• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

DONATE
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Our Bloggers
    • Commenting Policy
  • Reading Lists
  • Scholar’s Compass
    • Scholar’s Compass Booklet
    • View Recent Posts
  • Connect
    • Membership
    • Events
    • Donate
    • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Christ / Christ and the Academy / Repentance and Lent

Repentance and Lent

March 27, 2012 by Micheal Hickerson No Comments

More Downtown Tulips
Sometimes, though, it can be hard to think of repentance when the tulips are starting to bloom.

 

As a fairly young Christian I thought of repentance for my sins in terms of being sorry for things I had done. I was really, sincerely sorry, yet kept doing the same things over and over again. You may have been there yourself. Then I heard a wise teacher say, “Repentance is not being sorry for the things you have done, but being sorry you are the kind of person that does such things.” – M. Robert Mulholland, Jr., The Deeper Journey: The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self, p. 23

This morning, I listened to my friend and former Faculty Ministry colleague Kenny Benge preach a sermon on “Ancient-Future Worship” during Lent. (See Robert Webber’s book for more about the idea of “Ancient-Future Worship.”) It truly was an Ancient-Future experience, because I listened to him via podcast from his church’s website. During his sermon, Kenny drew a contrast between morality and moralism, which I think was taken from C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. Morality is the law of right and wrong that is woven into the fabric of the universe. Meanwhile, moralism is our futile attempt to control our lives (and the lives of others) in order to become “so good” that we no longer need the cross of Christ.

Lent, Kenny went on, is the church’s primary time of year for confronting the moralism that we so easily drift into, by making us aware of our need for repentance and our need for Jesus. Kenny then described some of the steps that his Anglican church has taken to help people enter the Lenten season:

  • A change in the pastor’s clothing (a black stole, in Kenny’s case)
  • Recitation of the Ten Commandments each week
  • A change in the church’s music during Lent, adding an organ to the instrumentation

Kenny admitted during the sermon that he may have “gone overboard” this year, but I have always appreciated churches that make use of multiple senses — sight, sound, space — to connect to theological themes. Even if your church doesn’t observe Lent or values a more simple physical space, I bet there are still certain songs, certain images, certain styles of clothing that denote special times of year. (Is there anything more glorious than seeing an “old-fashioned” church dressed to the nines in pastels and bright spring colors for Easter Sunday?)

How are you and your church observing Lent this year? How do you remind yourself of your need for repentance? 

 

About the author:

Micheal Hickerson
Website | Posts

The former Associate Director for the Emerging Scholars Network, Micheal lives in Cincinnati with his wife and three children and works as a web manager for a national storage and organization company. He writes about work, vocation, and finding meaning in what you do at No Small Actors.

    This author does not have any more posts.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • More
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest

Filed Under: Christ and the Academy, Christian Thought and Practice Tagged With: church, lent, podcasts, repentance, worship

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Become a Member

Membership is Free. Sign up and receive our monthly newsletter and access ESN member benefits.

Join ESN Today

Scholar’s Compass Booklet

Scholar's Compass Booklet

Click here to get your copy

Top Posts

  • 5 Practical Ways to Avoid Cultural Domination and Neo-Colonialism in Western Missions
  • Faith and Reason, Part 2: Augustine
  • The Message of Genesis 1
  • A Prayer for Summer Break
  • Faith and Reason, Part 3: Aquinas

Facebook Posts

Facebook Posts

Footer

About Us

The Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) is a national network within InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries which supports those on the academic pathway as they work out how their academic vocation serves God and others. We encourage and equip undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty as they navigate each stage of their academic vocation and transition to the next step in or beyond the academy.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Recent Posts

  • Mentoring: What is It and How do we Get There?
  • The Lion’s Side of the Story: The Gifts of the African Church beyond the 3D’s of Diseases, Disaster, and Despair
  • Global Gifts From East Asia: Unboxing Our God Of Surprises

Article Categories

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us
Member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
Copyright © 2023 - InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA ®. All rights reserved.

InterVarsity, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, and the InterVarsity logo are trademarks of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and its affiliated companies.