The Little White Church on Main Street, Canmore, Alberta
Storytellers over the ages have understood that stories told in threes can have great power. This morning’s scripture lesson gave us two-thirds of a group of three parables about being lost and being found. Jesus tells of a shepherd who leaves a flock of 99 to find one missing sheep, and of a woman who notices that a coin is missing – one coin out of ten that separate her from poverty, or from shame, or from both – and …
This parable: the story of the prodigal. This parable has within it such depth of connection with the human condition, and with the deep grace of the Divine. The elements of the parable are well-known: two siblings, one parent. Although Dad is still very much alive, the younger son cashes in his inheritance early, goes far away and wastes it all on the high life. Things go sour for him, and he drags himself home, hoping to catch on as …
The experience of lost-ness is one that resonates at so many levels in so many lives. Most of us can recall a hike that didn’t quite have the landmarks you’d expected, or missing your exit then getting turned around in an unfamiliar city. I hear stories from adults about their earliest or most striking memories from childhood, and becoming separated from their parents in a store or separated from friends exploring the woods, is a really common early memory, along …