September 20, 2007

“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.’” Acts 2:38a.
The crowd responded to Peter’s message at the Festival, celebrating Pentecost, by asking what they should do. They were obviously under conviction and desired to respond with some sort of action. Peter gives a clear and simple, yet profound, response, saying “repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” It is difficult, though, for us not to get too religious with the terminology in this simple phrase. And my challenge to us today is to try to “unwrap” some of the stained glass mentality from these very practical terms that we’ve tended to make so religious.
What terms, you might ask? “Repent”, “baptized”, “name of Jesus Christ”, “forgiveness”, and “sins” are the terms that I am referring to. And my thought is that we take some time to try to think of these terms in regular-to-life relations. Depending on how deeply you are embedded within the traditions of your church, it may take a great deal of work. Please, do not think that I am attempting to “bash” or bad mouth the church or any local expression that she might have. My heart in this is to help each of us, in this short time, to think of these terms in normal, every-day life and relationships. And my plan is to take a few of these writings to challenge us.
Our first word, “repent”, probably springs up some meaning and, quite possibly, some emotion within our hearts and minds. For me, it refers to a turning around or changing of direction. For example, when I am driving somewhere and get lost, once I realize that I don’t know where I am and find out proper directions, I “repent”; that is, I change the direction of where I am going and attempt to head off in the correct direction. Now, I realize that real men do not ask for directions, but on occasion, I have needed to make those kind of adjustments. Now in the direction of my life, I also realize that I have needed to make mid-course direction changes and adjustments – some major and some less so. I have needed to “repent” more than once. In fact, I have needed to do this many times. How about you?
What does “repent” mean to you? For me, repentance is not just making a mental ascent to something; it requires action. It requires changes in my life and my lifestyle. How about you? Is there something in your life today that you need to repent of? What is stopping you?