3rd Sunday Ordinary Time – Audio Prep for Super Bowl Sunday

“What was all this stuff about repentance?  It isn’t Lent yet!”

Two views of repentance:

First: Jonah’s message to Nineveh – “Clean up your act or all hell’s gonna break loose!”  Doesn’t this up the ante of fear for us?  Which often moves into, “I have to try harder, to shape up now!”  Which doesn’t seem to work.  Rather, it increases our speed on the hamster wheel… going nowhere.

Second: Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news!”  What does repentance have to do with the good news?  Jesus’ good news was what he heard at his baptism, “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”  That’s the good news, I believe, he shared with all – “You are my beloved daughter, my beloved son.”

Repentance involves turning to receive the good news as we are – flawed, imperfect, sinful, and wounded human beings.

What a fine intro to Lent!

So, what lenten practice might we take up that could lead us toward repentance and toward hearing, “You are my beloved!”