When I was at school, in my mind I associated Lent with the hymn ‘Lord Jesus, think on me’ (H&Ps 533). I thought it was gloomy and unnecessarily puritanical when I was in my teens. As I have got older I have realised what a wonderful prayer it is and just as I came to love it, the editors of Singing the Faith chose to omit it. Such is the way of hymn books.
On reflection, I think my reason for feeling as I did about an ode written in the 5th Century was that I focused on the prescribed treatment and not on the resulting benefits. For a teenager, the eternal brightness is a long way off, or if it is not, at least it should be.
I have just been to the dentist and had it explained to me that if I want to avoid my teeth becoming loose in my dotage I need to have the plaque of ages purged away. I am too far gone to be cured by simple cleaning so I am told I need injections and something akin to a road planning machine set to work in my head. Am I too much of a coward to have the work done? Quite possibly.
A young person may struggle with the idea of being set free from earthborn passions (v1), but then the young person comes to discover care and woe (v2), darkness and perplexity (v3) and eventually, to mix images between hymns, the flood gets nearer (v4). Jordan flows before us, but Zion, beaming with light, is not so clear. (Forward be our watchword MHB619).
The problem of sin is one that besets us all, and on many levels. One of the problems of it that you may not have thought about recently, is the problem of definition. Just as the concept of being purged seemed grim to me as a youth, so now the way we use the word sin worries me because it covers so much but what does it really mean?
One of the best definitions I have come across is that sin is anything that obscures our view of God, anything that puts distance between ourselves and his glorious being. When the flood is past I do believe that I will see the eternal brightness. What do I need to shift to clear the view? If that is what it means to purge sin then bring it on – I want to see Zion beaming with light and I believe that because of Jesus I will indeed see it.
How do you feel?
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, think on me,
And purge away my sin;
From earthborn passions set me free,
And make me pure within.’ Amen.