H O M EM A R I L Y N N E R O B I N S O N

A G A I NS T A R T I N G A L L O V E R

T O W E L C O M E H I M H O M E ( P . 3 9 )

N O S T A L G I AL A Y E R S O F M E M O R Y

“It’s all right.

Let’s go home” (12).

C H I L D H O O D H O M E“ D I D S H E C H O O S E T O B E T H E R E , I N T H A T H O U S E ? N O ” ( 3 7 ) .

C H I L D H O O D

A N D H O M E

C H I L D H O O D

A N D H O M E

“ S H E K N E W T H E O T H E R S I N T H E M A N N E R O F A D U L T F R I E N D S H I P ”

( 7 1 )

F A M I L Y

O R F R I E N D

C H O O S I N G

O N E ’ S H O M E

• Page 36-37: “Looking for

something?”

• Did she choose to be there,

in that house, in Gilead?

No, certainly not.

• What an embarrassment,

being somewhere because

there was nowhere else for

you to be.

C H O O S I N G

O N E ’ S H O M E

• And how can this man drift in

from nowhere, take a room in the

house and place at the table, and

make her feel she was there on

sufferance?

• Clearly he, too, did not choose to

be there.

• There was nothing remarkable in

a grown man wanting one room

to call his own, especially since

he was almost a stranger in the

house. … nameless strangers.

N O T H I N G I N T H A T

H O U S E

“ T H E H O U S E W A S N O T Q U I T E H I S ” ( 5 1 - 5 2 )

E V E R D I D C H A N G E

Frost, “Death of the Hired Man”

Home,’ he mocked gently.

‘Yes, what else but

home?It all depends on what you mean by home.

Of course he’s nothing to us, any more

Than was the hound that came a stranger to us

Out of the woods, worn out upon the trail.’

‘Home is the place where,

when you have to go there,

They have to take you in.’

‘I should have called it

Something you somehow haven’t to

deserve.’

U N T I L Y O U F O R G I V EG R A C E : F O R G I V E A N D Y O U M A Y U N D E R S T A N D ( 4 5 )

Y O U W I L L N O T

U N D E R S T A N D

T H E P R O D I G A L

S O N

L U K E 1 5 : 1 1 - 3 1

R E M B R A N D T

L U K E 1 5 : 1 1 - 3 2

A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that

falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together,

and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent

all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a

citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the

husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired

servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father,

and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called

thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great

way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said

unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But

the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on

his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is

alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he

came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what

these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because

he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and

intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at

any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as

soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make

merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

H O M E F A R E R ’ S P R A Y E R

• Lord, my brother treats me like a hostile stranger, my

father seems to have put me aside, I feel I have no

place here in what I thought would be my refuge (69).

• When I think what it is that brings us to our Father, it

might be grief or sickness—trouble of some sort.

Weariness. And there we are, and it’s a good thing at

such times to know we have a father, whose joy it is to

welcome us home (41).

N O S T A L G I A

O F I M A G E S

• Images of home, return,

departure

E N T E R I N G P A S T

S P A C E

ALWAYS OPEN

C O M I N G H O M E , A G A I N

אתכם םצ ו של םל אכ ו ב םו ו של ל

“Go in peace.”