourselves particular comforts and pleasures as a way of remembering what he endured.

Of course, our little sacrifices are symbolic at best of what Jesus surrendered on our behalf. He gave up far more than food. He gave up his life. And still more than that, he gave up his seat at the right hand of God and condescended to become a man.

This is the humility of Christ: He had nothing to gain; yet he gave up all he had.

I don’t know about you, but when I compare my life to this kind of humility, I see how self-protecting and self-promoting I can be. And this is why repentance begins with humility: Because even my repentance can be motivated by self-protecting fear and self-promoting pride.

Regarding fear, I turn from my ways because I dread consequence or loss of approval from others. Regarding pride, I tell myself that I need to turn from my ways because “I’m a good Christian, you know, a pastor even. I gotta’ stop lying or being lazy because I don’t want to be like the liars and slackers. I’m not like that.”

Natural repentance begins and ends in self. Spiritual repentance begins and ends in God.

Evan commented on the blog last week that often we don’t even know what we need to turn from. We need God to shed light on our lives just to be able to see where it is that we are in need of repentance. What Evan is saying is that it begins with God.

This is why we give things up and devote more time to reflection during the Lenten season, because we are trying to make room in our lives for God to shed some light. And God will shed light into the dark corners, but that kind of light can only be received with humility.

So we look to Christ, who did not fear even in the face of death, and who did not act out of pride even though he was always right. His was a life of perfect humility.

Scripture Reading: Philippians 2:1-8

Reading on Predestination

Today we considered Romans 8:28-30, which opens the theological Pandora's Box called predestination. Discussion of this topic raises all kinds of questions... and the fact is, most of them have already been discussed by John Calvin, in Book 3, chapter 23, of his major work Institutes of the Christian Religion. As I said this morning, one of my ulterior motives is to exonerate Calvin from some of the injustices that have been done to him by obnoxious, prideful theological neat-niks who claim Calvin's name without emulating his missionary heart. Do yourself the favor of reading his words for yourself... I daresay it will be a worshipful experience that points you to Jesus.

Below are two other books which may help in working through this aspect of your theology:

Lenten Sickness

I started eating healthy for Lent ... and got sick. I knew ice cream was good for me!

I'll resume posting tomorrow. As we go forward, I think it would be cool if you guys share what you are learning/experiencing during Lent. You can post your thougts in the comments section. It doesn't have to be earth-shaterring, just a way of processing Lent together.

LENT: Continual Repentance

Will has been doing an excellent job guiding us through Lent. Unfortunately, today the only thing Will is guiding is his pillow, because he's sick like a dog. So I shall offer a post in his absence. It will not have nearly the sublime meditative quality of his writing; but I trust it will serve as a reliable guide nonetheless.

This week's theme has been repentance. And as Will wrote yesterday, the danger with repentance is that "self-protection and self-worship ride in the Trojan horse of repentance all the time." The prophet Joel warned Israel to "rend your heart, not your garments" (Joel 2:13). The Apostle Paul differentiated between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow: "the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Cor 7:11).

The key to true repentance is that it always terminates on Jesus. True repentance does not wallow in self-loathing or delight in self-flagellation. Rather, it allows an honest sense of my sinfulness to drive me toward the depth of Christ's mercy in the gospel. "For every one look at sin," said R. Murray McCheyne, "take ten looks at Christ." Our community is often quick to embrace the "I'm a sinner" part of the gospel without quickly affirming the other part: "and Jesus is my only hope." The side-effect of this half-hearted gospel is that we end up simply excusing sin, not turning from it. Worldly sorrow leads to death/despair. Godly sorrow leads to salvation, because it points me toward Christ.

No one understood this more fully than the Puritans. And so I offer today this prayer from the collection of Puritan prayers called The Valley of Vision. May God use it to help us "repent of our repentance."

PRAYER:
O God of Grace,
Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom's robe, decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.

I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness.
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly...

Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

SCRIPTURE READING: Deuteronomy 10:12-22