Turning round

It doubtless happens many times each day, though I had never remarked on it until this particular occasion. A car heading one way up our road came through the entrance into the church car park, turned round and left again, moving off in the opposite direction. The driver was, quite understandably, using our premises as a turning place.

We have no problem with that. There are no plans to put up "No Turning" notices. In fact this car turning round gave me pause for thought. Our church is a place where, we hope, lives will be turned round. This is what “repentance” means.

The word in the original Bible language means literally that – to turn your life around 180 degrees. (Not like the fashion photographer who told his model to turn round 360 degrees – which would mean she ended up facing the same way again!)

This radical turnaround implies that a person’s stubborn set of mind is broken down and they allow themselves to be guided into a different way. We all need to examine which way we are taking. Proverbs reminds us twice over, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (14:12 and 16:25). The most frequent advice the earliest Christians gave to those who wanted to join them was “Repent!”

Today that word “repent” is associated with glum Puritan preachers wagging a finger at those they reckoned to be sinners and warning them harshly to change their ways. Originally, though, it was a warm-hearted plea to men and women who were heedlessly heading fast in the opposite direction from God. Let them turn round and take the same route Jesus took, the way of life – through a cross to a crown. It was also a timely instruction to some who were already Christians. They had somehow lost their way and gone cold (Revelation 2:5; 2:16; 2:21; 2:22; 3:3 and 3:19).

Yes, long may our church serve as a place where lives are turned around. We trust that our week of outreach to Leigh in August (5-12) will be a time when people consider the claims of Jesus on their lives, perhaps for the first time. And may it be a place where even experienced Christians keep humbly realising they have some turning round left to do.