DAY 7

Saturday, October 7

SCRIPTURE:  “Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours.”  -Luke 15:31

OBSERVATION:  To the eldest son, the party for his younger brother who squandered his inheritance in dissolute living was not only wrong given the circumstances, it was a slap in the face to his years of loyalty and faithfulness to their father.  But we, too, rarely accept the word of the father, that “all that is mine is yours.”  Despising the thought that the younger son would in any way be rewarded for his poor choices and bad behavior, we too often stand with the eldest son, decrying bad behavior and refusing the generosity and grace of the father by not attending the party.  In calling out the youngest for his bad behavior, we make the example of God’s love only for those who we think “deserve it,” rather than God’s radical love described by, “all that is mine is yours.”  Rather than calling us OUT, God invites us IN.  “All that is mine is yours.”  Let that sink in before you relegate yourself to standing outside the celebration of grace and love.  This is an invitation to live in new ways.

PRAYER:  Generous God, rather than deciding what we have and what we have not, help us to trust that “all that you have is ours,” to not only believe it, but to act like it.  That we may adopt a spirit of welcoming one another into your joy—for the sake of all that is good for our community, our country, and the world.  AMEN.