March 27, 2022
Lent 4
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Both sons forgot who they were, first and foremost, who they were before the world applied its labels and new identification.

The father in this parable must have been looking for him, Junior, to see his son returning. On top of the family home, he watched, looked, waited, and then ran; in the same way, God continues to seek us out, gathering us in, calling us child, calling us beloved.

This is the same Father who at his Son’s baptism shouted, “You are my Son, the Beloved,”[7] and at the Transfiguration said, “This is my son, the beloved.”[8]

Howard Thurman

Theologian Howard Thurman wrote, “you don’t need to leave home to forget”[9] who you are.

Junior and Senior forgot, but the one who sought them both would not let them forget.

The world will call you many things. Your sin will call you many things. But the One who insists on embracing you and throwing a banquet in your honor will not allow you to forget and is calling you beloved, a child of God, even when we forget.

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