Mark’s Reviews > Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal > Status Update

"We call deep evil 'inhumane' because there is something about sin and evil that is out of accord with the purpose for which we were created. It is subhuman."

"... We look on all we have done, and we call it bad. The wages of sin is indeed death."

"... We know of men and women who turn their homes into places of abuse. We are aware of teachers whose harsh words wound the aspirations of the young. We observe sexism, racism, and xenophobia. We are familiar with the predators who seek out the vulnerable. Widening the lens even more, we see famine caused by greed. We witness wars that leave the landscape and communities in ruin. ..."

"The cross forces us to take seriously our sins and those of the world. Our trespasses are of grave concern. We turn to our left and our right and see the carnage caused by evils perpetrated by people. These sins are both societal and intimately personal. ...."

"... Jesus' life was not just a means of salvation; it was a way of being human."

"...the sadness of Lent is not a general sadness about the inevitability of death but an explicitly Christian diagnosis of the cause of death. We sin and die because humanity rebelled against God. There is nothing natural at all about death. It is an alien intrusion into the good world God created. It is an enemy to be defeated."

"The good news is that at the moment we see the gap between ourselves and our Lord, we also encounter the blood that draws us in and assures us we are forgiven. Jesus' own presence is both grace and judgment."