HELLO!

On the first three Tuesdays of May, at 7 pm, I will be hosting a faith study on the Henri Nouwen book, “The Return of the Prodigal Son”. We meet in a circle, in the Sams Room and there is no registration or expectation you have read the book or will attend more than one of the sessions. And…you can invite anyone you know to join us, we have had people come who live in the same apartment building, people who go to the same bridge club, people who volunteer at the same outreach centre. Everyone is welcome.

Kristine sent me this link, it is a podcast about this book, featuring three women who talking about book and their “walk with Christ”. Here it is: https://music.amazon.ca/podcasts/51ccc903-398a-4d2f-8bac-c12b7c56bfeb/episodes/dab2fac5-764d-40ce-98e1-26b8ae978493/abiding-together-s07-episode-6-the-return-of-the-prodigal-son-book-study-part-1---the-story-of-two-sons-and-their-father?ref=dm_sh_PDW9AdlYB7x3EckSefzJsNLgj

Many people love this short book for various reasons, it has attracted evangelical readers, mainline Christian readers, seekers, Roman Catholic and Orthodox readers, and Protestant and agnostic readers. Why? The evangelicals like it because it is personal, it is about them and their experience with a living God. Mainline Christians like it because it helps a believer deepen their compassion, learn to understand how others experience these iconic Gospel stories. Seekers like it because it is open-ended, there is nothing in the book that says with certainty you must believe this or follow that. Roman Catholics love that Nouwen, a priest, includes historical church theology and practice in his discernment. Orthodox Christians love how images speak to us, though this is a painting, not an icon. The book is divided into three very short chapters, each one reflecting the experience of one of the three characters.

If you are not familiar with the book here is how it came to be…Nouwen traveled to St. Petersburg Russia, received special permission from the art museum to sit in a comfortable chair, in front of Rembrandt’s famous painting of “The Prodigal Son”. He sat in front of the paining for eight straight hours a day for three days, focusing on the Father one day, the elder son the next and the youngest son on the third. Nouwen includes Biblical scholarship, theology, his pastoral experience and his own personal story and weaves all of it into each of the three chapters.

Readers will be drawn into the story, all of us thinking how this character has something to offer to us. I look forward to the sessions. Peace, Kevin