Our church is beginning a journey along with many in the greater Christian Church today. Several of our members are gathering with our neighboring churches to begin the Lenten journey with an ecumenical service in a few hours. We will sing, pray, and reflect on our lives as Christians.

As a church we’re working through a devotional that I personally prepared called “The Path of the Beatitudes: A Lenten Journey.” Through tomorrow the devotional is free on a Kindle, on the Kindle Cloud Reader, or both. Writing a devotional for a season is a new experience for me, but I found the practice of putting in the work to be fruitful for my own spirituality.

Today’s entry focuses on the passage which lies behind the majority of the devotional. The passage we read together today is Luke 6:17-26 and the focus of the devotional is a phrase out of the United Methodist Book of Worship. The liturgy for the Ash Wednesday service uses two distinct phrases during the imposition of the ashes.

The first is very traditional: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This phrase has a lot of depth, especially as it is echoed in the traditional words during many memorial services. There is a direct correlation with the phrase “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

The second phrase is also traditional. Our devotional is focused on the words of this phrase. “Repent, and believe the gospel.” When using this phrase, the Lenten journey begins with two instructions. We are called to repent. We are called to believe the gospel.

Often, the call to repentance is a major part of Lent. Repentance is not simply a matter of feeling guilt. The call is not to live in shame. Repentance is the process of recognizing your failings/shortcomings and turning towards God onto a better path.

In truth, there are many places in my own life where I feel as if I were walking through a field like the one in my picture. I walk along while looking at the sky until I find myself tumbling into the freezing cold waters below. Sometimes I know there’s a pit nearby, but sometimes I wander into the murky freezing water without any warning.

Repentance is about more than simply acknowledging that there’s a problem. Repentance is often about realizing that the only way out of the pit that we find ourselves standing in is with the help of God. Many people who have found themselves dealing with anything from an addiction, grief, depression, or chronic anxiety might tell you the ONLY way out of that pit is often with God’s help.

The reason I love this particular phrase on Ash Wednesday is the idea that we are called to believe. The photo I showed you is a desolate one, but did you notice the birds? There’s life down in that pit of freezing water. The water is cold, the situation would be miserable if you were trying to climb out the opposite side, but there’s still life.

The call on us today is not only to repent on this journey, but to believe in the gospel. Jesus Christ can work in our lives this Lent. The Holy Spirit can guide us through the darkest of our days throughout the years. Our Creator can create life in the midst of our lives. Let’s repent, and believe in the gospel.