This Week 4 study, titled "The Compassionate Father – Welcomed Back Home," is centered around the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), and it explores how God welcomes us with love and grace, no matter how far we've wandered.

? Scripture Readings:

• Joshua 5:9-12
• Psalm 32
• 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
• Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

? Focus:

The main idea is that God’s love is unconditional, like the father in the parable who runs out to welcome his lost son home. No matter how far we’ve gone, God is always ready to forgive and receive us with open arms.

? Reflection Questions:

1. Do you relate to the younger son who messed up but came back?
2. Or maybe the older brother who stayed but felt overlooked?
3. Or the father who chooses grace and love? 

? Practice for the Week: Returning Home

• Where have you felt distant from God?
• Where do you need to forgive or ask for forgiveness?

Write a letter to God.

Pour out your thoughts, your confessions, your hopes, your longing to be welcomed back home. Don’t worry about the right words — God sees the heart. Whether you are the prodigal, the elder, or someone standing in the gap, God’s love is reaching out to you. If you’re comfortable, consider burning or burying the letter afterward as a symbolic act of release and return.

? Prayer for Trusting God’s Faithfulness in the Wilderness

God of compassion,

Thank You for never turning away when we wander.

Thank You for the embrace that waits for us — not with judgment, but with joy.

Teach us to receive Your grace and to extend it freely to others.

Help us to be agents of reconciliation in a world that is so often divided.

May we return to You with open hearts and find our home in Your love.

Amen.