| Luke 15:11-32 "The Poverty of God's Love" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 30 September 2006 | |
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11 Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” 20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” 22But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. 25 ‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” 31Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” Prayer: O Lord, may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight. O Lord, you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen. In the parable of the prodigal, Jesus has presented us with three composite characters that exhibit behavior quite at odds with one another. It’s left up to us to decide where we are in this story. Jesus tells us right up front what his parable is about. It is his response to criticism from religious leaders that he ate and partied with sinners. His parable of the Prodigal is directly aimed at attitudes within institutionalized religion that contradict the mercy and justice of God. Thus, if we are to seriously engage this parable we have to ask the question, is Jesus suggesting we could be guilty of being a prodigal Church? I realize we don’t feel “prodigal” but we still have to ask the question. I was in Starbucks one afternoon last week. School must have just recessed because students were huddled in groups outside the coffee store as I entered. I commented to the Barrista on the loud operatic music (Carmen, I believe it was) being piped throughout the coffee-shop. “Aversion therapy,” he replied. Noticing my puzzled look he added, “Did you notice the large, loud, boisterous group of students “now” huddled out front of the store? Yes I replied. “Aversion therapy!” he said with a smile. I thought to myself, “You sly dog, you!” Makes me wonder; what kind of “music” we’re playing for our guests? Is the message truly, regardless of who you are, you are family? This is World Communion Sunday – a day Christians globally share the Eurcharistic experience and by so doing, celebrate our oneness in Christ, in the midst of the world we are called to serve. I think World Communion takes on new relevancy and depth of meaning in a world where globalization often has undermined peace and justice -- and in a time when fear divides the peoples of the earth. In an article in the Christian Century, Dr. Robert Wall, Professor of Biblical and Wesleyan Studies at Seattle Pacific University, writes about the events that led up to a memorable World Communion Service back in the mid-1970’s. Mary, the caller on the other end had recently moved to the area and was looking for a new church home. She had attended a church locally but had never really felt at home. Could she attend his church? "Of course, he replied, “everyone is always welcome at our church." Dr. Wall reflects, “Those words came out automatically. Churches in every community I had lived in said the same thing. "Everyone is always welcome" was understood by people in each community to mean "everyone like us." He wondered whether Mary, who was African-American would be welcomed in the small Presbyterian church he served. “They were warm and friendly to people once they got to know them,” Dr. Wall explains, “but they would not choose to be in the forefront of social change.” The only black woman who had ever lived within three miles of the church was married to a white soldier. People who upheld community tradition seldom spoke to her, and when they did it was with the sort of benevolent bewilderment that others might display toward the village idiot or the town drunk. Mary attended several services. A few people began to speak politely to Mary; others obviously avoided her. Some hoped that she would quietly disappear. Eventually she attended a membership class and joined the church the Sunday before Christmas. Immediately, one of the church leaders and his wife came to see him. Writes Dr. Wall, “Sam told me who in the church was most upset, and the comments that some were making about going to another church or canceling pledges of financial support. Then he said, ‘This has been my church for 40 years, and nobody is going to keep me away. But with [my wife] Margie, it is different." Margie joined in. "I just can’t go back. I wasn’t brought up that way. It doesn’t seem like the same church any more. I can’t go back." For the following seven or eight months, Sam came to church alone. Then one Sunday Margie came and sat in her usual seat beside Sam on the next-to-the-last row. Dr. Wall never asked what caused her to change her mind. On World Communion Sunday…I gave the invitation to the Lord’s Table: "Friends, this is the joyful feast of the people of God. Many will come from east and west, from north and south, and sit at the table in the kingdom of God." It soon became apparent that too many were coming. With people still to serve, they had run out of the individual communion cups. Dr. Wall whispered to the person in charge of serving, "We need more cups!" "We don’t have any more!" she replied in a loud whisper. A sudden inspiration came to him, and he shared it with the congregation immediately. "We have run out of cups. I know it’s not a Presbyterian tradition, but I invite all who have not been served, and are willing, to partake of a common cup..." (He had already poured wine into the chalice as a symbolic gesture.) As people started coming forward he realized with a heavy heart that Mary and Margie would end up standing next to each other. He prayed, "God, why are you doing this to me? I had planned such a beautiful day to honor your name, and you conspired to use it all to destroy me. Open up the floor and let me fall straight into the flames of hell…!" (You’ve always wondered what was going on in the minds of your pastors during communion!) Then the most remarkable thing happened. Dr. Wall writes, “When I gave the chalice to Mary, she cradled it gently, drank and passed the chalice to Margie. Margie drank and passed the cup to her husband. He drank, as did all the others at the table. Then all returned quietly to their pews for the closing hymn and benediction. [And] as the congregation filed out he prayed, "Lord, let now your servant depart in peace; for my eyes have seen your salvation." -Christian Century, September 28, 1988 (Hold up cup) This common cup is a powerful Eucharistic image reminding us of our identity. We are family. So what does this have to do with our church? After all, we are committed to justice and peacemaking! This last week I visited with a family I hadn’t seen in the church for some time. They told me they had moved on. I asked why. They responded, “Because the church didn’t care.” Now I realize there are lots of families who do feel cared for at HC. So why did this family received a message contrary to the one were trying to send? Did the fact they were not WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Prostestants) have anything to do with them not feeling welcome in our church, and more importantly, welcome in our lives? I take full responsibility as your senior pastor that this family didn’t feel cared for. But it’s going to take more then “pastoral care” to make a family feel wanted and cared for. In God’s kingdom, diversity is celebrated, not dismissed. Spiritual maturity, in this context, is learning to apply what all three of the characters in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal can teach us. As a friend tells Henry Nouwen, “Whether you are the younger son or the elder son you have to realize that you are called to become the father.” P.21-22 “Becoming” is more then just a psychological “step up” in our spirituality. “Becoming” is transformational. We discover that God’s mothering has transformed us: Compassion and grace “trumps” familiarity and comfort. Who picks our friends? Easy answer? We do! But maybe Jesus has a different mix of people in mind for our ‘inner circle?’ We are after all, followers of the One who befriended sinners, ate and drank with prostitutes, even consorted with Roman soldiers and tax collectors, enemies of the Jewish State! I wonder if some of us are embarrassed by the kind of company Jesus keeps? If we take the Parable of the Prodigal seriously, then we are forced to radically rethink the way we do community. I was watching a special on Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber. I was troubled by the interviews with those who knew Tim. His parents, his siblings, his neighbors, his teachers and fellows students; his military instructors, commanding officers, and fellow marines. How could so many people be taken in? And then it dawned on me. While they didn’t understand what went wrong and didn’t justify what McVeigh did, they all saw him as a fellow human being. In an excerpt from a letter to his sister from prison, McVeigh writes, “I have an urgent need for someone in my family to understand me…” The incarnation of God in Jesus is “family intervention.” God cares too much to remain disengaged. In Christ, we are family. What does it mean to be family? In the words of the UM Discipline, “…we are called to be faithful to the example of Jesus’ ministry to all persons. Inclusiveness means openness, acceptance, and support that enables all persons to participate [fully] in the life of the Church, the community, and the world. Thus, inclusiveness denies every semblance of discrimination. -P. 139 Paragraph 138 UM Book of Discipline 2006 This church is the most accepting, warm and welcoming church I have ever been a part of, bar none. But if we think we’ve arrived, we’re fooling ourselves. As I’ve previously suggested, “We can be warm and friendly as a church and still not let people in on the inside!” The good news really is that in Christ we learn to be family together. As I’ve said before, the Lord’s prayer, the Beatitudes, the Golden Rule, the Great commission, the parables….they teach us how to behave as family. Jerri and Bill Savuto are United Methodist missionaries to the Maua Hospital, in Kenya, and have spoken to this congregation before. Jerri writes about visiting with family while taking part in a Global Ministries training evening in New York City. “I learned an important lesson while in NYC. Bill's family was blessed with "Nana Savuto", Bill's grandmother. She was a tiny woman with a huge heart and so much love for her family. She was also an incredible Italian cook. I heard about her ravioli, meatballs, sausage and sauce from Bill and soon learned they were indeed "the best!" Each of her grandchildren asked for her recipes. I actually wrote down her recipes for all her Italian food while she was making it and showing me just what to do and I know others did also. However, none of our recipes are exactly the same. While visiting Bill's cousins we had a "Nana Savuto" meal. I had the joy to help make the meatballs, fry the sausage, and watch and smell the sauce as it bubbled and boiled and simmered. Though the recipes used were different from mine, that night the food tasted so much like Nana Savuto's. It was then I had an AHA! moment. I tend to be a food person and put so much emphasis on food. But food isn't the most important part of a meal, especially a family meal. As we sat around the table and talked and laughed, as we remembered times around Nana Savuto's table, and as we ate the delicious food something sacred happened. First, Nana's presence was felt, second, there was such a wondrous connection and memory made between all of us at the table and third, it took all those elements to make the 'meal' a success. The food was wonderful but it was secondary to the sharing around the table. It was secondary to the laughter and love. Food on the table is a vehicle that allows us all to enjoy, relax, laugh, remember, and love. The food and the table are of little consequence, the experience around the table is the gift, the blessing of God. Writes Tony Campolo, “Whenever Christians party, they provide a foretaste of what is to come. Whenever they celebrate with laughter and song, they evangelize. They send out the message that the kingdom of God is at hand-and the Kingdom of God is a wonderful party. P.30 Tony Campolo The Kingdom of God is a Party Church, we are about to partake of the joyful feast of the people of God. Many will come from East and West, North and South, and sit at the table in the Kingdom of God. As we share the same common cup we proclaim and celebrate our oneness in Christ. We are all family! Amen? God invites us to God’s table. |
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