Today I'm standing between last week and next week. I'm looking back at what has happened so far, both in the message, and the events in the life of the church. And I'm looking forward to see what great things God has in mind fo us as we move into the tomorrows God has given us.
Last Sunday I spoke about the Welcoming Father in the parable Jesus taught we normally call the Prodigal Son. The point of the parable was Jesus talking about how welcoming the father is in this story to both of his sons. One nearly wrecked the family, causing a third of the property to be liquidated and then taken with him to the far country, where he squandered it on parties and a variety of poor investments, and he had the desire to go home in the midst of his worst nightmares, feeding the pigs and looking at their left over slop for his only source of food.
The welcoming father also urged the older son to come in and join the party, and that might be more like many of us. We do have a hard time with how much mercy and grace God can show and we wonder why our good behaviour and dependable faithfulness is not more justly rewarded. Why did the wanderer get the fatted calf in celebration instead of our duty and service to the family being properly rewarded. That was his question to the father and the parable only states that God celebrates the recoveries and invites us all to be in the recovery business, regardless of our place in the story.
There is a whole lot more to this older brother than we sometimess realize. We consider ourselves the hero of most of Jesus' stories and the prodigal, our coming back, sounds more popular than the older brother's staying home. But most of us, especially those in the church, are much more like the older brother. We used to be in a majority, church going was like an American tradition and most of us did, sometime or other. Now it seems that the prodigal brother, the not so deeply invested in the church family, is in the majority. And when they do try to come home, we look at them and scoff, or we want them to become just like us, like our day of worship, follow our dress codes, enjoy our musical styles, remember the stories we are most familiar with, and become a good church going person as quickly as possible.
Jesus knew we were thinking like this, so he told the story. He wants us to be more open to the welome side of the family. The going out on your own isn't working out as well as we were led to believe. We are seeing it looks better at home. And this can be a good thing for the future of the church. This can be a good thing for getting new people to come and experience God's warmth, love and acceptance. This can be a good thing for welcoming people to the party. But, we have to be welcoming, warm, hospitable, overlooking the sense of the pig farm, that some of our prodigals bring with them. We have to be genuine in our realizing that Jesus is in the welcome home, and we can help you in your faith development and faith soul journey here among us. Welcome Home.
Now to looking forward, this Sunday the message is don't be anxious, be thinking about the Kingdom and the will of God above your worries. And we will look at ways to elevate the God priority in our lives, as we look at Matthew 6: 25-34. That's the Gospel of Matthew, the sixth chapter, verses 25-34. It's the middle of the Sermon on the Mount.
Blessings on your turning toward home, and finding God for your life
Pastor Jeff
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