Ashes to Fire #4: “Embraced by Grace”
Text: Luke 15:1-2, 11-32
Victor Hugo provides a powerful way to look at the characters in today’s Gospel lesson.  From Les Miserables, the characters of Javert and Valjean help us to understand the lives of the elder and younger son in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  One has been forever changed after being embraced by grace, while the other is bound by rules and legalism.  As we remember our own encounter with God’s grace, we are reminded to extend that same embrace to others–that they might somehow catch a taste of the transforming grace of God.