Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

By Nancy Powers (G-ETS, ’06)
Pastor, Sonoma and Newton UMC’s, Battle Creek, Michigan

Jesus' Baptism by John. Chapel of the Unnamed Faithful. Photo by Al Caldwell.

On behalf of the whole Church, I ask you:
Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin?

(Answer: I DO.)

“I do.” Those are easy words to say. What a tall order it is, though, to live out this promise in my everyday life. It somehow seems more appropriate—or more comfortable?—to say “I will, God helping me.” But the truth is, “I will” just won’t do. The time is now. The time is always now, whether I am going about the busyness of daily life, pausing to refresh in a time of prayer, or reaffirming my vows of baptism as we welcome another child of God through the sacrament. As far as “God helping me” is concerned—well, that is understood, always and in everything. Yet there is the necessity for me to affirm that I dedicate myself, my own will, to this covenant. “I do” is the appropriate response after all.

With that in mind, it’s that last part of Question 1 that stops me in my tracks. Repent of my sin? That’s more than just being sorry about my sins, those attitudes and actions and failures to act that are below the bar of the Great Commandments to love God with all that I am and to love others as myself. I have to keep renewing the act of repentance of sin, which means turning away from evil and turning toward God in Christ. That is something I need to do daily, not just when I have the opportunity to reaffirm my vows of baptism in a worship service.

Living into that vow of repentance requires that I intentionally turn toward God every day, and to be relentless in searching my heart and my life for whatever evil the Spirit is calling to my attention. That is where renouncing wickedness and evil begins—in my own heart first of all—before I address the evil I see in the world around me. I am convinced that the work of repentance, with God’s help, is vital to our spiritual health, as individuals and as a community of faith. To ignore repentance is to leave ourselves vulnerable to hypocrisy, to becoming, in spite of ourselves, more and more like the forces of evil and wickedness we seek to resist.

Let us pray: Gracious God, open our eyes to the ways we have turned away from you, and help us to turn again to the light of Christ. Help us to live in the light, into the gift of our baptism, that we might reflect your light into dark places. In Christ, who first loves us. Amen.