Restlessness and Return

The Reverend Brett L. Hedgepeth

The Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent

“Heavenly Father, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you: Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections, that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

The ancient prayer of Saint Augustine reaches through the centuries down to us, beautifully recast for us today as the Collect for the Third Sunday in Lent. Its purpose is to gently—yet firmly—remind us of a truth that is as familiar as it is challenging: we were made for God, and nothing else will ever truly satisfy us.

Does this lesson need to be taught yet again? How many times must we hear it? The loving response seems to be: yes, at least once more.

Almost without noticing, we often slip into a "pursuit-mode," chasing wealth, status, relationships, or achievement. Each time, we convince ourselves that the next accomplishment will finally bring peace. This default state of the human heart is, ironically, evidence of our divine design. Our restlessness is a compass, constantly pointing us toward our true home and our only source of rest.

As we petition our Heavenly Father, the prayer invites us to seek His compassion anew: “Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants and purify our disordered affections.”

Here, grace meets reality. God looks upon His struggling children with tenderness, seeking to heal us through His transforming grace. Our affections become “disordered” when we direct toward lesser things the intensity of love that belongs only to God. It is not wrong to desire security, love, or purpose. However, when we demand that money provide ultimate security, that another person "complete" us, or that professional achievements define our worth, we invert the natural order. We begin to worship the creation instead of the Creator.

A marriage meant to reflect God’s love cannot be our god. A career meant to add meaning to life cannot be our primary meaning. Money meant to be a tool often becomes a tyrant. Only God can restore our affections to their proper place and purpose.

This week, consider these questions:

• Where is my heart still searching for rest in the wrong places?

• Which of my desires have become disordered?

• What is God inviting me to release or realign?

  
  

Allow your restlessness to redirect you toward the God who loves you and who alone can satisfy your soul. Pray this Collect as your own personal cry. Ask God to look upon your heart with fatherly compassion, to purify your affections, and to grant you a clear vision of His eternal glory.

The Collect culminates in this vision: “that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus.” This is our Lenten home. As we fast, pray, and examine our hearts, we clear away the "brush" of lesser goods in our lives to see Jesus, our greatest good. To be confronted again with the life, death and resurrection of Christ on our behalf is to be like the one leper who was healed but returned to worship Jesus.

When disordered desires cloud our sight, we cannot see Christ as He truly is—the wellspring of satisfaction, the answer to every longing, and the very face of God’s love. Yet, as the Holy Spirit purifies our hearts, our spiritual vision sharpens. We perceive again the eternal glory of God reflected in the person of our crucified and risen King.

This is the goal of Lent: transformation, not mere self-improvement. When our affections finally align with their proper object, we find lasting rest. In beholding Christ, we are remade from within.

[Edited with Claude AI]