From Luke 15
24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.
This Sunday we have the story of the Prodigal Son. It can also be called the story of the Forgiving Father! You can probably reassemble parts of the story from memory..
Son wants to leave home
Son claims inheritance
Son leaves home
Son blows all his cash
Son reconsiders his home
Son plans to work as a servant
Father welcomes son
Father throws a party
Other son feels slighted
I would like to take another step. I find myself wondering what the other members of the household might be thinking. There may be some who don't know exactly what to think about him. There may be some who are as glad as the father to see a family reunited. Some may have thought of him as a dead-beat, a brat who only wanted to live on the edge without a care for those who cared for him most.
Now, back to the forgiving father. What if, along with wanting a celebration for the sheer joy of it, the father wanted to influence the attitudes of all the others in the household? What if the father wanted to direct his people to organize a preemptive celebration? Minimize the awkward moment while people try to figure out how they should think.
Perhaps you know people who throw together preemptive celebrations. You are blessed to know them!
Communities of faith - how about preemptive celebration as a guiding principle?
/W/orshipping/I/nviting/S/tudying/E/ncouraging/G/iving/P/raying/S/erving
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