Repentance starts with being honest before God and ourselves about who we are. When it comes to sin, everyone has a natural impulse to hide, but repentance means finding the courage to be honest.

It also means having faith in the promise of forgiveness. But being honest about faith means recognizing that faith is contested on many sides not only by society, but by our own experiences, and sometimes even by the actions of God himself.

Finally, repentance means becoming more human, not less. Because our thoughts, desires, and actions are so linked with sin, it is easy to view repentance as fighting against our humanity as if holiness meant trying to stifle as many of our natural human impulses as possible. But honest repentance recognizes that sin is the thing that stifles our humanity, while repentance results in our natural impulses functioning more as God designed them. 

Join us this Lenten Season to explore the texts of the Easter Vigil service, along with other parts of Scripture and with Lutheran Confessions to sketch a picture of what repentance looks like in the Christian life and so explore the Christian use of baptism through “daily contrition and repentance,” as the Small Catechism puts it.

Click the link below to download a devotional book for your use during this Lenten Season.