Exhortation

The liturgy is not all confession of sin, or singing, or listening, or eating and drinking. We can’t do all these things at once. We do one after another.

The church year stretches the liturgy over twelve months. Each season has its own flavor. Lent is the confession of the church year, and it yields to Easter, which leads to Ascension and Pentecost. An annual season of self-examination, confession and repentance is as normal and healthy as a confession in the Sunday liturgy.

We don’t save up confession for Sunday; we don’t collect sin for a year so we can unload during Lent. Liturgy shapes the rituals of life. Our confession in the liturgy trains us for daily confession. Lent is a pedagogy for daily penitence.

Lent focuses us on the cross, and prods to confess our sins openly all the time. Lent is an annual recommitment to make relentless war against our sin until it is utterly exterminated. Use the time well.