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In my work as a priest, I often meet people who are living their lives with a sense of guilt. Quite often they’re not really sure what they’re feeling guilty about. And many who spend time on social media observing the curated, seemingly perfect lives of other people, combine that guilt with a nagging “feeling inadequate” too. Today, Shrove Tuesday is so named because it’s when Christians went to be shriven, that is, in preparation for the fasting season of Lent which begins tomorrow, they went to “clear the decks” as it were. Confess, face the reality of their own life circumstances and, crucially receive forgiveness and hope for change. Steeped in Christian tradition and culture, there is it seems to me, deep wisdom in shriving that’s more widely applicable in a modern context. Lent, as a fasting season, isn’t a self improvement opportunity to lose weight or save money – although those things might happen along the way. The shriving in preparation for it, today, is an energising empowering decision making process, known traditionally as repentance. Repentance doesn’t mean feeling inadequate or vaguely sorry for being me. Repentance literally means to turn, to turn away from self-centered living towards open hearted living, for Christians turning towards Christ, rooted in loving God and my neighbour. Far from being a guilt-ridden way of life, this kind of repentant decision making is full of energy. A good question for a modern shriving process might be: What do I use in my daily life to distract myself from the deeper realities of living? Is it alcohol, busyness, the internet, over-eating? And have I got the courage to try to change? And I say courage advisedly, because with these distractions removed, the big questions of life have time and space to surface: What is the purpose and direction of my life? Who made me and who is it that I love? Can I learn to forgive others? Can I learn to forgive myself? Spiritual and thoughtful questions that if given room to breathe can change our way of life. And if by Friday I’ve not been able to keep to the fast I’ve decided; if by Saturday I’ve had a beer or surfed the net or whatever it is I wanted to turn away from, then that presents me not with a counsel of despair but with an opportunity to strengthen my hope. Because real repentance is an ordinary every day thing; and it will always teach me that it is never, never too late to choose to change again.