Reading: Epilogue Living the Painting
1) In the epilogue Henri reflects back on his encounter with Rembrandt’s painting. We similarly have the opportunity to reflect back on our encounter with this book – A Story of Homecoming.
a) How this “encounter” has impacted you and influenced you on your journey?
2) Henri takes this opportunity to further explore and clarify his call to become the Father. He writes, “True fatherhood is sharing the poverty of God’s non-demanding love.” (p 138) And he concludes this way, “As I look at my own aging hands, I know they have been given to me to stretch out toward all who suffer, to rest upon the shoulders of all who come, and to offer the blessings that emerge from the immensity of God’s love.” (p 139)
a) Has this Lenten journey changed your understanding of “fatherhood” or “motherhood”?
b) What can you do to stretch out your hands to your family and friends? Your church and community? Those you encounter on your journey?
3) Henri also encourages us to consider ways we are called to move forward on our journey. Of his own experience he says “It is comfortable to be the wayward younger son or the angry elder son. Our community is full of wayward and angry children, and being surrounded by peers gives a sense of solidarity. Yet the longer I am part of the community, the more that solidarity proves to be only a way station on the road…” (p129).
a) You are invited to consider ways you may be lingering in a place of waywardness, anger, suffering, because it provides a sense of solidarity with others around you.
b) Where is God leading you to now?
We want to express our deep gratitude to all who have journeyed together this Lent. It has been an incredibly rich time, and we look forward to hearing your concluding reflections this week.
Ray and Brynn