What I have come to learn - and what I hope the elder son comes to learn as well - is this: I am powerless to root out my feelings of resentment and unfairness about the way life sometimes goes… Only God can root out feelings of resentment and unfairness. But I can take responsibility. For what I can do is place myself in a position for God to do that work of rooting out. I can make the decision over and over to return to this story, this gospel, this church, this worship… to return to this Father, and to that other Son whose welcoming embrace extends from the hard wood of the cross. And in that perpetual homecoming, undying gratitude defeats standoffish resentment every time.
Sermon from the Table service on 3/31/19
