A theme that jumps out to me among these three readings is God’s mercy. God, while desiring our best, is just and forgiving. While we are given countless guidelines for living faithfully, they are hopes for us, not hoops to jump through. Lent can be a time to try and be better, but we always rely on God’s mercy and forgiveness.
I’ve had a hard time starting out my own Lenten discipline. The temptation is strong to berate myself and give up. But the real discipline is to remember God’s mercy. John’s letter makes it clear that we are to strive not to sin, but knowing that we will, he reminds us of Jesus’ role as advocate for us and the whole world. David chooses a punishment meted out by God rather than humans because he is sure of God’s mercy. God is way more forgiving than we are. And others are often more forgiving of us that we are of ourselves.
The following post is from a blog which I don’t follow, but happened upon. I just clicked on a link in a facebook group. But I offer it to you as a framework for how we might approach Lent. I read it for those who were present in worship on Ash Wednesday. I had a request for copies to share, so here’s the original post: http://www.barbmorris.com/a-letter-from-god-to-her-daughters-who-observe-lent/