"Repent" | Reflection by the Rev. Heidi Thorsen

When I think of the word “repent” my first association is with doom and gloom, sack cloth and ashes. However, the image in my mind changed after a recent conversation with our junior warden, Chuck Kaywood. Chuck suggested that the image that comes to mind for him, when he thinks of repentance, is a sunrise. Repentance is a new beginning – an invitation for a fresh start that God extends to us, if only we are willing to commit our hearts to change.

I love this vision of repentance because the sun doesn’t just rise once – it rises every day. Every day we have a new invitation to turn away from the things that separate us from God and one another. Every day we have a new invitation to turn towards the selfless, lifegiving light of Christ.

Well, that all sounds good and fine – but it’s a lot more difficult to name the specific things that I am turning away from. Give it a try. This Lent, I am turning away from: the idea that my successes define me; the idea that my failures define me; the blissful ignorance of privilege; the sarcastic pride of pessimism; and chocolate (just kidding about that last one, I am absolutely eating chocolate this year because it’s been a tough one).

Repentance is not just turning away from things, though. It is also about turning towards something new – the sunrise. Perhaps it is easier for us, as human beings, to identify what we are turning away from than what we are turning towards. Today, pray that God would show us the rest – all that as good, and holy, and worth turning towards.

Photo Credit: Chuck Kaywood.

Words in the Wilderness - Walk through the season of Lent with Trinity, one word at a time. Every day (except on Sundays) we will post a photo and a brief refection written by someone in our Trinity community. https://www.trinitynewhaven.org/words-in-the-wilderness