All the Love We Cannot Lose - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

The Gospel today is drawing us back to one another and we know it, we know it. This is why our overwhelming sense, When we hear this story, our overwhelming feeling is of the magnificent love that runs towards us, even when we're not sure who we are and the beauty and the power of the story is that even though the sons don't know, they belong, the father never stops loving them. Even when the two sons don't acknowledge each other, the father sees them both as beloved son. Even when both of them are completely incapable when neither of them are able to see each other or see their father or see themselves as in true and loving relationship, the father sees it and knows it and lives it and holds onto them when they can't hold onto him when they can't hold onto eachother. This is the story of our God, the God who will not let go of us, the God who will not let us go, who will hold onto us and transform us and make us know our belonging and help us to see the power and the beauty of the belonging of all the people all around us. And if we have eyes to see it and ears to hear it, we will know our belongingness and we will allow ourselves to be transformed by God's love as we experience it in our hearts.