Reconciling with the Prodigal Son
Lent IV sermon delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Early on in my relationship with my wife, we lived off of her pay for being a teaching assistant at IU. It covered the rent of a small apartment, the phone, and food, but not much else. At one point, we had an unexpected expense and we were going to be short of money for the month. I had just graduated and had not yet found a job, and had not put effort into finding one that reflected my commitment to us as a team. I reluctantly called my grandparents, who had very conservative ideas about personal finance and personal responsibility, having survived the Great Depression as young adults with two children. I got a lecture from them about my responsibility and financial decisions, instead of compassion and help. My father called me a little while later, gently offering to send money and saying that he understood the difficulties we were facing as a couple. I realized that I couldn’t have...