Okay. You have made it past the title of this post. Tell me. Was your first thought: Wow! This is just the topic I need to know better! OR Ugh! Why have I come this far to read about what it means to repent??
I was probably somewhere close to the second response. I have not spent too much time trying to understand repentance. I have felt repentant a number of times. But I think there is some baggage with the word repent that has kept it at arm's length. I somehow felt that the baseline of repentance was that you are born a miserable sinner, and that just isn't how I understand life to be.
What got me thinking anew about repentance was fellow blogger Evan's post on "Nothing stuck in Mind" and from a recent meeting I had with my prayer team at the local hospital where we talked about prayer including confession and contrition.
Here are my recent thoughts on repentance:
Repenting is a good thing. You may have heard that re-pent is another term for re-think or re-thinking. Actually, I have found its root to mean to feel regret or to be sorry. Its simple definition is to turn from sin. So, repenting for me is a way to turn away from a less-than-lovely perception of myself or others and be willing and ready for something new.
To repent is to flush out the subtle vagaries that suggest that we are not good enough, or that God is not intelligent, loving or powerful enough.
When I repent of sin (see next paragraph), it is almost as if I am testing on myself the way sin can be extracted from thought. This makes it easier for me to trust that sin can be extracted from anyone's thought.
Sin literally means missing the mark. To repent of sin is a way to say that you are tired of missing the mark, and ready to accept (to re-think) God's "mark" or guidance.
To repent means I am feeling regret. In that sense I have already made the distinction between what is good and what isn’t, and repenting is a sign of willingness for change and reform. Practical repentance reforms the heart.
Repentance is a cleansing act. I found it takes courage to do this. Why? I sometimes find that cherished little nuggets of pride or someother form of ego that I have built my reputation on, need to be confronted and brought down. Sometimes it is a struggle to admit these things and have them revealed. But as my repentant little heart moves right through this struggle, I know that the cleansing and release from suffering, and a new spiritual view of things are well worth it.
Which brings me to another surprising find: To repent is to open thought up to a whole new way of seeing a situation.
I was so happy to experience this recently. I had been praying about a certain condition a family member had. In my prayer, I started to ask forgiveness for ever seeing that this condition could exist or that a child of God could ever be burdened by this condition. Prayer led me to see that I had been praying for the release of this condition for a person whom I loved, but had been accepting this condition for the whole community. In addition, I was fearful that this family member was in the wrong environment, susceptible to this condition. Well, that helped me re-think and take in the whole community in my prayer! Such relief!
After thinking this all through, I have found that repentance is a irreplaceable part of our spiritual progress where we drop off the old material view of life and embrace a spiritual view. There is so much more to this aspect of prayer. Now I can honestly say, Wow! This is just the topic I need to know more about!
I was probably somewhere close to the second response. I have not spent too much time trying to understand repentance. I have felt repentant a number of times. But I think there is some baggage with the word repent that has kept it at arm's length. I somehow felt that the baseline of repentance was that you are born a miserable sinner, and that just isn't how I understand life to be.
What got me thinking anew about repentance was fellow blogger Evan's post on "Nothing stuck in Mind" and from a recent meeting I had with my prayer team at the local hospital where we talked about prayer including confession and contrition.
Here are my recent thoughts on repentance:
Repenting is a good thing. You may have heard that re-pent is another term for re-think or re-thinking. Actually, I have found its root to mean to feel regret or to be sorry. Its simple definition is to turn from sin. So, repenting for me is a way to turn away from a less-than-lovely perception of myself or others and be willing and ready for something new.
To repent is to flush out the subtle vagaries that suggest that we are not good enough, or that God is not intelligent, loving or powerful enough.
When I repent of sin (see next paragraph), it is almost as if I am testing on myself the way sin can be extracted from thought. This makes it easier for me to trust that sin can be extracted from anyone's thought.
Sin literally means missing the mark. To repent of sin is a way to say that you are tired of missing the mark, and ready to accept (to re-think) God's "mark" or guidance.
To repent means I am feeling regret. In that sense I have already made the distinction between what is good and what isn’t, and repenting is a sign of willingness for change and reform. Practical repentance reforms the heart.
Repentance is a cleansing act. I found it takes courage to do this. Why? I sometimes find that cherished little nuggets of pride or someother form of ego that I have built my reputation on, need to be confronted and brought down. Sometimes it is a struggle to admit these things and have them revealed. But as my repentant little heart moves right through this struggle, I know that the cleansing and release from suffering, and a new spiritual view of things are well worth it.
Which brings me to another surprising find: To repent is to open thought up to a whole new way of seeing a situation.
I was so happy to experience this recently. I had been praying about a certain condition a family member had. In my prayer, I started to ask forgiveness for ever seeing that this condition could exist or that a child of God could ever be burdened by this condition. Prayer led me to see that I had been praying for the release of this condition for a person whom I loved, but had been accepting this condition for the whole community. In addition, I was fearful that this family member was in the wrong environment, susceptible to this condition. Well, that helped me re-think and take in the whole community in my prayer! Such relief!
After thinking this all through, I have found that repentance is a irreplaceable part of our spiritual progress where we drop off the old material view of life and embrace a spiritual view. There is so much more to this aspect of prayer. Now I can honestly say, Wow! This is just the topic I need to know more about!
Through repentance, spiritual baptism, and regeneration, mortals put off their material beliefs and false individuality. - Mary Baker Eddy
3 comments:
Great Kim, to move from prayer about one person/thing dear to you, to including the whole community! How important for all of us to remember the broader purpose of prayer.
Also, i love the concept of Repent as To change your thinking.
I think so many times I am hoodwinked into staying in a place of prayer that is all about me, or me and mine, but I am learning that it is only when our prayers include, as Mary Baker Eddy says in her her Mother's Evening Prayer, "me and mine and all" that I feel the "unspeakable peace that comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love"...thanks Kim...it's always good to have a nudge that makes us take stock when suggestions of personal problems or personal responsibility would attempt to keep our prayers myopic.
hugs,
kate
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