That God has a heart for those who are lost is undeniable. The question is whether we do. Yes, we can focus on how we are lost like the prodigal, whether in big ways or small. But we should also focus on how we go about doing the welcoming. Whom do we include, whom do we invite, whom do we gaze off down the road in hopes that they might show their face and then go running to bring them in? Are we, who have been gathered up, ready to gather those who are still out from under the loving shelter of God’s winged grace?

Gathering Words/Call to Worship

Return
(inspired by Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

let this be the welcoming place
the place of return

and let it be built by a love
that bends towards those who return here

for it is a love that has been waiting
like a candle in the window
ever lighting the way back
and never willing to let go
the hope that each child
will return home

let it be the place where
the only appropriate response
to love that has come to the end of its longing
is to kill the fatted calf,
feast and celebrate
send up balloons
and prepare the party
for that which has been lost
has returned to be among us
once more

Written by Roddy Hamilton, and posted on Mucky Paws, http://www.nkchurch.org.uk/index.php/mucky-paws. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2016/02/prayer-reflection-return-luke-15.html.

Prayer – We Are Prodigal

(Luke 15:11-32)

O God, just as there is a bit of the prodigal in each person, the elder brother from the parable is too often present in the church. It is no secret that some people hesitate to join church because of the ways that some of us have treated newcomers.

Forgive us, Lord, for our lack of hospitality toward strangers.

Forgive us, Lord, for any ways that we make it difficult for new people to find comfortable space in our congregation.

Forgive us, Lord, for jealousy and infighting.

Teach us, Lord, how to receive people whose sins haven’t been made public.

Teach us, Lord, how to make our circles large enough to include others.

Teach us, Lord, how to love each other beyond any faults we may see.

Safiyah Fosua, The Africana Worship Book for Year C (Discipleship Resources, 2008), 147.

Prayer of Confession

O Gracious God, who knows the deepest places of our hearts, forgive us when we forget we are fearfully and wonderfully made, when we pretend you are not at the end of all of our searching, when we give ourselves over to the “whatever” of our culture. Remind us that your knowledge of us is wondrous and not punitive, and that we are defenseless against your love. Continue to seek us out even as we seek your face.

Lynda Weaver-Williams, “Fourth Sunday in Lent,” in The Abingdon Women’s Preaching Annual, Series 2, Year C, Compiled and Edited by Leonora Tubbs Tisdale (Abingdon, 2000), 79.

Prayer

(inspired by Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

Father, it was said of the Prodigal Son that he “came to himself.”
Help us to wake up to ourselves, and to You.
Set us free from the illusion of trying to be perfect
so that we might be more fully human.
Help us not to chase after an imaginary life,
and to find satisfaction in our real lives.
And turn us away from our self-rejection
so that we might see that Your arms open in welcome. Amen.

Written by Ann Siddall, in Lent to Easter liturgies: Year C. Posted on the website of the Stillpoint Spirituality Centre, https://stillpointsa.org.au. Reposted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2013/02/prayer-prodigal-son.html.