Father's Day brings to mind one of the most famous father-son stories in the New Testament, the story of the prodigal son. It has inspired art... and sermons. It never grows old. This poem-sermon by a minister born a hundred years ago brings the story dramatically to life, so I wanted to share it today, on Father's Day, as an example of a father's love and forgiveness, the ties that bind.
My back is turned to him,
I have been told that he forgives me,
but I will not turn, so
and have the forgiveness,
even though I feel the eyes on my back.
But God does not give up:
for he takes my head between his hands
and turns my face to make me smile at him.
...
He has taken a pair of human hands
with which to turn our stiff-necked heads,
and bring our eyebeams
into line with his own.
(From a sermon by Austen Farrer, Said or Sung, Quoted in Lost in Wonder, p. 107)
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