Prodigal Grace

For any of you out there who follow the lectionary on Sunday mornings, the Gospel reading this Sunday is the parable of the prodigal son. As someone who in many, many ways has lived out this parable, it's a very meaningful piece of scripture for me.

And I've got the perfect song for it.

You know, how when the son's on his way back, his father spots him at a distance and starts running out to meet him?

Well, this Sunday, sandwiched between the Gospel reading and the sermon, our pastor will sing (and I will accompany) the Phillips, Craig and Dean song Mercy Came Running.

So with the Gospel reading...and the song, the congregation's going to get to hear the Gospel proclaimed twice in a row...and then yet again in the sermon...and then yet again in the Hymn of the Day after the sermon--Amazing Grace.

Think we'll be driving the point home enough?

For those who are unfamiliar with Mercy Came Running, here's the words:

Once there was a holy place

Evidence of God's embrace

And I can almost see Mercy's face

Pressed against the veil

Looking down with longing eyes

Mercy must have realized

That once His blood was sacrificed

Freedom would prevail

And as the sky grew dark

And the earth began to shake

With Justice no longer in the way

Chorus: Mercy came running

Like a prisoner set free

Past all my failures to the point of my need

When the sin that I carried

Was all I could see

And when I could not reach mercy

Mercy came running to me

Once there was a broken heart

Way too human from the start

And all the years left it torn apart

Hopeless and afraid

Walls I never meant to build

Left this prisoner unfulfilled

Freedom called but even still

It seemed so far away

I was bound by the chains

From the wages of my sin

Just when I felt like giving in

Repeat Chorus

Sometimes I still feel so far

So far from where I really should be

He gently calls to my heart

Just to remind me...

Repeat Chorus

May mercy come running to you,

LH