Repentance means a change of mind, and a change of heart. John the Baptist prepares the way of the Lord by preaching repentance. He calls the people of Israel from the docility of their sins into the wild adventure of holiness. But it is so easy to say “repent.” It is harder to do.
Sin is not just a free choice, but an enslaving power. We become attached to our own laziness, or lust, or greed to the point that our sin begins to control us. It is no simple matter to simply change our hearts and minds. I want to give some advice.
John Wesley would preach repentance of sins and the forgiveness of God in Christ. He told people that if they wished to “flee from the wrath to come” that they were welcome to join the Methodist Societies. He knew the power of sin in his own life, and he knew it was not enough for someone to make a decision when they heard a sermon. They needed support, accountability, and a loving community. That community was the society, broken down into small groups called “classes.”
Membership in the society was easy. All one needed was a desire to flee from sin, and to follow three rules. These three rules were to do no harm to oneself or others, to do good for others, and to attend to the ordinances of God. These three things, done in community, are a powerful way to repent and grow in discipleship.
The first two rules are to do no harm and to do good. As the old saying goes nature abhors a vacuum. It is not enough to stop doing something, you need to pick something up. It is not enough to stop sinning, but you need to replace the energy that went into that sinful desire with something else. In my experience it’s good to try to replace the sin with its opposite. I mentioned in the sermon on Sunday that I recognized I’m angrier than I’d like to be. And I saw practicing patience as the opportunity to work through that anger. Patience is the opposite of anger. The more patient I become the less angry I will be by necessity. Doing no harm must always, always, be tethered to doing good. If you want to be less greedy practice generosity, if you want to be less lazy practice cleaning your room, if you want to be less envious practice gratitude.
But it is not enough to simply do no harm and to do good. We cannot repent of our own power. We cannot lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We need God’s help. That is why we “attend upon the ordinances of God.” That is to say, we practice God’s means of grace. John Wesley listed seven “ordinances” he wanted those in the society to practice: public worship of God, hearing or reading scripture expounded, holy communion, family and private prayer, scripture study, fasting or abstinence, and holy or spiritual conversation. These are means by which God speaks to us, breaks through our mundane lives with his grace, and empowers us to lead lives of discipleship.
It is enough to say we do these things, but we need to be held to them. Which is why the society was created, and why everyone was put into small groups. If you want to follow the Wesleyan way of repentance this Advent, find a prayer partner you trust, search the scriptures together, talk about your week, and lovingly hold one another accountable to your walk.