Sunday, June 15
- Scripture: Luke 15:11-32 (excerpts) “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had… After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. … When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father … But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him… Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. … “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
- Reflection: Two sons are lost in this story, and the parent seeks connection with each of them. He attempts to give each child what they need.
One is hungry all the time, and yet his appetites can never be sated. A famine occurs as he lives abroad, and only when he is desperate and starving, does he turn toward home. Upon homecoming, he is given more than he asked. More than he expected. Offered by a jubilant father who simply welcomes him home unconditionally.
The other son resents being reliable and steadfast, always present for his father back at home, and never feted. He feels taken for granted. He feels overlooked. He wonders why he wasn’t rewarded as opulently and obviously as his errant brother. Yet his father reminds him that he already has everything: the farm and his father’s deep regard. Does he need a feast?
Do we need a feast? Where in our lives are we so hungry, that we try to fill our time and hearts and minds with pleasures that only numb us, or temporarily hide or cover up deeper needs we cannot fulfill on our own? Conversely, what do we need to say to those we love, but who have hurt or disappointed us, so that we connect more fully?
What do we need from those who love us? Including Godself? Or family? Or friends? How does the environment we create for ourselves, in our homes and workplaces and play spaces, reflect the equilibrium in our lives? What is out of balance? What needs to be pruned or nurtured, give more light, more water, more space, more air, more attention? What will flourish if environmental factors are adjusted? What is struggling? What can we change, or how may we connect, so that Love may finally calm the craving, the emptiness, the thirst, the hunger, the want, the pain? - Spiritual Practice Prompt: On this sabbath, allow yourself to enjoy a simple feast. Make a special recipe. Pluck something fresh from the garden if anything is ripe. Or pick up something at a farmstand or the grocery. Serve someone else, or let someone else cook for you. Taste the goodness of your life. Sometime today, celebrate over a meal with someone else, if you’re able.
Songs:
- Our House by Crosby, Stills & Nash: https://youtu.be/aunVlekXjkE?si=W0RwfyUloyHB26zS
- Unleavened Feast of Matzot Worship Song/ English-Hebrew Messianic Worship Song: https://youtu.be/gkPmBivTJGo?si=8jZCxelS86egEnKe
- Food Song by Barbra Lica: https://youtu.be/QWjygxbQbQY?si=oy7nNDUWFNfp8fRj
- Feast by Ken Theriot: https://www.reverbnation.com/kentheriot/song/2930843-the-feast-song
Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast. — Melody Beattie
Our happiness depends on the habit of mind we cultivate. So practice happy thinking every day. Cultivate the merry heart, develop the happiness habit, and life will become a continual feast. — Norman Vincent Peale
June 15th Daily Devotional (Fathers Day)