Advent Lutheran Church

"Wrapped in Love"

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.  ² And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."  ³ So he told them this parable: "There was a man who had two sons.  ¹² 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.  ¹³ 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.

 ¹⁴ When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.  ¹⁵ 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.  ¹⁶ He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.  ¹⁷ 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!  ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;  ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."'

²⁰ 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.  ²¹ 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.'  ²² 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.  ²³ And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;  ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  ²⁶ He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.  ²⁷ He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.'  ²⁸ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.  ²⁹ 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.  ³⁰ But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!'  ³¹ Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  ³² 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.'" 

Wrapped in Love
The Parable of the Prodigal Son and his brother is one of the familiar parables. Amazingly, because this is part of the living word of God, it speaks to us differently each time we read it.  As with any parable of Jesus, there are moments that are just plain odd.  It is in these odd behaviors that we are drawn in.  The father, in Jesus’ time and culture, being a dignified man, would not run to meet his son. In fact, a dignified man would not run for any reason.  The father’s response is alien to our usual expectations and to conventional wisdom but isn’t that why we are drawn in?  The father is waiting and watching to welcome his son home.  He doesn’t wait for the explanation why and how he made it home but just celebrates that fact that he is home.  The father greets the son before hearing a word; he doesn’t wait for the son to express contrition before restoring him to full status in the household by giving him the robe, ring, and sandals.

Isn’t this what we want?  Someone there with open arms to welcome us home, to accept us as we are and to tell us that we are an important part of the family.  There are many times that we have been part of that welcome; times that we welcome someone home and times that we are in need of being welcomed.  As a congregation, we do this in a variety of ways.  As part of my ministry at Advent (and beyond), I have had the privilege to make and distribute prayer shawls to many people in need of that welcome.

Sometimes when we bless these shawls, we know the person who will receive them and other times we don’t.  As we bless them and lay hands on them, we are praying for the person.  We pray that as they wrap themselves in the shawl of comfort, that they will feel the arms of God gently wrapped around them.  We  pray that they find comfort in all that appears to be too much to bear, from all that seems to threaten their peace; that the shawl would be a shelter in a time of grief; a shade in times of sorrow too deep for words and a source of comfort.  We also pray for the joy of the transition that they may be experiencing because shawls are also given during these times as well.  We pray that the person may experience the comfort of God’s grace in the midst of life.  That the shawl will be warming, comforting, enfolding and embracing; that it may be a mantle of safe haven, a sacred place of security and well-being, sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult times.  That the person who receives the shawl be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love.

I have been privileged to be on the receiving end of the shawl ministry as well. To be the one who is wrapped in the shawl of comfort feeling God’s arms gently wrapped around me and to feel God’s welcoming presence in my life.
There are many ways that we are welcoming to our brothers and sisters in Christ. There are many ways that we do God’s work with our hands. Sometimes it is the building/fixing up of homes for people we don’t know; saying a word of encouragement to our co-workers; collecting supplies for those in need in our community and around the world; picking up trash along the roadway; donating used cell phones and ink cartridges, pop tops, Campbell soup labels, eyeglasses and many other things; serving as ushers and greeters at worship; inviting others into the family of God, and welcoming home those who have been away. 

As we continue our Lenten Journey may each of us feel those welcoming arms around us and may we be those welcoming arms to our brothers and sisters.