(This is the third sermon in our Lenten series, "Recipe for Repentance". Previous sermons can be found here and here, and the Ash Wednesday message can be found here.)
“That’s it; you’re in time-out!” How many of us have heard these words and experienced the pure panic of a child knowing that they’re in big trouble? Although we usually thought of it as a punishment in the moment, a time-out should more accurately be considered a “behavior modification strategy”. Unlike grounding, in which privileges are revoked as a method of negative reinforcement, a time-out is intended to remove a person from their normal environment and give them the opportunity to reflect on their bad behavior. After all, you can’t express remorse or make it right if you don’t understand what you’ve done wrong. In the words of parents since time immemorial, you’re put into time-out in order to “think about what you’ve done.”