Greetings from your seminarian,
Christ has risen indeed!!!
Greetings from Columbus. Tricia and I hope all of you had a Holy week that was filled with majesty, mystery and love. That your Easter celebration inspired you with beauty and that the grace of God filled your Easter table with all good things. Worship in Columbus this Easter week has been incredibly powerful and I invite you to visit the seminary website to see the beautiful tapestry as it was built over the weeks of Lent and completed for worship this Wednesday. It was made from strips of cloth on which prayers had been written. I have just finished up my last midterm and am looking forward to the home stretch. (and then to fun sleepless summer with Baby.)
Peace and Grace,
Roger
Sermon delivered at Grace Church, Roger Griffiths
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father, and from our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Before we begin to think a little about this parable of the lost son, we must remember that to hold this story in isolation would be like watching The Return of the Jedi without having first watched A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, The Return of the Jedi tells a complete and powerful story on its own but as any good Jedi Knight knows, it is just one piece of the Star Wars Trilogy. This lost son parable is part three of a Parable Trilogy told to the Pharisees in response to their grumbling at Jesus welcoming that unholy, rebel, underclass called “Sinners.”
So before we hear about this ‘Brother of ours that was lost and now is found' lets have a brief recap of episodes one and two of this trilogy.
Episode one: The Lost Sheep
Sheep will wander from time to time. This is what sheep do. They do not choose to wander, they have no malice or ill will in their hearts as they wander, they are really not to blame for their wandering because sheep as you may know are very, very dumb animals. They do however have value especially in the eyes of the shepherd and so even if a shepherd has one hundred sheep, one who is lost will become the focus of all the shepherd's attention until that which is lost, is found. And knowing the relatively dumb nature of a sheep the shepherd does not yell, or say “bad sheep, bad!!” but lovingly picks it up and carries the animal home on his shoulders and then holds a party in honor of having found the precious creature. “Truly, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents then over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
Episode Two: The Lost Coin
Coins do not lose themselves. They do not have the ability to wander off. We are blessed in this country with the reality that if we loose a coin it will probably go through several wash cycles without our even having missed it and we probably would not have missed it at all until it made that awful clanking sound in the dryer. So for the sake of this parable let's say one coin equals “one million dollars.” The excuse of “it just wandered off” will not work with one million dollars no matter how you phrase it. No the responsibility for this particular loss falls to the loser. And because money does not grow on trees you will tear your house apart searching for the lost million, while momentarily forgetting the fact that nine other million are safely in your wallet or your many wallets. When you find this million you lost, I don't care how rich you are, you will rejoice. “Truly, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
A person is not a sheep, nor is a person a coin. We wander or stay put with a purpose. The inherent value of a person is immeasurable but always seems to be more when we lose that person in our lives. And so, we come to this story of the lost son or episode three.
For the past several weeks you might have noticed that we have been giving thanks for the new life that will be entering into our community over the next few months (not to exceed 10) and praying for the health and wellbeing of Nina and Tricia and ? as they carry these (backaches) blessings and for their safety during delivery.
When God willing these babies enter the world happy and healthy we parents will do everything in our power to keep them happy and healthy until they grow up into happy and healthy adults.
The man with two sons is no different. He wants his children to be happy. And so, when the younger son asks for a new bike, a new cell phone, a bb gun, another pair of shoes, a skate board, drum set, electric guitar, a play station 3and a new computer so he can play World of WarCraft 15 hours a day, and would you throw in the keys to the new Volvo. The father gladly says… yes, of course. He worships his son and is okay with giving him up to the material world as long as this is what makes his son happy. A few days later the son collects all his worldly possessions and heads off to the almost real world of college. The father has made the choice to lose his son, and the son has made the choice to wander and lose himself.So it is off to college, where the living is dissolute at best, drug and alcohol abuse are tolerated and hard work is discouraged, you see institutions of higher learning don't make as much money off four-year undergraduates as they do off of six-year undergraduates. And before the end of the first term, the younger son has flunked out, lost every material thing he had, gained an addiction to drugs, and at the same time all this is happening, a severe economic recession hits so there are shortages and the younger son begins to go hungry. He takes a job at a local pet store and it is not long before he is so hungry that the cat food, starts to look like people food. He recognizes that no one will give him anything.
At this lowest point in his life, when he has lost sight of who he is, when he has lost hope and forgotten dreams he finds himself, comes to his senses, in a word he repents. He turns toward God.
It is here that Jesus gives us a formula for words for repentance. God forgive me, for I have sinned. I am not worthy to be called your child. Only grant me the lowest of places in your kingdom and I will rejoice.
So the younger son turns toward God he starts walking home.
Back home the father has been waiting and watching everyday. Focused on the horizon waiting for the return of his youngest son but deep in despair having heard nothing for such a great while, and regret over letting him go. The father has given up hope and given up his son for dead.
It is in his lowest, most depressed state, that God intercedes and sends his son. Seeing him on the horizon and caring not a bit for social grace or protocol the father runs out to meet his son, embraces him and before the son can recite all the words of repentance the father calls for a party.
‘For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!'
And they began to have a wonderful time.
AME…NNNO…Wait we've forgotten someone.
The most important part, if you happen to be an eldest son like me, or a Pharisee or disciple, or someone who hasn't missed a Sunday of church in 80 years, or who contributes the most in the offering plate each week.
At the sound of all this merrymaking the elder son after faithfully work ing a ten-hour shift at the family business asks just what is going on. Upon hearing the answer, that this son of his father, soaked in worldly sin has returned and his father has embraced him with absolute grace as if nothing was wrong, without any punishment, I want to see some punishment some retribution an earthquake or divine lightening or something. I am certainly not going to party like everything's okay.
Seeing the anger on is eldest face the man with two sons went out to plead with him but the older son wouldn't hear any of it. He let it all out. You may have lost your youngest son physically but you have been so distant and depressed that you have not noticed that I am working like a slave for you, never complaining, suffering in silence and you never give me anything. And this son of yours returns having squandered all you something for nothing you gave him and you throw a party.
And in this moment when the eldest son is at his lowest, most forgotten, most ungrateful, most selfish, most works justification moment we hear the words of God's grace spoke by the father.
‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we have to celebrate because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, he was lost and has been found.'
And what happens next is the most important part. You see, we don't know what happens next. Does the younger brother come out from the celebration and embrace his elder brother asking forgiveness? Does the elder brother go in and party? Does the father bring his sons together? Or does the elder brother storm off into the fields never to return? Does the younger brother, unskilled and undisciplined in the family trade continue to flounder until he builds up the nerve to ask for another inheritance to go out and try his hand at the “easy life” again? Does God's grace so permeate this family that they live in mutual forgiveness and absolute respectfulness all the days of their lives?
But, we get to do better than write the parable of episode 4, or the “parable of the family living with God's grace” we get to live in this parable.
Let us pray,
Gracious God, you so love this world that you gave your only son, so that the world through him is saved. We give you thanks for all the lost and the found. Help us remember that you desire us to be reconciled to you. Help us turn toward you and be our guide as we journey together toward Jerusalem and the cross. Help us to find grace in all our human relationships forgiving all those who have sinned against us that we might find forgiveness ourselves. Send us the Holy Spirit to stir up in us grace and love for you and all you have made. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Finder of those who are lost. Amen. |
