A change of heart

We welcome a change of mind, sometimes as a sign of compassion, sometimes as a sign of weakness. But not often do we look at a change of mind as a sign of strength. In Greek μετανοια (metanoia) means repentance, or better, a change of mind, or a reorientation, a new way of looking at our world, and our relationships with our God an with each other.

This kind of change of mind, or perhaps more appealingly for us, ‘change of heart’, is a deliberate choice that is made for myself and for my relationships with others. It cannot be made after being brow-beaten or harried, it can only happen after I have reviewed where I am in my life, where I want to go and sorting out how I am going to get there. It will only be at my pace. This is how we would like our choices to be made – and when it comes to our life-changing decisions, this is how it should occur.

After finishing her traineeship, my daughter is plotting to leave home and head to life in the big smoke. She has our blessing, of course. She is old enough, mature enough and ready to take on responsibility for her own life. So, the decision isn’t ours, it’s hers. I have watched her as she has come to this conclusion, how would we feel if she left, how would we be able to ‘help’ her, would she work, would she study, would we keep her room (for her)? It has taken some months, and it will not happen still for several more months to come. There will be moments of regret, of sadness, of separation, yet as we know these are normal for each one of us.

Mark (1:12 – 15) leaves us in no doubt that at the centre of Jesus’ mission is the proclamation of the Good News, spelt out by Jesus himself as, ‘The time has come, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent (i.e., change your heart), and believe the Good News.’

It is quite possible that Mark saw an urgency in this message which we now no longer see. Yet in its wisdom, the church provides us with these next five weeks of Lent as opportunities for self-review, for making decisions big and small, for considering how best our lives can be lived in the present so thatwe can make a difference for the future. So yes, Lent is about abstaining from meat on Fridays, fasting, almsgiving and prayer. But it is also about how better to conserve our world for our children’s children, using the resources we already have more effectively and more productively, and actively seeking to become who we are called to be by our God. This is truly metanoia from the position of strength.