You Change Your Mind Like A Girl Changes Clothes

Even here in mass - at the beginning of every mass, we say sorry and then we hear the absolution - that our sins ARE forgiven.

God takes our sins, and to Corrie Ten Boom, he chuck them to the bottom of the deepest ocean and puts up a sign saying “no fishing”.

Recognising our sin

Receiving Forgiveness from God

….

The final “R” is reforming your life. That means that after you have been forgiven

for being so impatient, you become patient in your life. After you have been forgiven for having a bad temper, you become gentle. After you have been forgiven for being so greed, you become generous. After you have been forgiven for disobeying God and making excuses, you begin to obey God, not because you have to, but because you want to. You change from a self-centered worshiper of pleasure to an others-centered worshiper of God. The final “R” of repentance is when your life is reformed, changed, from how it was before.

But how do I do this? How do I find courage to confess all my sins to God? How do I know that I am really forgiven? Where can I find strength to change, to reform my life? How does this take place? What would John the Baptist say to you? He would say, “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (2)

Have you ever sat there after a meal and thought “if only the dishes would wash themselves” - and of course they don’t. And it is the same with us - like dishes we can’t change ourselves - But God changes us. He pours his Holy Spirit into us and changes us from the inside out.

Now perhaps this all sounds a bit puritan and killjoy. It’s three Sundays to Christmas and yet Father Mund is talking about Repentence.

But repentance isn’t kiljoy. Rather it’s about becoming who God made us to truly be. Remember the story of the ugly duckling. When he tries to be a duck he thinks that will make him happy but instead he is miserable and unhappy all the time. Then he realises he is meant to be be a swan - and he flys away graceful and happy. God doesn’t want us to be tied down in a life of sin that is making us miserable and unhappy all the time. Through repentence and renewal he wants you to become the you you were truly made to be.

Prepare the way of the Lord

An elderly grandma decided she did not really know what young people wanted for Christmas these days, so she decided to send them a cheque instead with the card. Well she wrote all the cards, sealed the envelope and posted them off.

A few days after she posted all the cards, she discovered she had forgotten to include the cheques inside.

Imagine all of the children opening a card from grandma with a note inside that simply states, “Buy your own presents.” (3)

When we prepare for Christmas, remembering to put the cheques inside the envelopes is probably important, but even more important is remembering to prepare our hearts - “Prepare the way of the Lord and make the path straight for him” (Mark 1:3)