August 18, 2012

It is mid August and the temperature is in the mid 50s – what a treat! This morning Audrey and I will attend the Upward Pancake breakfast and support that fund raising effort. Today our youth will gather at an Ozark river for their annual float trip. I would love to participate with them, and I know that given the work I have to do on Sunday, I cannot float all day on Saturday and have sufficient energy for ministry on Sunday.

Luke 15:11-20 (Sunday’s text)

I read this familiar scripture with a desire to absorb its truths, its feelings, its deepest meaning. The first 9 verses of Luke 15 are Jesus’ parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, both of which were searched for and when found there was rejoicing! This third parable is about a lost son, a loving father, and a jealous brother. Rembrandt, near the end of his life, painted a large oil picture of the scene at the point where the prodigal son has returned to his father. It beautifully captures so much of the meaning of Jesus’ parable.

I did not demand my inheritance and leave. I was an only child of my mother, the third child of my father. My nature is to be a compliant person. But in my heart I have felt the desire to abandon all that is familiar for the adventure and risk resembling the prodigal’s experience. I know several people who have experienced that turning away from family and familiarity only to lose everything.

My personal experience is more like the older brother, who in Rembrandt’s painting is next to the father, but in the shadows. He is the dutiful one, the one who stayed on the farm, worked hard, and had built up resentments toward both his father and his brother. I have been tempted to resent those who have left the faith family, gone away in loose living, and have come back to great fanfare. However, beyond those temptations I have experienced personally God’s grace and mercy with me, a sinner, and a joy at the return of anyone who repents and seeks to kneel before the father.

As I think about the parables of Jesus, the top three that come to mind are this one, the prodigal son, the good samaritan, and the log in one’s eye. His parables are rich and deep, and worthy of great consideration.

Today I will work on this sermon (I was privileged to officiate at two funerals this week, each with a message to deliver and thus I am writing more of my sermon today than on Thursday or Friday.) After the pancake breakfast I will also work around the house and yard, including barbequing some beef from Sam’s club that Pastor Jerry has been buying on sale. There are at least 3 people with whom I will follow up with a phone call today.

Guide me Holy Father as I serve in your fields with joy. I join You in watching for returning prodigals, and I look forward to all the celebrations that we share in the family of faith. Guard my heart from sin; guide my steps, my expressions, my thoughts, my actions, my thinking, my writing, my preparation. Protect and guide Bethany today as she finishes up a walking tour of Paris with a friend, and prepares to board a jet bound for Los Angeles tomorrow. In Jesus’ name, amen.