Fourth Sunday of Lent
(continued)
From Fear
to
Love
Lenten Reflections on the
Parable of the Prodigal Son
by Henri J.M. Nouwen
(1932-1996)
(For Lent this year, a season of reflection and renewal,
I am forgoing the usual quotes and using only snippets from Henri
Nouwen found at
the site above in his “Reflections on the Parable of the Prodigal Son.”)
The parable tells of a wealthy landowner’s son
who leaves home and squanders his inheritance. When he returns destitute but
contrite, the father joyfully welcomes him, causing resentment in the dutiful
brother. The father explains that a celebration is warranted for “your brother was
dead, and is alive again.” We learn that God, like a loving parent, is merciful
and forgiving, that reconciliation with Him is a gift. That we should not judge
others, but rejoice when a sinner returns to His fold.
Grace
and Forgiveness
You were
dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the
course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit
that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among
them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses,
and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.
But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us
even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us
with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he
might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus. For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are
what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand to be our way of life.
Ephesians 2:1-10
Forgiving
Father
WESLEY, Frank
http://www.biblical-art.com/artwork.asp?id_artwork=21880&showmode=Full
The prodigal son’s return begins at the moment
he realizes
that he has lost everything but the most
important thing.
He is still the son of his father.
In your life, too, there are moments when you
realize
that while you have done everything to destroy
yourself,
what you have never lost is your true identity
as a daughter or a son.
By living your life as a child of God you have a unique
statement to make and I encourage you to make
it. …
The people in the human family need people
who claim God within them, and speak out by
their lives of hope and compassion.
Sometimes you can make choices beyond your
physical,
mental, and emotional capacity by claiming your
authentic identity as a son or a daughter of
God.
God does
not condemn you, does not judge you, does not want to punish you.
Those images exist in the Old Testament and even
in the New Testament,
but they are images that say more about the
limitations
of our expression than about the heart of God.
…
The truth is that God is only love and “God
makes the rain
to fall on the wicked as well as on the
righteous.”
Danna
brought her finished quilt on Wednesday to breakfast.
This
is the BACK side!!!
WOW!!!
Harold,
with tongue in cheek (I think), brought his latest sculpture.
We
said good-bye to Roy and Carolyn Mc.
as
they were leaving the next day for their new home in Tucson.
)))-:
Roy
Carolyn
Mc.
Joan
fixed a yummy shamrock cake
for our church book club.
Carolyn,
Lynn, Nancy
Some
of our Rotary “Agents of Fun.”
Todd,
Mark, Randy, Gretchen
Deputized
Agents of … Fun?
Fabienne,
our exchange student from Switzerland,
thinks
everyone is crazy!
A
Rotary and Chamber of Commerce fundraiser
for
a commemorative statue for the Veterans’ Memorial Walk.
Dave,
Mary, Adrian, Dave
Two photos
from Robin
Kiyo,
Junna, and Robin in Toulouse, France,
where
Junna is attending university for a year.
Robin
in front of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
She
was in Bilbao to speak at a conference.
In my own life I well know how hard it
is for me
to trust that I am loved and to trust that the
intimacy I need and crave is there for me.
… As long as I think that what I most need I
have
to earn, deserve, and collect by hard work,
I will never get what I most need and desire,
which is a love that cannot be earned, but that
is freely given.
March 18,
2012 Fourth Sunday of Lent
Previous OPQs may be found at:
http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm
All quotes are from Henri Nouwen.
And just as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have
eternal life." Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are
condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son
of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and
people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all
who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds
may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it
may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.
John 3: 14-21
Agnus Day, by James
Wetzstein
Agnus Day
appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org
http://www.heartlight.org/gallery/423.html
http://www.heartlight.org/gallery/99.html
Num. 21:4–9
Ps. 107:1–3,
17–22
Eph. 2:1–10
John 3:14–21