This week, as I walked back through the sanctuary after our early service, I was stopped by one of our youngest members. He handed me a picture. I paused for a second, sat next to him on the pew and he read what it said to me. “God loves you.” The message was simple, surrounded by colorful crayon-drawn hearts and shapes. I’ve been struck as the week has gone on, how powerful that moment was for me on Sunday. Maybe it is the bombardment of political ads that led up to Super Tuesday or that my head and heart has really been stuck in “repentance-mode” during this season of Lent which has me questioning how God loves any of us in the middle of this mess. But as I read the parable of the Prodigal Son in preparation for this Sunday and as I look at the picture now proudly hanging on my office bulletin board, I’m reminded that despite how lost or unlovable we might feel, God loves us. A lot. Excessively. I don’t think we can be reminded of this love enough (if you are like me, it seems like it is easy to forget!).
My “Vicar’s Desk” is simple today. May the words of one of our smallest prophets continue to interrupt your thoughts this week, “God loves you.” May you taste that reminder in the bread and the wine, may it splash on your forehead as you pass by the font, may it be said to you on the subway or in the work place through affirmations or quiet smiles, may it squeeze you in your night-time hugs with your little ones or partners, or surprise you in a burst of color or breath of fresh winter air.
- Vicar Alissa