This is part of a syndicated series for Lent 2019 with Harvard’s Christian Journal Ichthus. Visit Ichthus at http://www.harvardichthus.org | By Daniel Sutton, visiting student and recent Oxford graduate.

For a number of years, I thought Christianity was just this – it was a set of rules, through which God told me how to do the right thing and how be a good, respectable person, or at least look like one to the outside world. It seems that many of the crowd, or many of the people Luke was writing to, thought likewise.

By Raquel Sequeira, TD ’21. Raquel is majoring in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry.

Repeated failures during Lent are merciful reminders to fall to our knees, the posture that is required of us when we take communion and say: “we do not presume to come to this your table, oh merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your manifold and great mercies.”

By Keniel Yao, MY ’19. Keniel is majoring in Statistics and Data Science.

Personally, I have too often failed to engage in dialogue. In spaces where I am of the majority, I have failed to advocate for your presence, to listen to your voice and concerns, to ensure your right to worship in safety. I have been content with generalizations rather than intent to see you, the individual, in all your uniqueness and common humanity. Whilst I did not shoot, I did not ensure that you would be safe in my home, our home.