Sunday 10th March – Lent 4C

Lent 4C
There was a time
long ago
when I made mistakes
with pencil and paper
and corrected them with an eraser
leaving grubby skid marks on the page.

Then there was white liquid
to paint over
to cover those mistakes
and start again.

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered
wrote the psalmist.
White-wash covered the blood-stains of sacrifice
in the holy of holies
offered
for the sin of the people.

These days I have a Delete key.
One press
and those mistakes are gone –
as if they never were.

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away;
see, everything has become new
wrote Paul.

I still have need
of pencil and paper;
I still make mistakes
and there are still the tell-tale skid marks.
Occasionally
I need that white liquid
to cover my mistakes.
But I do like the Delete key:
a reminder
that God deals with our past
in a new way.
(Adapted from a sermon from some years ago, which may have drawn on material from other, long-forgotten, sources.)
         Jeff Shrowder, 2013.
  More for Lent 4C…