R E M E M B E R A S H W E D N E S D A Y W O R S H I P , 7 : 0 0 P M
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing. …
Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him
Joel 2:12-14
Whenever people in the Bible are shocked by bad news, they stand up and tear their clothes.
As a kid, I always thought that this was strange.
But we have our own American customs when we are suddenly grieved or profoundly angered. Indeed, it’s anger that tends to spark the quickest reactions. Slamming of doors. Throwing of toasters. Kicking the dog. Cursing the cat.
And how about this one … Have you ever seen the famous punching-of-the-wall? Most of our families have at least one story of having at least one hole in the wall. (Or a broken hand in a plaster cast, if the angered person happens to hit a stud behind the sheetrock.)
On my first day of chaplain’s training at a Columbia, SC, hospital, an experienced African-American chaplain said to us interns, “Now before you go into the emergency rooms and start dealing with tragedies, you white folks need to know that us black folks grieve differently than you. When a white person dies, white people grab the tissues and hug and sniffle quietly in the corner. When a black person dies, we fall on the floor and wail and moan.”
I’m glad he told me.
The first death I attended was for a three-year-old African-American boy who was hit by a car. Their grief was profound. And the wailing and moaning on the floor was culturally appropriate. Normal. Necessary. Healing.
God told the Israelites (and you and me), however, that when we as individuals have sinned … or when we as a church have strayed … or when we as a nation have betrayed our calling … that the proper response is not to curse the cat, kick the dog, throw the toaster, or punch the wall. He says … you call fall on the floor and cry, if you want to … or stand and rip your clothing, if you you’re so moved … but that’s not God’s preferred response either.
He says, “Rend (tear open) your hearts and not your clothing.”
When we’re boiling in anger or drowning in grief because of the sting of sin, only one thing ultimately heals, and that’s prayer – especially in the form of confession. God calls us to open our hearts to him. To confess our sin. To grieve over the sins around us. To rip open our hearts and pull out – and it’s usually painfully – all the wantonness and anger and rebellion and pride within each of us.
“Rend your hearts and not your clothing.” That’s the initial call of Lent. To see the sin of world … starting with the sin in us. And to repent.
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who likes rending his heart
instead of rending his clothes
because it’s much less expensive
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