Currents and Waves: Lifelong Repentance and LENT
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5 KJV)
The Christian tradition I grew up in celebrated Christmas and Easter, usually with a pageant, decorations, special songs, and sometimes multisensory experiences in the service—like lighting candles or waving palm branches (or at least paper cutouts resembling them). However, we did not practice or even mention Advent and Lent, the seasons of the church calendar preceding Christmas Day and Resurrection Sunday. When I eventually learned about Lent, it was presented merely as a legalistic expression of religiosity among certain denominations, mostly Roman Catholics. It also apparently explained why some restaurants advertised "fish on Fridays."
Lent refers to the 40 days leading up to Easter Sunday, beginning with Ash Wednesday (which happens to be the day I am writing this article) and continuing through the Saturday night before Resurrection Sunday. Traditionally, believers during this period would prepare for baptism on Easter if they were new believers. Those already baptized would examine their lives, identifying and seeking to remove sinful behaviors or practices. This often involved fasting or abstaining from particular activities or environments. It could also mean adopting or renewing a spiritual discipline like prayer, giving alms, or meditating on scripture.
As I have grown more aware of how certain spiritual disciplines tune our hearts toward God, and discovered the nuanced and rich history of diverse Christians practicing Lent, I have developed a deep appreciation for this season. In fact, I would say that Lent, as an annual practice, offers believers a much-needed "time out" to engage in repentance—both individually and communally.
I have found myself saying with increasing frequency a phrase that conveys a powerful—and too easily forgotten—truth:
“We never graduate from repentance.”
Repentance isn't just our first step; it's every step. As a posture of the heart and mind, repentance is the gateway for the Kingdom of God to break into our lives. Jesus' most frequent sermon title was, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"
This year, I am taking Lent seriously. I'm not yet sure if I will "give something up" in some form of fasting, or if I will "take something up" as a new spiritual discipline—likely it will be a bit of both. WARNING: Either practice can quickly become a legalistic trap that tricks me into "earning" God's favor or causes me to despair if I fall short. The key is maintaining a heart of repentance throughout the season, eagerly awaiting the appearance of Christ—not just gazing toward the clouds, expecting trumpets to sound, but more like glancing around corners and down streets as the virgins did with their lamps lit (Matthew 25:1-9), looking for the bridegroom. Too often we miss seeing Jesus Himself in our daily lives. Read Matthew 25:31-46.
Pause after reading that Scripture and ask the Holy Spirit to guide your heart to repentance.
Now Read Isaiah 58. The whole chapter.
SIDENOTE: We may find ourselves appalled on Judgment Day by what truly qualifies as "oppression." We love reading Isaiah 58 but struggle with paying more than two dollars for coffee. We celebrate the concept of ‘true fasting’ conveyed in this text… yet we enjoy the smoothness and durability of clothing without reflecting on its origin or production.
The word "repent" often hits evangelical ears as an individually-focused term, usually related to personal sins such as lying, adultery, or violence. Yet, the Scriptures bear witness to sins affecting entire cities, ethnicities, and generations. Consider the movement of water as both waves and currents. Thinking of repentance solely as it applies to individual, conscious "sins" is like viewing the ocean's movement only in terms of waves. From this perspective, if you can see obvious sins—like waves above the water surface—you easily recognize the need for repentance. If you are on a boat, especially a small one, a wave can clearly be seen and felt. You can point and say, "That's a wave that moved the boat." Sins we experience with such clarity should prompt our repentance, guiding us in a new direction. However, I suggest that repentance, as a communal practice, can also identify and address cultural sins resembling currents more than waves.
If several small vessels find themselves in the same current, they may not even realize they are moving—it takes a boat or landmark outside the current to reveal their speed and direction. They might collectively fight waves and paddle hard northward, feeling righteously driven. But if these vessels are caught in a strong southern current, their efforts become inefficient or even wasteful compared to the immense benefit of recognizing and navigating out of the current. This dynamic highlights why addressing unseen systemic issues within ones own culture can have powerful impact in leading people towards Christ. For example, consider the biblical prophet Isaiah, who recognized the communal woes of the people of his nation. In his calling experience, the prophet Isaiah encountered the holy throne of God, and his repentant cry offers a simple model for individual and communal repentance:
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5 KJV)
Graciously, the Lord provided exactly what Isaiah needed for cleansing and then commissioned him to use his lips to speak God's words to his people. For me, growing up as a white man in the southern United States, it looks like acknowledging and addressing the ongoing impacts of racism within my culture. Seeing other people as less than who God made them to be, or thinking of yourself as more highly than you ought to, is something that has happened in every human culture. My particular culture in the southern US made an institution out of that evil idea and designed laws to exacerbate and perpetuate its effect. Although much has changed throughout the past several decades – that is an undercurrent that still impacts many lives on a daily basis. If your life isn’t one of those impacted, then things might seem like they are ‘fine’. Like water appearing calm on the surface yet moving dangerously beneath, many remain unaware of these currents because they've always lived within them, and they don’t feel the harmful effects in their day to day life. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t real for others.
Lent, as a regular reminder of our ongoing need for repentance, offers God's people an opportunity to reflect on both individual and corporate areas for repentance. This season, even if you've never "celebrated" Lent before, I encourage you to dedicate special prayer time to ask the Holy Spirit to examine you individually and reveal communal or cultural areas requiring repentance.
Also remember, the whole point of lent is that it points to Resurrection Sunday. King Jesus died for the forgiveness of sin. We have long known that we need to confess our individual sin to receive personal salvation. What could it mean for entire communities and cultures confess and repent of their cultural sins?
May the Kingdom of Jesus Come.
HELPFUL RESOURCE: