The Lenten season is a time of preparation. Through prayer, penitence, giving and self-denial we prepare ourselves for the Holy Week observance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that culminates on Easter Sunday. Wow. That’s a mouthful, and sounds pretty serious. For me, penitence or repentance is a pretty negative idea - it’s feeling bad about what I’ve done and vowing to never do it again. It’s about leaving a place I wanted to be when I admit that I shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Self-denial is about doing without something I am used to having.
Is this what God really wants from us? Maybe we just need a different point of view. Sin hurts us, it causes pain and really isn’t fun, yet we are drawn to it anyway. God wants us to be happy and knows sin hurts us. He doesn’t want us to sin. Sin separates us from God. God wants to be with us. God loves us. God gave his only Son for us. So, we repent when we sin. We feel guilty. We make all manner of sacrifice in hope of gaining God’s favor. Does that work?
Take a look at Psalm 50:7-15 (NIV):
“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God. I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”God doesn’t want us to sacrifice what is His, He wants us to give thanks and be with Him. He wants our hearts and minds, not our stuff. We offer sacrifices in a paranoid delusion that God will be mad and punish us. But God loves us unconditionally and welcomes us with open arms. Our fear and angst are misplaced.
Thomas Merton says Lent is a season for metanoia - a change of mind. Metanoia is different from repentance and sacrifice even though it’s often used interchangeably. Repentance focuses on what is bad, while metanoia focuses on what is good. Meta is a Greek word meaning "outside of," or "bigger than." Think of metaphysical - beyond physics, or metamorphosis - beyond the current state. Noia is also Greek for "to think or perceive." So, metanoia is beyond, or greater than, your current mindset. Metanoia is also related to paranoia, but in a good way. Paranoia replaces rational thought with other thoughts that are a delusion. Metanoia also replaces thoughts. It is about going to a higher plane, a greater way of thinking, a connectedness with God.
Psalm 50 says that all things belong to God, even us. All things are connected. Sin is a delusion that lets us believe we can live separately from God. So this year, don’t approach Lent as a negative time of feeling bad, riddled with guilt over your sins, hoping to make a sacrifice to God that might make it all better. Approach Lent as a time of metanoia, a thankful transformation of your heart and mind to a better place - one that thankfully accepts your connection with God.
David Svet
Walking The Road
David Svet serves on The Leadership Team of Asbury. He lives in Leawood with his wife, Lee; son Clark is away at college.
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