Fourth
Sunday in Lent
Prodigal
Son/Love/Forgiveness
and
Gratitude
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And
the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow
welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable:
"There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father,
‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he
divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered
all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his
property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine
took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and
hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his
fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that
the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself
he said, ‘How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare,
but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will
say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no
longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."'
So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his
father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around
him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the
father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it
on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted
calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead
and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.
"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the
house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what
was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed
the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became
angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.
But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working
like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have
never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But
when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with
prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him,
‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to
celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to
life; he was lost and has been found.'"
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Prodigal Son (detail)
MURILLO,
Bartolomé Esteban
1667-1670
National
Gallery of Art
Washington,
D.C.
United
States
Full
painting and more information may be found at:
http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=34956
He
that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge
over
which he must pass himself.
~ Thomas Fuller
When
you feel unloved,
it
is not because you are not receiving love;
it
is because you are withholding love.
~
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Jan
Barclay’s visitation was Monday evening and her heartwarming service was
Tuesday
morning in Springfield, Missouri.
Jan
was Vicki Hall’s sister.
Janice
P. Barclay
April
16, 1937 ~ February 28, 2013
http://www.gormanscharpf.com/sitemaker/sites/Gorman1/obit.cgi?user=924261Barclay
Jan’s
husband, Bill Barclay, with Becky Carathan, one of his three children.
Jan’s
son, Charles Rose, with his wife, Abbi,
and
their sons, Chance and Chaz.
Vicki
Hall was happy to see her old Kindergarten friend, Ronnie Reynaud.
Vicki
with four more Kindergarten friends!
Charles
Rose, center, with Tom and Andrea Criley.
Angie
Pinegar (Abbi’s sister) and Betty Bradford Hoover, another friend of Vicki’s
from Kindergarten.
Dave
and Jill Patterson
Jill
gave a lovely eulogy at the service.
Lunch
with Alice Helmkamp and Vicki Hall.
Gratitude as
a discipline involves a conscious choice.
I can choose
to be grateful even when my emotions and
feelings are
still steeped in hurt and resentment.
It is
amazing how many occasions present themselves
in which I
can choose gratitude instead of a complaint.
I can choose
to be grateful when I am criticized,
even when my
heart still responds in bitterness.
I can choose
to speak about goodness and beauty,
even when my
inner eye still looks for someone
to accuse or
something to call ugly.
~ Henri J. M. Nouwen
March 10,
2013 Fourth Sunday in Lent
Previous OPQs may be found at:
http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm
The Prodigal
Son
Luke 15:1-3,
11b-32
Agnus Day, by James
Wetzstein
Agnus Day
appears with the permission of www.agnusday.org
http://www.heartlight.org/gallery/2503.html
http://pinterest.com/pin/70509550387553140/
Joshua
5:9–12
Psalm 32
2
Corinthians 5:16–21
Luke 15:1–3,
11b–32