Beloved

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

15 Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And

the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes

sinners and eats with them.’

3 So he told them this parable:

11 Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them

said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to

me.” So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger

son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered

his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine

took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and

hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to

feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs

were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he

said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but

here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to

him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer

worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’” 20 So he set

off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was

filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21

Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I

am no longer worthy to be called your son.” 22 But the father said to his servants,

“Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his

finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat

and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and

is found!” And they began to celebrate.

25 ‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the

house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked

what was going on. 27 He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has

killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” 28 Then he

became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with

him. 29 But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been

working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you

have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.

30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with

prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” 31 Then the father said to him,

“Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to

celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life;

he was lost and has been found.”’

Beloved Is Where We Begin by Jan Richardson From Circle of Grace

If you would enter

into the wilderness,

do not begin

without a blessing.

Do not leave

without hearing

who you are:

Beloved,

named by the One

who has traveled this path

before you.

Do not go

without letting it echo

in your ears,

and if you find

it is hard

to let it into your heart,

do not despair.

That is what

this journey is for.

I cannot promise

this blessing will free you

from danger,

from fear,

from hunger

or thirst,

from the scorching

of sun

or the fall

of the night.

But I can tell you

that on this path

there will be help.

I can tell you

that on this way

there will be rest.

I can tell you

that you will know

the strange graces

that come to our aid

only on a road

such as this,

that fly to meet us

bearing comfort

and strength,

that come alongside us

for no other cause

than to lean themselves

toward our ear

and with their

curious insistence

whisper our name:

Beloved.

Beloved.

Beloved.

We get this parable from Jesus in response to grumblings from the religious leaders

in power about him eating with sinners and tax collectors. He actually tells 3

parables in response to their accusations and disapproval. The first is the parable of

the lost sheep where a shepherd has 100 sheep, one wanders off and he leaves the

flock to find the one lost sheep. The other is the parable of the lost coin where a

woman has 10 coins, loses one and calls all her friends to help her search for it

until it’s found. And then this one that we heard today from Debbie. The outline of

each story is – something or someone is lost, then found, then there is rejoicing by

the finder.

Jesus didn’t scold the judging religious leaders. He didn’t try to convince them that

his way was right with facts. He mostly told stories and acted with love. You might

know that in his day to sit with “sinners,” whoever they might be outside the

traditional Jewish ways, was considered to be not a good thing. “Those” people

were considered unclean and at the bottom of society. And to eat with Tax

Collectors, working for Rome was like eating with the enemy. For Jesus to eat

with them was to degrade his status or place in society. A “real” Jew at the time

wouldn’t do that because it made them unclean. And Jesus did it anyway.

I don’t know how the Revised Common Lectionary works or how they decide what

readings fall into which season of our church year. I am curious why this parable is

included in Lent. Why in this time of being in and exploring the wilderness? This

story of lost and found and rejoicing and resentment?

The best I can come to is that in a wilderness time, we need to be reminded, as Jan

Richardson so eloquently does in her poem, that we are beloved. We are beloved

by the one we call God/the Divine/Holy One. All the time. When we follow the

rules, when we wander, when we squander our gifts, when we are lost, when we

are found, when we come to ourselves, when we are resentful, when we are

exasperated. We are beloved and will be welcomed in or welcomed back. Simply

because we are beloved – no strings attached. And there will be rejoicing always.

If you follow the Boulder Public Library and City of Boulder events, you may

know that Valerie Kaur’s book, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of

Revolutionary Love, is this year’s selection for One Book, One Boulder. She’ll be

here for a talk on April 24, and I highly recommend reading the book and

encourage you to attend if you are interested and available. I’ve participated in an

in person retreat and an online workshop with her and Nicole attended her

Revolutionary Love book tour last fall. She is a member of the Sikh faith and has

so much to say about this teaching that we are beloved. She says, “Revolutionary

Love is the call of our times.” Her invitation is to see no strangers in our path and

to look and say, “You are part of Me I do not yet know.”

I believe, Revolutionary Love has been the call of our whole lives as people who

follow in the path of Jesus. It seems like that is the central message in so many of

Jesus’ teachings, including this parable we heard today.

Many of you know that I am tri-vocational and have 3 different jobs in ministry.

One of them is as a chaplain serving people nearing the end of life. I visit all sorts

of people all over the religious and political spectrum and I am blessed and

challenged by this ministry. I visited a person recently who shared that they were

struggling about what to do about an estranged relationship with one of their

children. They went on to share that they hadn’t talked with her in years and had a

grandchild he had never met. This person was clearly in pain about this

estrangement, and I suggested that maybe they could call her, and then said, “well

what would I say to someone who had a child out of wedlock?” You see their

Christian faith tradition tells them that she is a sinner and so is the child. You might

guess that’s not my understanding. Now, my training as a chaplain is to not give

someone my answers but to help them explore the truth of their faith and find their

answers. And sometimes what’s needed is truth telling, and challenge. So, in

response to their question, I said, “Love her!” They sat back in the chair and

looked at me like I had a dozen heads. I said, “you love Jesus, right?” “Yes,” they

exclaimed. I said, “in the gospels, the disciples asked Jesus about what

commandments they need to follow. Jesus responded that there are 2

commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. And

to love your neighbor as yourself. Period. Love her.”

I won’t share the rest of our conversation, but if we overlay this story of this family

with the story from this morning there are some parallels. I believe we are called to

Love everyone in the story. Aren’t all the characters wandering? Aren’t they all

beloved? In the parable, the son “came to himself.” Maybe we would say “he woke

up.” Or Jan Richarson says, “strange graces come to our aid.” Regardless, there is

a return to love and acceptance and then there is reconciliation and rejoicing. My

prayer is that I helped shed some new light on the situation my patient is facing

with their family. Maybe there will be some waking up or strange graces there too.

The invitation is there.

With all the changes happening in our country right now I hear people say things

like “We must resist” and to a point I agree. If that word works for you, then by all

means, use it. I honestly have a visceral reaction to that word Resist. I get the

sentiment and for me it doesn’t quite get to the heart of the matter for me. The

heart of the matter is - what am I for? What do I stand for? Some may say that

Jesus resisted the oppression of his day. In my view, he shared what he stood for

and kept inviting others in.

For me it’s important to claim my truth and power and stand for what I believe the

Holy/the Great Mystery/God/Jesus/The Good calls me to – to Love. To welcome

everyone to the table, to relationship. No matter who they are or where they are on

their journey. And especially welcome people that society considers outsiders as

Jesus did by eating and interacting with “sinners” and tax collectors as well as the

scribes, pharisees and other religious leaders of his day. All were part of his

community and welcome to the table.

In one of the commentaries I read somewhere this week, I read that Jesus never

gave up on those who opposed him and his teachings, the scribes and the pharisees.

He kept trying to invite them in to join in loving and serving and teaching

everyone, not just those who thought like him. In today’s world it’s easier said than

done, but how do I/we do both?

I attended a webinar the other day titled, Defending Trans Lives: A Webinar for

People of Faith sponsored by 3 organizations, Transforming Hearts Collective,

Enfleshed and SoulForce. There were so many great takeaways for me. Here are

just a few quotes and gems.

• "We need to get beyond the scarcity mindset that ‘nothing can be done.”

• “Infuse hope and love into your actions.”

• “Do not cede religion to the far-right Christians. We need to be loud, firm

  and keep sharing our message of inclusion.”

• “Be visible.”

• “Small things are as important as the big things”

• “Be a place where people can land and be safe.”

• “The divine invites us to loving connection, not perfection.”

• "Know that I am held and loved by God and I am not alone – be in

  community."

To be clear, this webinar was specifically on how to support our Transgender

friends and community members. And I hear a universal basic list of how to

support anyone who is oppressed or on the outside of some artificial list of who or

what is acceptable.

It’s my hope that if we keep modeling love, inclusion, safety, and community

(kind of like the father in the parable) we can have a world where those on the

margins and those who have been wandering or straying from the core of Jesus

message will both have a place to land. That seems to me what Jesus stood for.

Here are some things I hear you are doing to share this message that Jesus so

wonderfully demonstrated of love and inclusion.

The Open & Affirming team is planning an action that Karen is organizing in April

to stand on a street corner with bright signs of love and welcome.

Gwen and others are organizing a Rally in May on the Day Against Transphobia,

Homophobia and Biphobia, assuming we get our permit, for a We will always be

here rally downtown to share a message of love, inclusion, and support.

Some of you are planting gardens – some for the first time in a long time.

Some are sitting at tables in their senior living community for meals with people

they do not know … yet.

Some are intentionally smiling or offering kindness to strangers

Some are making a point of talking to people while in line at the grocery store

Some are marching – again I know a few who recently attended a march for the

very first time because it feels so important to stand up for what’s right

Some are calling their legislators

Some are attending lobby days at the State Legislature and speaking directly to

their representative about issues they care about

Two of our people – Pete & Jai chopped up unwanted guns last weekend on the

anniversary of the grocery store massacre

Some are wearing Ally buttons everywhere they go to show solidarity with the

LGBTQ+ community. These are sparking wonderful conversations and comments

of gratitude. We made some and they should be here next week if you’d like to join

the movement.

We will post a Pride flag somewhere on our property to show that we are a

welcoming and safe place for those who need it

I know some are working on Immigrant and Refugee causes

Some of you are sharing inspiring music, art and poetry that move you to uplift

others.

Some make it a point to speak with visitors to our worship services and offer

hospitality and welcome.

The Recovery Café is setting up services here this summer for a trial run at

supporting people in recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction. There will be

opportunities for you to support this and offer hospitality

I’ll continue to sit with people of various religious and spiritual traditions and show

that God’s love is inclusive and expansive and wave to my neighbors driving by

when Harley & I are on our walk even when I know they think differently than me

I know that there is so much more happening – these are just some that I have

heard recently.

Even if you think it’s a small thing, those add up. For the young son in the story

hoped for some bread to eat upon his return, but received so much more.

What about you?

Questions …

What moves you in this parable?

What have you done or feel inspired to do to share and spread love and inclusion in

the world?

How can you/we model and claim our Christian values in the world?

I’ll leave you with this quote that was in Valerie Kaur’s newsletter on Friday.

“Every day, the media and those in power normalize—and even

encourage—cruelty and inhumanity, division, and disconnection. It can feel like

the world is unraveling, and the pressure to accept this as our new reality is

overwhelming.

But what if we told a new story? What if, instead of surrendering to despair, we

uplifted stories of courage, connection and humanity? What if no one was left

outside of our circle of care? What if we refused to concede love? 

Take a moment to truly reimagine that world—a world where dignity and

belonging are not just hopes and dreams but lived realities. Where recognizing our

interconnectedness allows us to repair our relationship with the earth, with one

another, and with ourselves. Where the stories we tell cultivate communities of

belonging that are strong, resilient, and joyful.” Ashley Torres (she/her) in Valerie

Kaur’s Revolutionary Love Project newsletter 3/28/25