Ordinary Time 
Pause
We are his witnesses: Christ who was dead is now risen!
God raised him up on the third day from death’s dreary prison.
Now we proclaim: All can have life in his name.
We have been freed and forgiven.
from “We Are His Witnesses” by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (2015)
Listen
“Brothers and sisters, I know you acted in ignorance. So did your rulers. But this is how God fulfilled what he foretold through all the prophets: that his Christ would suffer. Change your hearts and lives! Turn back to God so that your sins may be wiped away.”
Acts 3:17-19
Think
Peter is recalling when those at Jesus’s trial swapped out the life-giving Jesus for the death-dealing Barabbas. It was an ignorant and hurtful moment that led to Jesus’s suffering and death. God, however, through Peter, invites us to turn away from that way of death towards the way of life.
Repentance is a turning towards God. The Greek word is “Metanoia.” The most common meaning given to this word is “a change of mind” or “to turn around.” Our text today translates it nicely: “Turn back to God so your sins may be wiped away.” As we repent, we are called to turn around to God who fulfills promises and wipes out our sin and pain.
When is a time that you have “turned around” to God?
Katie Cashwell
Pray
Author of Life, guide me to be faithful in my endeavors to follow Jesus, in big and small ways. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. Amen.
Go
We in the church have a message beyond all comparing:
Christ is alive and brings life to the lost and despairing.
He takes our sins! Easter assures us God wins!
Ours is the good news for sharing.
from “We Are His Witnesses” by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (2015)
