PAUSE FOR THOUGHT

Jonathan Simon, Church of the Sacred Heart and St Aldhelm

22nd February was the beginning of Lent, which lasts for 6 weeks, up to Easter. It is a time of repentance when Christians are encouraged to fast, give to those in need, pray and reflect on our lives to see how we need to change. Sometimes people think of repentance as simply being sorry for ‘bad things’ that we have done. Repentance does include being sorry for our faults, but it is so much more.

In St Mark’s Gospel, Jesus begins his teaching by saying ‘Repent and believe the Good News’. During Lent, we look at our personal lives, against the mirror of the life of Jesus and his teaching, to identify the ways in which we fail to live in accordance with the way that we understand God created us to be.

‘Repent’ means to ‘think again’, or to ‘think differently’. We are all well aware of how we often either act impulsively, or act according to our own point of view, and then realise that we have been selfish or unkind, causing problems for others, causing unhappiness, and disappointment.

It is absolutely natural for us to behave like this, as our first instinct is to survive, and to try to ensure survival for our families. Most of the time, though, we don’t need to operate in ‘survival mode’. One of the features of being human is that we also have a very well-developed ability to empathise with other people. We understand and admire good qualities such as generosity, kindness, love, friendship, and peace. Most people recognise that it is better for all of us when we can cooperate, when we respect each other; when we try to ensure that everyone’s needs are met.

Christians believe that each and every person was created by God, out of love. We believe that God cares about each one of us, and is working always for our good. We believe that his intention is that we should all come to recognise, accept and respond to his love for us; and after our mortal life is over, come to live in harmony with him and each other forever. That’s the ‘Good News’ bit.

I know that for many people, belief in God is something they can’t do. Having taken so long to come to having faith myself, I can understand that.

Even so, all of us, whether we believe in God or not, can take this opportunity to repent, to think differently; to try every day to make respect and consideration for other people our way of life; to control our selfish inclinations, and to set free our own natural impulses to peace, kindness and generosity. If all of us could learn to think and act differently, wouldn’t that change our world – for the better?