I missed writing an E-notes article last week.  I missed writing it because I was in Estes Park, Colorado at Church Camp.  Every two years, the congregation I serve as pastor sponsors a Retreat to the Rockies.  A surprisingly large percentage of the congregation takes a week of vacation and spends the energy and money to travel to one of the YMCA Centers near the Rocky Mountain National Park for a week of hiking, worship, and significant experiences of community.  It is an expression of extravagance:  an extravagant gesture for people to invest the time and money to attend, an extravagant experience of the wonder of God’s creation in an absolutely gorgeous location, and an experience of the extravagant love of God that unites people in community.

Extravagant Love was the theme of the week.  For three evenings, as part of our worship gathering, different speakers unpacked this theme using the Gospel story of the Prodigal Son.   One of our speakers talked about how the focus of the story was really the Prodigal Father.  This comes from a definition of prodigal as “recklessly extravagant, lavish, yielding abundantly.”  Even more than the son, it was the father who was prodigal with his love.  He loved in a way that was “recklessly extravagant [and] lavish.” 

Another speaker reminded us how we are often like the older brother who was so consumed with what he thought was unfair and unjust, that he was not open to the father’s grace-filled love.  What he missed was that this love embraced him as well as his brother – that it was a love that could never be earned and would never need to be earned. 

One of the evenings, we were led to focus on language for God that is specifically feminine.  Recognizing that this could be uncomfortably new for some, and even a little distracting in worship, we were encouraged in a loving way to be open to the use of feminine language for God even if it were just for that one hour.  The language we use for God is symbolic.  All our faith images offer doors into the reality of experiencing God’s presence and we were enriched by the time of focusing on feminine images for God.

What a week of experiencing and celebrating extravagant love – from God and from a community of people.  It is a blessing to be in touch with such a gift.  At the same time, I’m reminded that many people in our midst do not live in touch with that sense of abundance.  There are struggles with grief, depression, and health issues.  Our society is struggling through a challenging financial time and many people are feeling that in a very acute way right now.  For those of us who are blessed to experience the abundance of God, of faith community, or of family these days, let us see our blessings as a call to be extravagant in love toward others who are living out of touch with that gift.  Notice those who are living in the shadows around us.  Reach out to them and give them a reason to hope.  We are on this journey together.

Thanks for the many ways you continuing to bless me on that journey.

--Jack Price

Return to the Enotes index