As a follow up to my message on Sunday, I have continued to read some moving comments by Henri Nouwen on Rembrandt's painting of "The Return of the Prodigal". Nouwen confesses,
"For most of my life I have struggled to find God, to know God, to love God...Now I wonder whether I have sufficiently realized that during all this time God has been trying to find me, to know me, and to love me...God is looking into the distance for me, trying to find me, and longing to bring me home. in all three parables which Jesus tells in response to the question of why he eats with sinners, he puts the emphasis on God's initiative. God is the shepherd who goes looking for his lost sheep. God is the woman who lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches everywhere for her lost coin until she has found it. God is the father who watches and waits for his children, runs out to meet them, embraces them, pleads with them, begs and urges them to come home...when I look through God's eyes at my lost self and discover God's joy at my coming home, then my life may become less anquished and more trusting."
Nouwen's words are a fitting plea for us to cherish the love of God.
3 comments:
Wow. Reading your blog makes me realize how much I've missed learning from you at Heritage. Looks like I might be able to make it back soon, though ...
Sounds good. We haven't given away your place on the pew!
Good, I've really missed being there. It's where I go in my mind when times are rough ... to the parking lot. Silly, huh? But when I was living in Oak Ridge, it was where I'd go when I just needed to run away, just needed to be somewhere else. I'd drive to Heritage and sit in the parking lot, LOL. Silly, maybe, but it always made me feel better to be there.
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