Repentance

 

One casualty of our divisive culture is that we react to the meanness and opposition by running for the comfort of those who share our beliefs. Which, there's obviously nothing wrong with agreement and affirmation. But real progress, of our own selves and of society, usually involves some friction, some discomfort, and even some soul-searching and changing of ways.

Alas, whether in our peer groups or at larger public gatherings, I detect far too much self-congratulatory sentiments. Whoever our "we" is, when we are among our "we" we tend to pat ourselves on the back a bit too much for our enlightened views or puff our chests pretty far for our aggrieved states. Rare is the "we" member who is willing to challenge from within, to call out where "we" ourselves need to do better (and not just "the other side") and where moving the ball forward requires exercising some humility, some redirection, and some compromise.

There is a Biblical concept of "repentance" that often gets pooh-poohed for being a bit too much fire and brimstone. The most common Greek word for this in the original New Testament is "metanoia," which I understand to mean something like changing your mind or changing your direction. What a thought, in 2025, that we would change our mind or change our direction about something. 

And yet we are clearly not in a good place, and in need of "repentance." Would that we marshal the humility to be open to change, the desire to move things forward, and the perseverance to work through the expected hardship that repentance will bring to get there.