Let Us Return to the LORD [Feb 18, 2026]

Note: This was my sermon at the opening service of Community Lenten Fellowship + Devotion Series at Littleton United Methodist Church.

“Let Us Return to the Lord” (Hosea 6:1-3)

Thank you for inviting me to speak at the beginning of this ecumenical gathering here in the Roanoke Valley. I believe it is truly a blessing for us to gather today, transcending denominations, regional boundaries, and race. This time together is a good reminder that the observance of Lent is not only an individual act but a communal one. Each of you may have made personal resolutions for this season. Along with those, I would like to take a moment to reflect on what we, as a community gathering for fellowship and worship, should keep in mind and pray for.

My homiletics professor used to say, “In a short sermon, preach only one point.” Given our limited time, it’s not easy to choose just one, as Lent holds many overlapping and significant meanings. Nevertheless, if I were to pick one, I believe the voice of God for us today is the message from the passage in Hosea we just read:

“Come, let us return to the LORD!”

Lent is a season of returning to the Lord. It is a time to reflect on our wrongdoings, look back at our weaknesses, repent of our sins, and once again renew our vows to the Lord. Why is this so? Because this season directs our gaze toward the example of Jesus. As we look upon His life, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection and glory, we follow in His footsteps. Lent is a season where we die with the Lord and live with the Lord.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this is a season of communal repentance. The prophet’s words, “The LORD has torn us… He has injured us…” reveal the spiritual crisis faced by the community of Israel. This is because their divisions and wounds resulted from spiritual poverty and a disconnection from God. When we say, “Let us return to the Lord!” it is not just an individual turning, but a collective one.

To follow the Lord, we must ensure that the direction of our lives aligns with the direction He has given us. This happens not only by gripping the steering wheel of our lives but also by correcting the misalignment in our daily living. You all understand what I mean—even if you hold the steering wheel straight, if the alignment is off, the car cannot go where it is supposed to and keeps drifting out of the lane. Our lives are the same. It is not enough for our hearts to simply desire the Lord; we must also correct our daily conduct and virtues toward the direction He desires. That is what we do during Lent.

This is why it returns every year. It is for our spiritual maintenance. Some might ask, “Christ became the once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins, and through Him, we have received the seal of eternal salvation—so why do we keep returning to a state of guilt during Lent?” But as the Apostle Paul said, two laws are at war within our hearts: the law of the Spirit of life and the law of sin and death. The season of Lent is a time to declare to our souls and our lives: “I will look to the life of Christ and walk the path of life.”

And this does not stop at individual repentance. Many of you here are already anchored in Christ and living in the assurance of salvation. Through this season, God wants us to move toward intercessory prayer for others and communal repentance. These 40 days of Lent remind us of the community of Nineveh, who fasted and repented before the Lord for 40 days after hearing Jonah’s proclamation. They prayed together for God’s mercy, and God heard their humility. I pray that such grace would be upon us as we continue to gather—that God would hear our prayers, and that our prayers for our communities would continue to spread.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, during this Lenten season, please pray for our community, our society, our nation, and the nations of the world. Let us repent and pray for the communal stubbornness we witness every day. When God bestows mercy upon contrite hearts, it will lead not only to personal repentance but to social holiness. Pray for God’s mercy upon those whose ideas you disagree with. And as you offer those prayers, pray also that God’s mercy and compassion would surround us, granting us the grace of patience and tolerance.

Relying on the Word given to us, I exhort you: “Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord; his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth.” I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—that this Lenten season would be a time of knowing God more deeply, a time when His assurance embraces us all, and a time when His presence brings refreshing rain to dry souls and sprouts the buds of God’s hope in this desert-like world.