Introduction

Return To God 2016

 - A Lenten Journey Into Wilderness, To Jerusalem -

            From as early as the fourth century, the Christian Church has  observed a period of fasting before the festival of Easter. These weeks became a time of preparation for those adults wishing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil, and, for the whole  Church, a time of  examination, of prayer, of returning to the central things of life in Christ, of relationship with God.

            During this lectionary year which uses the Gospel according to Luke, we begin on Ash Wednesday with the admonition of the prophet Joel: 'Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart"; we enter into the wilderness with Christ for forty days to confront those things which keep us from God and the fullness of our own being; we make our way with Christ to Jerusalem, a journey that takes a full ten chapters in the middle of Luke's narrative. At the core of these weeks is the Parable of the Lost Son, mourned, missed, and welcomed home by the extravagant love of the Prodigal Father.

             May we have the courage to take this journey willingly, consciously, during this Lenten season. May we remember that Christ took this wilderness journey before us and walks the rocky road with us. May we call to mind that the Spirit gives us power in our weakness. May we always see the loving face of God reaching out to us in welcome and love. Blessed journey to us all.

"O my brothers and sisters, the contemplative is the one not who has fiery visions of the cherubim carrying God on their imagined chariot, but simply one who has risked his mind to the desert."                                                                        (Thomas Merton)

Devotional prepared for Mount Olive Lutheran Church

by Susan Palo Cherwien


              

Resources related to the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15):

ART

ç Minneapolis Institute of Arts, currently on view (all on 3rd floor):

            David Teniers, ca. 1640 The Prodigal Son, Room G312

            Pier Leone Ghezzi, ca. 1720 The Prodigal Son, Room G308

            also, in the same area:  

            Titian, ca. 1516 The Temptation of Christ, Room G330

The Institute owns many additional Prodigals, not currently displayed, which can be viewed online. http://www.artsmia.org, under Collections. Enter the search words "Prodigal Son".

ç Luther Seminary houses the main body of Jerry Evenrud's Prodigal Son collection, a number of which are generally on display in the horseshoe-shaped hallway near the president's office in the Northwestern Building, second floor, to the left inside the Fulham door.  http://www.luthersem.edu/prodigal

BOOKS

ç And Grace Will Lead Me Home: Images of the Prodigal Son from the Jerry Evenrud Collection,  Robert Brusic, Kirk House Press.

ç The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, Henri Nouwen, Image Books. An encounter with Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son propels Nouwen onto a spiritual journey. Also, Home Tonight: Further Reflections on the Prodigal Son, pieced together from Nouwen's notebooks and workshops, Image Books.

ç Robinson Crusoe (novel), Daniel Defoe (many editions).

çGreat Expectations (novel), Charles Dickens.

ç The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (semiautobiographical novel), Rainer Maria Rilke, tr. Stephen Mitchell, Random House. The final pages are a prose poem on the Prodigal Son.

ç Home (novel), Marilynne Robinson, Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.

MUSIC, THEATER

ç 1869 , Sir Arthur Sullivan, oratorio, The Prodigal Son

ç 1884, Claude Debussy, scéne lyrique, L'enfant prodigue (Édouard Guinand, librettist, adds the mother, given the name Lia, whose beautiful aria of regret and longing opens the scéne. The father's name is Simeon, the son, Azäel. Recommended recording: Jessye Norman, José Carreras, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau on YouTube., 34 mins. http://www.youtube/watch?v=OShjToPSsOM

ç 1929, Sergei Prokofiev, ballet, The Prodigal Son, choreographed by George Balanchine. Libretto: Boris Kochno. Sets based on images from Georges Roualt. In this libretto, the Son has two sisters. Danced on YouTube by Mikhail Baryshnikov, approx. 35-40 mins. in 4 segments.

ç 1961, Langston Hughes, one-act play, The Prodigal Son

ç 1968, Benjamin Britten, church opera, The Prodigal Son, Opus 81. Libretto: William Plomer. Inspired by Raphael's Prodigal Son in the Hermitage. Plomer's story line adds a Tempter, under whose  power the son undergoes three temptations. The Tempter was originally sung by tenor Peter Pears. Excerpt from a 1997 performance by the City of Birmingham Opera. http://www.youtube/watch?v=dMflVOJMKRk

POETRY

James Weldon Johnson, "The Prodigal Son"

Rainer Maria Rilke, "The Departure of the Prodigal Son"

Christina Rossetti, "A Prodigal Son"