Episode 58 - Repentance

Repentance is central to all of Scripture. In the New Testament, John the Baptist calls the people of Israel to repentance, as he announced the approach of the kingdom of God (Matthew 3:1-2). Jesus preached the exact same message (Mark 1:14-15). 

The word repentance has received more attention nowadays. In recent years, we incorporated a hymn of repentance into our liturgy. During these moments – the message prior to the hymn and the hymn – it is necessary to meditate about repenting before we pray together, as a congregation, the Lord’s Prayer. However, these moments of repentance during Service are just a transition from the Sermon message to this special and holy moment – the time of repentance has to happen before then. It starts with the self-recognition that one has done something wrong. It is not only to ask for forgiveness. It is reconstructing oneself, laying down all of our excuses because we want to fulfill what we said in our Confirmation vow, “I surrender myself to You,” and repentance is part of this.  

In 2 Corinthians 7:9, Paul says that it is good to become sorry because it leads you to repentance, but remorse is necessary. It is not a quick process; there must be a suffering involved because we are identifying the things that separate us from God. “We must die a little” to realize, “I want to start over again.” In the Lord’s Prayer when we pray together, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” we are seeking that forgiveness, which is only possible through repentance.

• We are only forgiven for the things we repent for.
• We should not wait until Sunday to repent; it should be ongoing as we identify our shortcomings during the week. 
• The hymn of repentance is a contemplative and intense time, not a performance.