3rd Day of Lent

What does repentance look like? Today I had lunch with three great people. They are all part of a long term situation that does not require a complete explanation here, but the situation got me to thinking. Are there times in our lives when we have to seek repentance not because of something that we have done, but because we are part of a situation that requires repentance to be sought? What if, because we are part of the community of Jesus, we have to ask forgiveness for things that others in the larger community of Jesus have done?

To be honest I firmly believe that this often must happen. There are times that people need to be given the opportunity to forgive, and the people who should be seeking the forgiveness are not available to ask for the forgiveness, or simply refuse to do so. My flesh does not want to do this. My flesh does not want to have to get involved with things that I am not personally responsible for. Yet we are not just individuals moving through this world, that's a very selfish idea, we are part of a community. As members of a community we have to, from time to time, take the initiative in making sure that repentance is sought and forgiveness is pronounced. It requires us to be humble, and to put aside our own selfish desires. It requires that the Spirit be at work in us.

PEACE