by Elizabeth Davey
When our family was sitting around lunch today I asked my family what I should say about the service, with its focus on the Parable of the Prodigal Son of Luke 15. Natalie was quick on the draw: “We witnessed the heart of a teacher who sees the Father’s heart! He sees the complexity of his students and loves them as he does his own. Out of his deep compassion he speaks of the compassionate heart of One who wants us to come home.” And there we have it—the profundity of one of the most familiar parables in Scripture lived out in our midst by a father/teacher who confessed he hasn’t had a good night’s sleep for a long time! And still he perseveres.
In Kofi’s reflections three questions caught my attention as well …
“What kind of lyrics did God use to woo us to Him?”
“What distant countries have we travelled to?”
“What do our souls look like when we are not at rest?”
We are used to seeing this parable as a salvation parable—but what might it mean as we take account of our daily lives so filled with thoughts so far from “Home?”
TC3’s songs moved me today as well. I am teaching a course in African American literature this term and am forcefully reminded of the deep pain out of which the Spirituals come. The slaves and ex-slaves called them “Sorrow Songs,” and they were often coded messages to each other in their efforts to escape. How could such beautiful spiritual lyrics speak to us today? “I’m going to lay down my burdens /and study war no more!”
And then, the haunting words, “I open my mouth to the Lord. / And I won’t turn back. / I will go! I shall go! / To see what the end’s going to be.” It was a coded message, for sure, of escape from wretchedness and exploitation. I watched those children singing and I prayed that they won’t turn back … that you and I won’t turn back … that we will see what the end’s going to be.” As Kofi said, passionately, “Just come home!” Whether we have been believers for years, or whether we are barely started on the journey back to the Father, we need these words branded on our hearts to keep us on the way.