As we reflect on the love of the father for the prodigal son this Sunday (and the love of Jesus for us); we are reminded of the courage love requires, and the willingness to suffer for the sake of the beloved.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping (your heart) intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket… of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it (your heart) will change….it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”   C.S. Lewis

“…Great joy through love seemed always to go hand in hand with frightful pain. Still, he thought, looking out across the meadow, still, the joy would be worth the pain — if, indeed, they went together. If there were a choice — and he suspected there was — a choice between, on the one hand, the heights and the depths and, on the other hand, some sort of safe, cautious middle way, he, for one, here and now chose the heights and the depths.”  Sheldon Vanauken

Sunday, March 17th:  Psalm 32, Luke 15   Speaker:  Jen Hubbard

Check out this great video: Forgiveness by Matthew West and the incredible story behind it.