The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means we turn around, away from what is not of God, towards what is of God. The problem is we tend to think of repentance as turning away from sins we conceive of as crimes.
But we need to understand those things not of God, not as crimes but as principalities and powers . We are invited to turn away from those things which hold us captive. Certainly, activities we commonly hold as sinful such as murder or covetousness can hold us captive but so can many other things. As we buy into the second best worlds of the principalities and powers, we imprison ourselves.
Those who are unemployed for example, are often faced with an overwhelming sense of being sidelined. They believe their unemployment is their own fault. Gradually, healing might come through a realisation that society is to blame. Later still, they may see how they were at fault for accepting the idea they were personally to blame.
Terrible things happen to all of us and we turn them into prisons for ourselves. Repentance is breaking out of our own prisons, realising that we are personally responsible for sins not only against others but also against ourselves.
When someone commits a serious crime, such as the murder of a child, it is almost as if they commit two crimes. In addition to the crime itself, there is also a spiritual crime, a crime against the surviving victims. They are held captive by grief and often a desire for vengeance. Of course, these desires cannot be met for all sorts of reasons and so they can be nursed for many years.
Whose fault is this self-captivity? Without a doubt it was originally the perpetrator of the crime. But who is responsible many years later? The perpetrator might be dead. Release can come only with the recognition that I am my own gaoler. Blaming the other reinforces the shackles I have forged for myself. Ultimately, the call to repentance is a call to take responsibility for my life.
To see someone who has not been able to forgive and let go is never edifying. Sometimes we see the opposite, someone who is able to forgive a terrible crime, sometimes very soon after it is committed. This is never unfeeling, it is always a great generosity of spirit which happens despite ongoing and real pain.
Sporting Life is the real villain in Porgy and Bess. Whilst Porgy and Crown fight over Bess, he insinuates himself into her life using her drug addiction. Unlike Crown, he lacks self-awareness and so awareness of the humnaity of the other. In this extract he tempts Bess to come with him to New York. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find an extract from a performance of the opera. This is the best I could find out of an indifferent pick of on-line recordings.
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