Pastor Hugh's Monthly Meditation
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LET’S GO HOME
James-joseph-jacques Tissot was a french painter, engraver and enameler who was born in 1836 in Nantes, France and died at Buillon Abbey, near Besançon in 1902, at the age of 65. Tissot was best known for his portraits of late Victorian society. Among his works was a series of paintings depicting scenes from Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal son, from Luke 15, entitled, “The Prodigal Son in Modern Life.” He portrayed this epic spiritual journey as if it took place in contemporary (Victorian) times.
Click on image to see a larger view of Tissot’s “The Return”, in a separate window.
The detail presented here is from the painting called “The Return.” It depicts that very moment when the broken and penitent son is back in the loving embrace of his father. I am moved deeply by the son, ragged and bare-footed, on his knees before his father, and the father, bent by the weight of age and worry, stooping down and embracing his son who “was dead and is alive again; [who] was lost and is found.” (Luke 15:24, NRSV)
Even though my own father passed away over 11 years ago, I still miss him terribly. When life seems to spin out of control, when daily challenges are especially weighty and my spirit begins to sag under them, I admit to wishing for his paternal embrace and reassuring counsel. As my father, he embodied a sense of security. When he was around, to guide and support me, I knew that no matter what, things would be OK. I no longer have him to lean on and look to. I haven’t had that for a long time. But, I still miss it.
When I see this painting I am reminded not only of my own father’s love, but of our Father’s love. I am reminded that my true home was never really with either of my earthly parents, but has been and will be forever with my eternal parent, God. And, if I might admit to one more thing, I can tend to forget that. When life is burdensome and I become motivated more by fear than by faith, I can forget for a moment where my true home is.
Lent will soon be upon us. And with it comes an opportunity to remember together where our true home is. Life with all its distractions can disorient us. We can get caught up in the pursuit of things that don’t really matter and forget the importance of those things that do. During Lent we hear our God calling to us to come home.
Home is where our true joy is found. It is where we are our truest selves. And home with God is where we rekindle that bedrock truth that we are God’s children—loved to the very core.
The great Christian author, C.S. Lewis, once wrote that apart from entering into a relationship with God, which he calls a kind of “dance”, “There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. . . . If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prize that God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry.”†
During Lent, we are invited to come home and get wet. Through the renewal of our baptism—whether through worship, Bible study, or the sharing of the stories of our faith—our faith can be strengthened and renewed. And like a prodigal son or daughter who has drifted away from the source of love and warmth, we will together journey back home and there rediscover the joy in knowing who we truly are: beloved children of the most high God.
Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer
Pastor
February 2007
† C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis on Joy, compiled by Lesley Walmsley, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), 31.
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