30-Mar-25 (Luke 15:1-3,11b-32)

Have you ever gotten lost? [wait for answers]
It's pretty scary, isn't it?
Sometimes, when we're visiting a new and exciting place, we might get distracted by something and, before we know it, we don't know where our parents are! And they're just as frightened when they realize that they don't know where we are.
In our gospel story for today, we hear about a son who deliberately got lost. He asked his dad for the money that would be his after his father died and he went far away and began to spend it on anything and everything. When he'd spent it all, and after he tried working at a really bad job, he finally gave up and went back to his dad.
Now, you'd probably expect that his dad wouldn't be happy to see him after he'd wasted all the money he got. Maybe he wouldn't even let him back at all.
But in our story, the father runs out to meet the son when he's still a way off and even throws him a party.
Jesus wants us to know that God is like that. Sometimes we go off and do things that God isn't happy about. Sometimes we waste the good things that God has given us. Yet God forgives us and welcomes us when we realize that we've been wrong. God is always happy to see us come back and try to live the way God intended.
Let's pray about that:

Prayer:

God, we thank you for sending us Jesus to teach us about how much you love us. We thank you that you forgive us when we do things you don't like. We thank you that you're always happy to see us and to welcome us back to you when we realize we've done wrong.
Help us to forgive other people and to show them your love by loving them in same way.
In Jesus' name we pray. AMEN.