When He Came to Himself

Luke 15:1-2, 11-32
The verse that I have always found most compelling in the story of the Prodigal Son is “But when he came to himself…” (Luke 15:17). Faced with starvation and neglect, separated from all those who loved him, reduced to menial labor the son “came to himself,” which I take to mean he “woke up” or he “finally figured it out.” I think we are all likely to have those moments when we finally get the big picture, that our own choices have been poor and have led us astray. But that is only the moment of realization. What follows is the question “now what?” Inspired by that question a few years ago I wrote the following liturgical poem for use in worship settings. It is entitled “Where Can We Go?”

When we come to ourselves,
where can we go?
If we feel like we’ve outlasted our usefulness or outstayed our welcome,
where can we go?
If we’ve fallen on hard times,
or fallen away,
or fallen by the wayside,
where can we go?
If we’ve lost our way or turned away,
lost our will or lost our nerve to do God’s will,
where can we go?
If we’ve lived to ourselves and not to God;
if we’ve made poor choices based on bad judgment;
if our human-ness has pulled us away from God’s desires for our lives;
where can we go?
If the dark night of the soul finds us grasping for what is right;
if the glaring lights of false prophets leave us aching for what is true;
where can we go?

We can go to the only place where we have ever been truly welcome;
we can go where our return is celebrated with waiting, open arms.
When we come to ourselves we can go beyond ourselves.
We can go to God.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the need to turn back to you, and give us the courage to take the steps that lead us to your wil