Repent!

Lots of people want to return to their childhood it seems. I deduce this from the popularity of friends reunited, facebook and other sites that help us trace those we used to know. But would we really want to go back to the school where we sat in tiny desks in neat rows! I think we just want to go back to satisfy our insatiable curiosity when we ask "I wonder whatever happened to such a body?!"

Repent does not mean going back in terms of recreating what once was. (or what we think it once was like which is different!) Repentance is much more like following a sat nav!

I was travelling last weekend and we turned off the motorway to drive into town to get fuel. The driver was collecting points on her supermarket card and only wanted a tesco petrol station. But the sat nav didn't like it. "Turn round" it kept repeating in an agonisingly polite but annoyed voice. I cannot imagine that people enjoy machines nagging them in this way but it was not my car. And all the way to tesco the voice continued until after we had refuelled and turned round. Then it began to redirect us back onto our route home.

Repentance is about getting back on the right route - making the right turning and not going off on some interesting but irrelevant byway.

Followers of Jesus were originally called "followers of the way". I wonder if we can reclaim that name with Jesus as our lord, sat nav and guide!