If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it

Click here to follow the Lenten Song Reflections playlist on Spotify.
(please note—versions of songs on the playlist may differ from those used here)

This week we focus on the Lenten theme of repentance.

Words of Reflection

Repentance sits at the heart of our Lenten journey. It is perhaps the central theme of this season, as we seek to be cleansed and restored in preparation for our commemoration of Christ’s Passion. In countless Ash Wednesday services across the globe last week, the invitation to repent was given as we were reminded that we are “dead to sin and alive in Christ.” (Romans 6:11)

Following his temptation, the ministry of Jesus begins with a call to repent (Mark 1:15). The ministry of the disciples begins in a similar way, for when Peter is asked by the crowd on the day of Pentecost what they must do to be saved, he replies, “Repent and be baptized.” (Acts 2:38) The message of repentance is clearly foundational to the gospel. To follow Jesus fully, we must turn from sin and embrace the life he offers.

But far too often these days the call to repentance is presented as if it were an insistence on moral reform and behavior modification, so it’s no wonder it falls so often on deaf ears. The message so many hear from today’s church is that they are doing wrong things and if they would just stop doing them, then God would love them. What they receive is a message of shame, and what they do is simply walk away.

That is not biblical repentance. Biblical repentance is rooted in the love and mercy of God. It is not founded on our ability to change ourselves, it is founded on the supernatural ability of God to effect change in us by his Spirit. What it asks of us is humility and a willingness to be changed. What it asks of us is surrender, not to a wrathful God who will punish us if we don’t, but to a merciful God who stands ready to transform us into the people he desires us to be. Remember: it is his kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4).

One of the foundational texts for understanding repentance is Psalm 51, the prayer that David offers in response to his own sin being discovered. As you read it today, note the confidence David has in the grace and transforming power of God. Pay attention to his trust that God will take his contrite heart and restore it. David does not shy away from the reality of his sin or the gravity of it, but he also does not underestimate God’s ability to completely forgive.

Read this familiar psalm with fresh eyes, and see anew the love of God that calls us to repent and be cleansed.

Scripture for Meditation:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.

Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.
You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
—Psalm 51:1-17 (NRSV)

Song: Clean Heart

Against you and you only have I sinned
In selfishness and pride
I've turned to my desires once again
Against you and you only have I strayed
I've listened to the lies
I’ve left your love and chosen my own way
Have mercy have mercy
Do what only you can do
Create in me a clean heart
Wash me of my sin
Lord pardon my offense
Restore to me the great joy
Of knowing when I stray
My life’s forever tethered to your grace
For the many hurtful things I have done
For choices I have made
For building my own Kingdom my own name
And for the thousand deeds that I have left undone
For failing to forgive
Forgetting to love as you have loved me
Forgive me forgive me
Christ alone is my defense
Create in me a clean heart
Wash me of my sin
Lord pardon my offense
Restore to me the great joy
Of knowing when I stray
My life’s forever tethered to your grace
Have mercy have mercy
Do what only you can do
Create in me a clean heart
Wash me of my sin
Lord pardon my offense
Restore to me the great joy
Of knowing when I stray
My life’s forever tethered to your grace

Craig Swift, Jeffrey Norris, Laura Story

Questions for Contemplation:

How do you understand “repentance?” What does it look like for you? What practices, prayers, and Scripture help you understand the call to repent?

Does the message of repentance point to the love of God for you? If not, what voices might be keeping you from seeing it in that way? Spend some time in prayer asking God to expand your understanding of repentance to see it as a response to his love and mercy.

The song for today contains the line “My life’s forever tethered to your grace.” What does that image mean for you? How have you experienced this “tether” in your life through the years? Spend some time offering to God your gratitude for all the ways he has bound you to his grace.