Lent: A Time To Change Our Hearts--Again!

I have a feeling I might sometimes come across as a very fickle person because every time I post a reflection on a hymn or song, I claim that it's one of my favorites. But the reality is that I have so many hymns and secular songs that speak to me of God's relationship with me and with all of us that it's difficult to articulate exactly which one is the favorite. "Change Our Hearts" is one of those hymns. I remember that the first time I heard it, I kept going back and replaying it because I felt that the words were intended for me--both as an individual and as a member of the human family.

Several of the scenes in this particular video seem to focus on the Advent season--yet here I am using it for Lent. However, it seems to me that our ongoing call to and desire for conversion is just that--ongoing. It's pretty much a call for all seasons. I guess that touches my Franciscan heart because we Franciscans --and hopefully all people--take great comfort in the fact that we are never really finished, never "fully" converted. We always seem to be "in process" and the God who loves us does indeed love us in our fully human selves--our "in process" selves!

I guess it's that "in process" aspect, that idea of ongoing conversion that draws me to this hymn. That repetition of the phrase "this time" touches something deep inside the reality of who I am, who I have been, who I will become. I've weakened before. I've asked God to help me change before. And now here I am--asking again. And somewhere deep inside I sense God saying, "It's OK, Ann Marie. I'll help you change this time--and I'll help you change next time too."




The one line in the hymn that I don't like is the one, "We are the people your call set apart." Although it may not be intended that way--and probably refers to a specific time in history--there seems to be something  that strikes me as elitist in the phrase. It seems to me that all of us are called to a loving union with a loving God. That call, I think, is part of the human condition. And each of us--regardless of which formal faith tradition we follow, regardless of which name we use to converse with our God--each of us is called to that union. And along the way, we all call on God to help us to in whatever way we need to traverse the "mountains and sand of our soul" until our heart are fully and finally changed.

Was there any part of the hymn that particularly touched your heart?