...repentance.
I got a lot of mileage out of quoting Frederick Buechner last week on prayer, and I find him pretty helpful when it comes to defining repentance too. Here is what he says, "Repentance is about coming to your sense. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying 'I'm sorry' than to the future and saying 'Wow!'"
Repentance is about turning back to God. It is about realizing that we fall short, we miss the mark, whatever terminology for "we all sin" that you prefer to use then turning back to God, realizing that we are forgiven and (this is the crucial part) making a change.
I think that is what Buechner means with that last sentence about not simply looking at the past but looking toward the future. True repentance is about more looking for forgiveness, you see. It is all about looking toward the future with forgiven eyes. It is about living a changed life; learning from your mistakes, your transgressions, your times of missing the mark (my preferred terminology for sin) and seeking to follow the better path.
As we continue to walk through the Lenten Season come and grow in the faith with us at FCC Scottsdale as we seek to develop New Habits of Faith...this week, the New Habit of Repentance.
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