Lesson 1: To Rethink
One of the best sermons I ever heard was delivered by H. Richard Niebuhr when I entered divinity school. I can still see and hear him musing in the pulpit.
He began simply saying, “Repent…. to rethink. Repent … to rethink. To repent is to rethink.” Once that sunk in, he elaborated with different ideas.
To repent is to rethink. The Christian message is not what we hear from society. To follow Jesus is to rethink the values on which you base your life.
To repent is to rethink. The Christian continually grows. To follow Jesus is to constantly rethink your faith.
To repent is to rethink. The world is forever changing. To follow Jesus is to recognize and address these changes.
To repent is to rethink. Every situation is unique. To follow Jesus is to ask how love applies in each circumstance.
Somewhere along the line, he acknowledged the word also carried a feeling of regret, but emphasized the commitment to future action was far more important. Forgiveness frees us from the past so we can move into a creative future.
I remember that sermon every time I hear John the Baptist and Jesus call for repentance. Without a doubt, my memory has altered the details, but it still reminds me that to repent is to rethink.
I’ve done a lot of rethinking lately. The political world has rapidly undergone drastic changes. Just when I thought we were ready to make significant advances in race and gender relationships, people took power who promote a return to past discrimination. Refusing to admit former evils, they preclude the possibility of forgiveness and correction.
Our society finds itself in a desperate situation. People are saying and doing things that were unthinkable not that long ago. That includes many Christian leaders who advocate actions directly opposite to Jesus’ teachings. In fact, they openly describe his values to be toxic.
We are all called to repentance. We are all forced to rethink what we have taken for granted.
I plan to examine what this means on many different levels in this series. I hope I can follow Niebuhr by keeping it positive and forward-looking.
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