Words of repentance

The words of Psalm 51:10 are included in the Offertory liturgy of the Service with Communion, page 13 of LHS.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Those who are serious about repentance in today’s moral climate will be swimming upstream. In the world we live in, it’s not particularly fashionable to repent of anything. We’re encouraged to assert ourselves, be good to ourselves, and to do whatever pleases us. However, let’s not fool ourselves – we are in the world but not of the world. We are new people, washed clean by water with the Word. We are children of the light, not children of the darkness. We know sin when we see it. It is just that we need God’s courage to admit it.

When confronted with our sin (a dirty word), we usually go into the defensive mode. Our sin factory, manufactures excuses like Well, you know God, my intentions were honourable even if I did the wrong thing. We console ourselves, There were extenuating circumstances – it was out of my control, it really wasn’t my fault – I got caught up in it, or worse still, we go into coverup operation. It wasn’t a sin. It was an error of judgement, we claim. It was an unfortunate miscalculation. It really wasn’t so bad; lots of other people do things a whole lot worse.

Our God loves truth and hates sin. He threatens to punish all who disobey his commandments. And he means it. Our God gets right to the source of sin. He surgically cuts deep with his Word to the source of our sin, to get to the heart of the matter.

We pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God”. We want to get to the heart of the matter too. We want to repent, be cleansed and renewed, getting back to our Baptism. Let us take time to come clean before God, time to open up our hearts before our God and to have exposed by his Word the sin and shame, the guilt and grief that are within us. We need to get a new heart and find a new life. Repentance is just that, a time to turn from sin and to return to our God.

And God does not disappoint us. Though our sins are like scarlet, he makes them white as snow, cleansed in the blood of Jesus his Son. By faith, the Spirit gives us a new and right heart.

Prayer: Create in us new and contrite hearts that we may obtain from you perfect forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

About the Author

Jill Schefe

Jill is a Wimmera-ite growing up on a sheep and wheat farm. As a Lutheran deacon, Jill has been richly blessed supporting pastor husband Clarrie, mother to three adult children and six grandchildren. She was a recipient of the 2022 Servant of Christ award and has served on LWV and LWQ executives and various zone executives. Jill enjoys engaging Christ’s love with others. As formed in Christ, in retirement, Jill enjoys reading, Christian spirituality, music, gardening, travelling, and their recently sold farm, breeding cattle and horses. Jill is active in her local congregation as lay worker. She has a passion for an understanding of the Gospel in the life of everyday Christians.