Many of you would might think I am going to use this post to plug for Lent Madness. The answer to that is a firm no.

Today is the beginning of Lent; The penitential season of Prayer, Abstinence and Fasting before Easter. We typically view Lent as lasting Forty-days in keeping with the Forty-days that our Lord spent in the desert. It does in fact last Forty-six (46) days as the Sundays in Lent are treated as “mini-Easters”. Thus, the Forty-days of Lent gets extended to Forty-six.

In our modern “Post-Christian” society we tend to forget about the penitential season of Lent (and Advent). As well, we have to deal with some hostility from those in the Secular word who would seem to think that our God is one of hatred and malice. I would point your attention to the traditional Collect for Ash Wednesday:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I am going to be honest with you; This is perhaps one of most favourite Collects of the church. And, this isn’t some Collect that was cooked up by some liberal theology in the last century and posed in traditional English. This is, as cited, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; Other than some minor spelling modifications this is the original English-language prayer from the first Book of Common Prayer back in 1549. Yet, the prayer goes back to the Latin-version used in the Sarum Missal.

So, we are left with the stunning fact that we, as Anglicans, have believed since the very beginning that God hates nothing that he has made. Nothing. Not the CEO who just laid off half of his employees. Not the Child molester. Not the man who cheated on his wife. Not the murderer. Not the thief. And, most importantly, not you. God does not hate you.

It is also important to note that God forgives the sins of all the penitent. Being penitent doesn’t mean that you proclaim “I have sinned”; It more importantly means “I have sinned, and I am truly sorry for having sinned”. Forgiveness of your own sins involves acknowledging that you are a sinner and that you are truly sorry for your sins.

A traditional Psalm associated with today is Psalm 51, also known as Miserere mei, Deus. The first four verses are as follows:

1. Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness : according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences.
2. Wash me throughly from my wickedness : and cleanse me from my sin.
3. For I acknowledge my faults : and my sin is ever before me.
4. Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight : that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged.

We, as Christian, acknowledge that we can’t be cleansed from sins on our own; We need God’s help to do that. Lent, in particular Ash Wednesday, is the perfect time to acknowledge that you are a sinner. Don’t worry, I am not judging you as I am likely a worse sinner.

MA~