So it's a good story

After Luke 15:11-32

So it’s a good story

with a rather pointy point:

forgive the lost who are found

forgive the lost who were never lost

   in the first place, except within

   themselves.

The need was the save both

   From themselves

One knew it,

one didn’t

In the years that passed,

   one learned

   one didn’t

one embraced grace

one embraced works

Two prodigals:

take the quiz and

choose one.

The Oscar for best performance

by an actor isn’t

the ticket to heaven.

Photograph by Caterina Beleffi via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The prodigal sons

After Luke 15:11-32

One ran off, lived indulgence

one remained, lived selflessly

One left, and wasted everything

one remained, and stewarded everything

One left, wallowed with pigs

one remained, caring for goats and sheep

Two prodigals

One left, and spent it all

one remained, and served but

   wrapped himself in service

   and wanted a fatted calf

   his own, to recognize

   what he’d done, to celebrate

   what he’d done, to honor

   his self-control, self-discipline,

   his righteous anger justified

Perhaps it should be called

the parable of the sinner

and the Pharisee

Photograph by Rishabh Butola via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Says the prodigal

After Luke 15:11-32

Says the prodigal:

I have sinned against heaven

I have sinned before you

Reality breaks through:

I have sinned against heaven

I have sinned before you

The prodigal son says that but

he wasn’t the first to say that

the first was pharaoh

as the plagues rained down

reality broke through for a time

for pharaoh, for the prodigal

Pharoah knew

all rulers know

all prodigals know

even when blinded

they know

we know because

we are pharaoh

we are the prodigal

we are the parable

and the father runs forward

arms opened wide

in spite of

Photograph by Josh Kahen via Unsplash. Used with permission.

We are prodigal, son

After Luke 15:11-32

Given much, showered with blessings,

with comforts and luxuries,

necessities and surpluses,

what’s needed for sustenance,

what’s given for liberality,

we have much,

we have been given much.

And more, we want more,

we demand more and when 

we get it, we squander it,

throw it away, waste it

on the temporal, the useless,

the ephemeral, the decadent.

Lost long before we knew,

found long before we knew,

forgiven, long before we were.

Photograph by Dustin Dagamac via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Lost and found

After Luke 15:11-32

I wandered through the store, myself

lost, looking for the lost and found,

seeking something I didn’t know,

something I didn’t know I’d lost, but

knowing the loss, the emptiness, the hole

in the doughnut, the hole in the heart.

Then: found. The window, the man

staffing the window, the man who saw me

coming, wandering, looking for what

I’d lost. He saw me coming from 

the other side of the store, and he called out,

shouting it’s here, what you’re seeking

is here, we have it, you found it.

My heart cracked. 

My heart filled.

The hole in the doughnut closed.

Photograph by Nathan Wright via Unsplash. Used with permission.