1 While Jesus was living in the Galilean hills, John, called "the Baptizer," was preaching in the desert country of Judea. 2 His message was simple and austere, like his desert surroundings: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."
John came as a voice in the wilderness crying, “Repent...” -
and many didn’t hear; and many of those who did hear didn’t heed; and those who did hear and heed were ushered into the greatest experience of their lives - they discovered the joy of repentance (turning around) and the joy of life with God.
The call to repent may not have been welcome in John’s day even as it is not what we want to hear today.
The poet Auden echoes the need for repentance in our day when, sitting in a Nightclub on 52nd Street in New York City he wrote:
“Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day;
The lights must never go out,
The music must always play.
Lest we should see who we are,
Lost in a haunted woods;
Children afraid of the night,
Who have never been happy or good.”
To repent - ”to change one’s mind”, “to turn around”, to face our inner most self and confess our inner most secrets, our not so holy intentions, is to open the door to forgiveness, and to the possibility of being both happy and good. It is a most positive act through which God’s grace enters our lives.
Our challenge is to practice repentance
until it becomes a part of our very being.
Something we do often and joyfully because
we know it leads to the joy of forgiveness.
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, help me to see who I am, confess my inner most secrets and less then holy intentions. Help me to live repentance so I can be both happy and good.” Amen
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