text: My Song is Love Unknown (ELW 343, verse 4)
  4 We cry out; we will have
  our dear Lord made away,
  a murderer to save,
  the prince of life to slay.
  Yet cheerful he to suff’ring goes
  that he his foes from thence might free.
  I don’t want to admit that I, too, would have chosen Barabbas over Jesus. Certainly I would like to think that I would have been a Mary of Bethany wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair, one of the women finding the empty tomb early on Easter morning, or even the Samaritan woman meeting the Messiah at the well.
  And yet, as I take time during this Lenten season to reflect on what it means to be a baptized child of God, what it means to be both saint and sinner, as a lover of rules I know that I would have likely been in the temple devoutly following the Pharisees. I, too, like the Apostle Paul would have probably needed a flashing heavenly light to turn my life around. While I may not have yet experienced that flashing heavenly light, I’m grateful that despite my sinfulness God has found and continues to find me each time I go astray.
  God of lost sheep, we are so grateful that you seek out and find us each time we go astray. Forgive us for turning in on ourselves and losing sight of your love and faithfulness. Amen.