This week’s passage may be familiar. Perhaps you heard it long ago in Sunday School. And maybe it’s fresh and new for you today. This is the invitation…to come to the Scriptures to hear freshly what the Spirit may be saying to us through the text.
Jesus’ parables of losing and finding lend themselves well to praying with our senses and imagination. What feelings, sensations, images or metaphors come to mind as you linger in this illustration? What is it like for you to sense freshly into what it’s like to be so wanted, sought after, and purely delighted in? To be found just as you are? To be found where you really are?
We might assume that this kind of attentiveness will be welcome, but for some people it might feel overwhelming. For others it might be difficult to imagine being so desired and delighted in. Go slow and gentle with whatever emerges for you in this time of prayer. Every bit of you is welcome in prayer, including the feelings that we might tend to run from or push away. Just simply notice how it is for you to be seen and found just as you are right now.
However it is for you, it is welcome here – right now in the presence of the God who is with you in all things.
Luke 15:1-10 (ESV)
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
For Reflection and Prayer:
As you listened, did you notice a word, a phrase, or an image that seemed to shimmer for you? Hold this gently in your heart, allowing it to settle deeply.
If the passage elicited any particular feeling/s, hold this lightly and consider journaling your reflection on this with Jesus.
If you feel a prayer rising forth from your experience with our Lord, consider writing it down, and then simply rest quietly with Him.
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