Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realizing that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor—that is the only way out of a ‘hole’. This process of surrender—this movement full speed astern—is what Christians call repentance. Repentance is no fun at all. C.S. Lewis, The Business of Heaven
Observing Lent was not part of the church culture I grew up in. It was, we thought, a somewhat ritualistic season in certain church traditions, so we simply didn’t participate. I was a good ways into adulthood when I fully understood the practice and embraced it as part of my spiritual life and spiritual year.
So here we are at the beginning of Lent 2023. I was reminded of the above quote by C.S. Lewis, and struck by his description of repentance as surrender “full speed astern.” I have found this to be true. It is the willingness to examine oneself, acknowledge sin, and ask for forgiveness. But the process does not stop there. We make corrections and alter course. We repair relationships and are reminded to hold them with great care and grace. We acknowledge the pain we’ve caused with our words, or that we’ve fallen into the habit of speaking before thinking, and determine to surrender both our thoughts and our words to the control of the Holy Spirit. We shed our pride in the high beam of Scripture.
Lent is a season of reflection on the journey to the Cross and Christ’s sufferings and, ultimately, Easter morning. It is a season of self-examination in the searching, sometimes searing, light of God’s Word. And that reflection and self-examination are no fun at all.
But there are a wonderful rewards. We advance in our knowledge of Christ, and, having been so graciously forgiven, we learn to forgive.
These are my thoughts as Lent begins. Will I be giving up something like chocolate (I should) or sugar in general (done that, and should do it again), or social media or (fill in the blank __________________)? Maybe. This year it’s less a food thing or device thing and much more of a heart thing.
Won’t you join me in this summons to 40 days full speed astern?