Sermon At Murray Christian Church / Remembrance / A Wedding & New Beginnings

Yesterday, Gail and Maddie and I had the pleasure of spending the morning with the good people of the Murray Christian Church..  I led the service and delivered the message to them and after the service we stayed, and enjoyed a time of fellowship with them during their monthly Fellowship Potluck.  There were far too many attractive looking desserts laid out to select from, which made the always difficult 'dessert discernment' all the more challenging.  But, I caved in and tried two of the desserts presented and both were very good.

Gail and Maddie once again had trouble with the camcorder, it seems there is an issue with the memory card even though Maddie had deleted everything off of it the card still was not working properly.  So once again rather that posting up fragments of the sermon I will just post the manuscript.

The sermon seemed to be very well received, and a great many folks complimented me about it so I was pleased.  I am going to have to go over to Office Depot and pick up a new memory card before my next preaching engagement.

Before I gave my sermon one of the members at Murray, a wonderful gentleman named Millard gave me a pen that he had made.  He makes these pens for the youth of the Church and was so kind as to give one to me as a present for coming to worship with them.  I was very surprised and extremely pleased.  I immediately put it to good use in recording the various names for the prayer requests.  Thanks again Millard, you are a true gem.

This coming Sunday I will be back to Benson Baptist and leading the Sunday School Class for the 2nd to 4th grade students.  I'm looking forward to seeing them all again, they are just a delight to work with and it's always refreshing to one's spirit.

Saturday was both a very somber and a very joyful day.  It marked the 3rd anniversary of the death by suicide of the child of one of my oldest friends.  I did not call him on Saturday or Sunday but I will today, I'm sure the family was there for him on the actual anniversary date.  Today I want to make sure he's holding up afterwards.  These are wounds that of course never heal and we always need to be in prayer for those that we know have suffered such a terrible blow in their lives.

On a joyful note however, on Saturday morning I attended the wedding of my friend and Mentor the Reverend Robert Molby.  Bob married a woman that he has known for many, many years.  Her name is Marcie and she was I believe a member in the first congregation that Bob led so many years ago.  In fact Bob conducted the service for Marcie and her first husband's wedding.  Marcie has to my understanding, lost two husbands to cancer through the years.

It's a wonderful thing to see two people in their 80's being so positive about life that they are still searching for companionship and new beginnings.  I prayerfully wish Bob and Marcie all the very best, and pray God will grace them with a goodly number of years of life together.  God Bless them both.

Marcie Wetzel and Rev. Bob Molby
married 10/11/14 at Sunset Hills Baptist Church in Omaha, NE
Rev. Ron French Presiding
WmRoy Karlen photo

Well, I need to get back to work now so with that, I'll just attach a copy of the sermon from yesterday.

May you all have a richly blessed and joyful week, God's love and abundance to you all.

In Christ,

Roy

Manuscript for Sermon at Murray Christian Church - October 12th, 2014:

Good Morning, it's great to be here again on this fall morning. My name is Roy Karlen and my wife Gail and my daughter Maddie and I are all very happy to be here to worship with you good people, and even more importantly we're excited to be here with you for your monthly pot-luck. You'll never go wrong visiting a Church when they are having a potluck dinner.

Before you go any further though, let's go before the Lord in Prayer.

Be pleased, Heavenly Father, to come in your Holy Spirit to this gathering of your people and grant that as we look up to thee in penitence and praise, you will look down on us in pardon and grace. Prepare our hearts and minds to grow closer to you dear Lord. Amen

Today, we're going to take a look at a bit of scripture that we all know by heart. In fact we've all already recited it here today. Or at least we've recited a revision of this particular piece of scripture. It is of course known as “The Lord's Prayer”. The prayer that Jesus himself taught to the disciples.

We find “The Lord's Prayer” in two of the three synoptic Gospels. The verses in Matthew that we read just a few minutes ago and also a more abbreviated form in Luke's Gospel. What most people do not realize however, is that the prayer is found in a third location. It is found in the 8^th Chapter of a non-canonical document known as the 'Didache' which is also known as 'The Teaching of the Twelve'. When we say a book or writing is or isn't canonical, what we mean is that it is or isn't in the Bible. Of course what is considered canonical depends on whether you are looking at a Catholic, a Protestant, or one of the various forms of Orthodox Christianities Bibles, there are differences in the numbers of books in the various 'official' canons. 'The Teaching of the Twelve' or the 'Didache' is a Christian document that likely dates to the middle of the First Century, though there is, as there is with nearly all of the Canonical and Non-canonical documents, disagreement among scholars as to it's exact age and origin. Some date at least portions of the document to being as early as any of the books found in the Canon. Early Church tradition held that the 'Didache' was written by the Twelve Apostles themselves, though this is considered highly unlikely today. There are some who believe that the Didache arose from the same community as the author of the Gospel of Matthew, which very well may explain the similarity of the Lord's Prayer found within the two.

So let's take a closer look at this prayer that we all have memorized. First we'll take a look at 'The Lord's Prayer' as found in Luke:

Luke 11:1-4 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Lord’s Prayer

1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.3 Give us each day our daily bread.4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

A much more abbreviated form of the Prayer for certain.

Now let's look at this Prayer as found in the Didache.

Didache 8:2
Neither pray ye as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray ye:
Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so also on earth;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debt,
as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for Thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever.

8:3
Three times in the day pray ye so.

This certainly, sounds much more like the Prayer we're used to reciting. It's actually very nearly the same, did you catch that last verse though? “Three times in the day, pray ye so”. For many years the base of my prayer life was to recite the Lord's Prayer throughout the day. To be honest, I am not at all certain that this isn't what we are supposed to do. Certainly, it serves as a great reminder and it is significant that the Didache, which is basically a how to manual, tells us to repeat this prayer three times daily.

Let's look at the verses in Matthew again.

Matthew 6:7-15 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread.12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And finally, let's look at the Lord's Prayer as nearly all of us recite it today. We're going to break this down bit by bit as we go along.

Our Father who art in Heaven,

First off we address God here. We are calling out to God in his name. 'Our Father in Heaven', no earthly parent here but our Father God. Now the Lord's Prayer isn't the most 'gender inclusive' Prayer that we have. So please forgive me if you are sensitive to the issue of inclusive language. The fact remains that Jesus himself referred to God as God the Father. In fact, generally Jesus referred to God as 'Abba'. Which basically translates as Daddy. For Jesus there is both a sense of reverence and familiarity in addressing his God. God the Father who art in Heaven, and Abba, Daddy. I think it serves us well to retain these competing natures of our God.

Hallowed be thy name;

God's name is sacred. He is Holy, he is set apart from all other God's, he is the one and only true God. His name is so sacred that the ancient Jews and many orthodox Jews today will not say or even spell out his name. I have a friend on-line who writes God's name as G-d. This isn't uncommon to be honest. God's name is Holy and we say it with a sense of reverence, even when we address him as Abba.

Thy kingdom come;

Note that it doesn't say we're going to your Kingdom, rather God's Kingdom is coming here.

Thy will be done

Not my will or any other humans will, but God's will. Here we are pledging to be God's hands and feet. We are to aid him in establishing his will.

On earth as it is in heaven.

And that will is not only in Heaven, but here on this earth. We've already addressed that his Kingdom is coming and that it's his will that we are to be concerned with.

Give us this day our daily bread;

It seems that we've made a change here rather suddenly. We've gone from caring about God's work and will to petitioning for our own needs. The key word here is the word that is translated as 'daily'. It is the Greek work 'epiousios', and we'll come back to this word in just a minute. Let's finish the prayer first.

And forgive us our debts, (or trespasses / sins)

As we forgive our debtors; (or those that trespass or sin against us)

Here we have this desire for grace and forgiveness. Just as we talked about the last time I was with you all, God's desire for reconciliation. A desire for reconciliation not only between us and God but between all of us here.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Matthew urges that this grace between us is so crucial that God's grace towards us even hinges upon it.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

God please keep us away from temptation. For we know that we are weak. Lead us away from temptation. Do not lead us toward the time of trial or temptation, and rescue us from evil or the evil one. All too often, that evil one is our own ego and pride.

For thine is the kingdom

And the power

And the glory,

Forever.

Amen

This last part is known as the 'Doxology' and did you happen to notice that only one of the pieces we looked at contains the Doxology. I am not aware of any manuscripts of Luke that contain the Doxology and the earliest and best manuscripts of Matthew do not contain it either, though it is in many later manuscripts. One has to wonder if the Doxology for the Lord's Prayer didn't come to us from the Didache itself. It seems fairly obvious that it was not part of the original text of Matthew.

Let's back-up just a bit and go back to that line:

Give us this day our daily bread;

As I pointed out it seems that we've made a change here, we've gone from caring about God's work and will to petitioning for our own personal needs. And as I said here the key word is the word translated as 'daily' the Greek word 'epiousios'.

Epiousios is a very, very interesting word. The only real problem is that we don't actually know what the word means. You see this word exists in exactly three places, it is only found in these three readings of the “Lord's Prayer”. And since for many, many years the Didache was lost, for much of Christian History we have only had two sources for this unknown word, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Now since we find this prayer in only Matthew and Luke, and not in Mark's Gospel, it is highly likely that it originated in that undiscovered but hypothesized Document known as 'Q' or 'The Source'.

At one time a fragment of papyrus was discovered that reportedly contained the word Epiousios upon it. This fragment appeared to be a 'shopping list', with words in Greek such as beans, or rice, or cat litter or such, and after each word there was the word Epiousios. Based on this the scholar that translated the document hypothesized that Epiousios meant something along the lines of 'enough for tomorrow'. Which made sense in a culture that didn't have storage or refrigeration and where one typically goes to the market each day. There was only one problem... after the papyrus was examined by this scholar, and this scholar only... it was misplaced within the collection of the museum that held it. For a very long time it remained lost again, until it was found not long ago and additional Greek Scholars were able to finally look at it.

Well unfortunately for us the word that followed each item such as beans, rice or cat litter wasn't Epiousios at all. Rather it was a word that translates to 'oil'. So what we have here is of no use to us as an aid in discernment of the meaning behind the Lord's Prayer but one that is interesting none the less. For you see I have a theory about this papyrus. I believe that a wife back in that time sent her husband to the market to get oil. As all of us husbands have done at one time or another, this poor soul came home with all kinds of things but no oil. Well the next time he's sent to the market, his loving wife wrote the list as... beans – OIL, rice – OIL, cat litter – OIL... and so on. It's interesting that in all these many centuries some dynamics of marital life have remained the same. But that's just my theory of course.

But, back to just what does Epiousios mean and how did it come to be translated as daily. Well in the fourth century St. Jerome was commissioned by the Pope to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. This was the first translation of the Bible in it's entirety into Latin. When Jerome came to Epiousios he was uncertain just what to do so in Luke he translated it one way as 'Daily' and in Matthew he translated it differently. In our modern Bibles only the translation from Luke the word 'Daily' remains and the meaning assigned by Jerome in Matthew has been largely forgotten.

If we break down the word Epiousios we find that 'epi' means 'above', 'beyond' or 'super', 'ousios' means substance, essence or necessity. We come up with the word that Jerome used when translating the Gospel of Matthew, 'Supersubstantial'. Above substantial, super essential, beyond necessity... these all give us a considerable different meaning than 'daily'.

Now we no longer have 'daily' bread but 'supersubstantial' bread, 'super essential' bread, bread that is 'beyond that what is necessary for mere survival'. When we consider that Christ used bread as a metaphor, we have, well the Eucharist, we have Communion, we have the bread of life, we have Christ himself...

We no longer have feed us for we are hungry, but feed us for we hunger. We hunger for that relationship with God that comes through the celebration of the Lord's Supper, through the ceremonial celebration of communion. This point is particularly poignant to you all as members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The DOC places such great emphasis on the celebration of communion that it is celebrated not once a month as most Christian denominations do but weekly, as you all well know.

It is important that we remember that when Christ taught this prayer to his Disciples, he almost certainly did not teach it to them in Greek. Rather he almost certainly taught it to them in Aramaic. We are left wondering what word or words did he use here that forced the writer of 'Q' to have to create a new word in Greek in order to try and grasp the depth of the meaning. It would seem unlikely that it was a word as mundane as daily. A word which can be rendered by at least 20 different ancient Greek words none of which is epiousios.

Let's look at the Lord's Prayer again with this idea of the bread being 'Christ' foremost in our minds.

Our Father who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;

Thy kingdom come;

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day a relationship with Christ;

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors;

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom

And the power

And the glory,

Forever.

Amen

Suddenly, that prayer takes on a whole new meaning. A new deep theological meaning that honestly my modest preaching and teaching skills fail to adequately convey. But be that as it may, perhaps now you'll think about the Lord's Prayer just a bit differently whenever you pray it. Which by the way is supposed to be three times a day.

And here's just a little challenge from the pulpit, let's all try and pray this prayer at least three times a day for the next week. Thinking about this alternate and different meaning as we do so, let's see if it has any impact on our lives and our relationship with Christ.

Let's end this sermon on prayer with a prayer.

God above, Father, Abba

Holy, Sacred and Revered Lord.

We pledge our hands, our feet, our hearts and our spirits

to you Oh Lord, to fashion this world as you

would desire.

Let us ever be your emissaries of Love,

Charity, Grace and Forgiveness in this world.

Let us follow the model that you have given us, of Jesus who is the Christ, as we pursue your perfect example of grace and love to this broken world.

Allow us Oh Lord to come into communion and relationship with you. Give us the strength of body, mind and spirit that we require to serve you.

We pray for your protection from those that would oppose and harm us, and from our own sinful and selfish egos.

Oh Lord guide us steadfastly down your path of Forgiveness, Grace, Charity and Love onto this world.

For yours alone Oh Lord, is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, until the very end of all time.

Amen

Preaching in Murray again this coming Sunday

I am scheduled to preach again at the Murray Christian Church this coming Sunday, October 12th.  The service is at 9:30 am, if you'd like to come on down and take in the service, by all means please do so.  I've already started working on the Sermon and I think it will be an interesting one.  Stay tuned for the posting of the manuscript and hopefully the video as well.

The Murray Christian Church is a very nice small town church with a lovely sanctuary, and home to a great group of believers.  This Sunday they will be having their monthly potluck and so we're excited to have some time to not only worship with, but to break bread and fellowship with them as well.

Today I was back worshipping in the early service at Benson Baptist.  After the service I went upstairs to help teach the 2nd to 4th grade Sunday School class.  I missed seeing the kids last weekend and it was great to get to interact with them again.  During the craft time, one of the little girls made a figure out of modeling clay that she told me was of me.  I smiled and told her how wonderful of a job she'd done.  After Sunday School was over and we were dismissing the kids, she came up to me and told me she wanted me to take it home.  I smiled and told her "no, I think you better take it home you did a great job on it and you should keep it".  She was so very proud of her work, it was great to look into her eyes and see the joy she had spilling forth.

It's been a lazy day overall here at the Karlen household.  Maddie got called into work unexpectedly as several folks apparently called in sick today.  I'm certain she doesn't mind at all as she's trying to save up money for a trip to Canada after Christmas.  She is wanting to go and visit Yves, and she wants to go and experience a bit of winter in Ontario.  Gail and I are of course not too excited about her going to Canada in the dead of winter, but then again they do know how to deal with snow and cold there.

Well, that's all for now, I need to do some more reading in preparation for my sermon.  I will leave you all with the "Lord's Prayer" as found in the "Didache".

In His Love & Grace,

Roy

Didache - "The Teaching of the Twelve"

Chapter 8

Fasting and Prayer (the Lord's Prayer). But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week. Rather, fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday). Do not pray like the hypocrites, but rather as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, like this:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily (needful) bread, and forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (or, evil); for Thine is the power and the glory for ever..

Pray this three times each day.

Preached this Sunday at Murray Christian Church

Well today we went to visit the good folks at Murray Christian Church.  It was great spending a bit of time with all of them and I received many compliments on the sermon.  They are a wonderful group and Gail, Maddie and I all had a great time worshiping with and meeting everyone.  I will be back to preach for them again on October 12th and we're already looking forward to that visit as well.

The camcorder gave Gail some issues so parts of the sermon ended up not getting recorded, so rather than posting up a fragmented video I'll just post up the manuscript that I prepared for the sermon.

It's late now so with this I'm going to close.  May this brief blog post find you all well and richly blessed.

In God's unending Grace & Love,

Roy

Sermon September 28^th – Murray Christian Church

Good morning, as Bill said earlier my name is Roy Karlen and I am a graduate of Cotner College's “Educating Lay Ministry Program” or ELM. ELM is a three year program started by the Disciples of Christ to train lay people to take on roles in formal ministry. It is an ecumenical program with students from the Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Christ, American Baptists and of course the Disciples of Christ.

My wife Gail and my daughter Madeline are here with me this morning and we are all very happy to have this chance to come down and be with you all today. Both Gail and I very much enjoy small churches, and it's always a pleasure to come to a more rural area to worship with God's good people.

I will confess that I am not a smooth and necessarily eloquent preacher, rather as I relayed to Bill and the others I consider myself more of a teacher than a preacher. In all of my sermons there is an element of teaching thrown in with the sermon.

But before we go any further let's go before the Lord in Prayer:

O'God we desire your presence with us here today. Lord, still our restless spirits, that with quiet minds and reverent hearts we may hear your voice and genuinely worship you.

Prepare our minds and hearts O'God, that through your word, read and proclaimed, Christ may come to dwell within us, and ever rule over our thoughts and affections as the Lord of our lives. AMEN

When I visited with Bill concerning what to preach about today, I asked him if the sermons normally followed the Lectionary. He told me some of the time, but not recently, and to feel free to preach over whatever was my favorite sermon or scripture. Well, one of the things I like about preaching from the Lectionary is that it often forces you to preach from scripture that you might not normally chose to preach over. And as to trying to pick one's favorite scripture to preach, well that's tough because as you all may know... there's a lot of good stuff in here.

So, I decided to discuss with you all what I see as the 'Nature of God'. Well, of course there is no shortage of passages that I could go to in preparing this sermon, which could make for a very, very long sermon... and that I am afraid, would not make me very popular with you all. But as it so happens to be, there is one passage of scripture that I personally believe we simply have to consider when trying to discern the character and nature of God. So in this sermon we're going to look at this passage and the two parables immediately preceding it, as we try to understand a bit about the nature of God.

Often times when we're asked what is the nature of God we respond just like Karl Barth in the story that I shared with the children this morning. “Jesus Loves me...”, God is love, or we mention, forgiving, grace-filled, all powerful, omni-present, even salvic as in salvation. But there is one aspect of God that all too often we fail to consider, and in my humble opinion it is the over arching character and desire of our sovereign God. I believe that this aspect of God's nature is driven by His overwhelming love for each of us and for his entire creation but none-the-less it is again for me anyway, the aspect of God's nature that is the most profound. There likely is no bit of scripture that more clearly outlines this characteristic of God, than the scripture that we are going to explore this morning.

The Passage we're going to consider is the parable commonly known as the “Prodigal Son”, though it's also called the “Loving Father”, or sometimes “The two sons”, but all of us likely think of it as the story of the “Prodigal Son”.

This Parable is found only in the Gospel of Luke and not mentioned in any other canonical or non-canonical writings. Luke and Acts contain some of the best Greek to be found in the NT and as such it is believed that the author was more highly educated than most writers found in the NT, with the exception of the book of Hebrews which contains the highest and best Greek in the NT. The Gospel of Luke was likely written sometime around 75-90 ad, and after the completion of the Gospel of Mark. This is commonly believed because it seems fairly obvious that the author of Luke as well as the author of Matthew had a copy of the Gospel of Mark at their disposal. It is believed that these two authors also had a copy of a document known as 'Q' or Quelle which means 'Source'. The fact that the story of the Prodigal Son is only in Luke leaves us to believe that either the writer of Matthew chose to leave it out for some reason, or that it came from an additional source, one that only Luke had available.

At any rate, the story is central to the Gospel of Luke and so central that if one of my commentaries is to believed the parable lies right at the center of the Gospel as it is written in the Greek.

With that let's get to the parable of the Prodigal Son, we all know the story, but let me paraphrase it...

We have the younger son who comes to his father, and asks his father for his inheritance early. Now under Jewish law the father is to leave upon his death 1/3 of his possessions to the younger son and 2/3's to the older son. But going to the father and asking for his inheritance in a patriarchal society is the same as telling your father you wish he was dead.

Disrespectful to say the least, but the father for whatever reason agrees and gives his son his portion. Well, the son of course takes off for parts unknown and proceeds to blow his entire inheritance on wine, women and song. Presently, he finds himself flat broke. So broke that he has to hire himself out to a farmer who sends him to tend the hogs. Now please understand you just can't sink much lower as a good Jewish boy than feeding and tending to pigs for Jewish law says “Cursed is he who feeds swine”.

Eventually, he comes to his senses and realizes that his father's servants have it far better than he, for they have enough to eat and shelter. So he decides to go home and beg his father to let him work as a servant for him. He gets home and he enters with great apprehension the great hall where at the far end his father sits on a chair with the older brother standing at his right side. On his hands and knees the younger brother approaches his father and tearfully begs his father, to allow him to return and to work as a servant for him. After a long.... silence and a heavy and unrelenting glare the father speaks. “Take your things and go to the bunk house and take your place with the rest of the servants”. The older brother silently nods his approval, after all the father has displayed fairness and justice in his dealing with the younger brother.

Of course, as we all know this isn't “EXACTLY” the way the parable goes. Let's go to the scripture and read the passage as translated in the NIV.


Luke 15:11-32New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”


So, let's unpack this a little bit and note what is going on in this story. The son as I said earlier, disrespects his father by requesting his inheritance, and then leaves. Basically, telling the father he wishes he's dead and then proceeds to waste all the money that his father had given him.

The son then returns intending to ask to be able to work as a hired hand, but unlike in the way I told the story... the son does not approach the father on his hands and knees pleading for grace. Rather the father 'RUNS' to the son, while the son is still a far ways off... throws his arms around him and kisses him. Now as I'm sure you have all heard before, in Jewish culture one of the things adult men did not do was run. It simply was not dignified and would have attracted a great deal of unwanted attention. This is radical behavior on the father's part.

Before the son can even get out the nature of his desire to come and work as a servant, the father answers the sons statement of 'no longer deserving to be his son'. Did you catch what the father did and said?

He turned and cried out for the servants to bring the “BEST” robe, a ring and sandals. The robe is a symbol of honor, the ring is a symbol of authority, and the sandals are a symbol of being part of the family... his child. Slaves and servants weren't commonly provided with foot ware. The father has brushed aside the son's comment about 'not being a son', and instead ordered him to be adorned in the 'best robe', a ring and sandals.

What has the father done for the son here? All of these items are symbols of reconciliation. The father has restored the son, he has given him back his position in the family. The position that the son himself rejected and dishonored.

As I stated earlier, we often list among the attributes or nature of God, Love, Grace, Forgiveness, even Salvation. But it seems to me that in this parable the over arching nature of God is reconciliation, a restored, as before, relationship. All of these other attributes are stepping stones to get to reconciliation. God's greatest desire is the restoration of the broken relationship between all of us and God. There is no “I will forgive but not forget” here in this story. Here the father not only forgives but immediately forgets all the disrespect and insult, all the 'sin', and restores the son to his original relationship to the father and also the family.

This great desire for reconciliation is of course driven by God's love, but it goes beyond love. God's love is 'relational' he wants us to be with Him, he wants us to be in a mutual relationship with Him. The father calls for there to be a celebration, but why... what does the servant tell the older brother when he asks what is going on....
‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ The younger son is 'back', back in proper relationship to the father and the family... he is restored, reconciled.

Generally it is said that in Chapter 15 in Luke, there are three stories about God and 'lost' things, but there are really four lost here. The first two we heard in the scripture reading before the sermon, the lost sheep and the lost coin. Here God is actively searching for the lost, to bring them back, back into his presence. With the prodigal son, the father races to him and embraces him before any confession is offered. And finally, we have the older son. He has refused to join the rest of the household in celebrating the return of his brother. Rather, due to his arrogance, ego, and envy he has chosen to remain 'outside'. He is in effect lost to the family as a whole. The father comes for him and urges him to come to the celebration.

The older son out of envy, jealousy and ego attacks the younger brother, denying his relationship to him by calling him “this son of yours”, rather than recognizing him as his brother. The father reminds him gently that “your brother” has returned and is no longer lost to them.

The parable ends without letting us know what the older brother does. Does he come into the home and join the celebration? And what theological point can be made by the desire of the father for the older son to join in anyways? The father has already pointed out that their relationship to one another remains intact, there is no need for reconciliation here as the older son has always been with him.

But there is more reconciliation to be done here, there is more to God's nature, and will, to be learned from this short tale. The father not only wants his son's to each be reconciled to him, he wants them to be reconciled one to the other. God wants a reconciled creation. If we look at all three of these parables the lost is not only returned to God, but to the group, the flock, the remainder of the coins, the family.

His invitation for reconciliation stands open to us all at all times to enter into the celebration and to be reunited not only with God but with all our estranged brothers and sisters. Above all else this God we all love so much, is a God of reconciliation.

Let us close with a prayer.

Dear Father, Abba, we come to you humbly and freely accept the grace that you provide to us, grace given despite our sins against you in thought, word and deed. Lord, we thank you for your love and forgiveness and we cherish above all else our relationship to you, we also thank you for the relationships that you have blessed us with in our families, our friends, our fellow believers and all our fellow human beings. Truly, all are a part of your grand design and creation. Dear God, let us always be mindful of your directions in this world and let us be your hands and feet in this place. Father, we look forward to the day when through your direction all shall be reconciled to you and to each other.

We pray this in your most Holy and Blessed name, AMEN.

Preaching this Sunday

I will be preaching this Sunday down in Murray, NE at the Disciples of Christ Church there.  If you're looking for a different place to worship this week and want to make a short road trip, come on down to the Murray Christian Church.  The service starts at 9:30 am and I guarantee a great sermon.  Once the service is over you'll just be a hop, skip and a jump away from Nebraska City, so you can head South and stock up on apples and such while you're out and about.

For the last several weeks I have been helping to teach Sunday School at Benson Baptist.  The class I am working with is the 2nd through 4th Graders, and for the last two Sundays I have led the class.  It has been a great lot of fun and I've truly enjoyed getting to work with these youngsters.  With preaching in Murray this week I will miss those little tigers but they are in good hands in my absence.  With me having gotten used to teaching adults, it has been exciting to work with such young minds.  I have always had a good rapport with children and it's been easy for me to interact with them and fill the role of teacher.  I'll look forward to being back into class the following weekend and hearing all about what they did this week.

With that I need to run so I will just say in parting...

God Bless!

Roy

God's Great Beauty!

Something I found online today.  The majority of this video was shot in my home State of South Dakota with just a bit shot in Wyoming.  Such gorgeous skies up there in good old SoDak.  I do miss seeing them out in the countryside.

Simply amazing beauty up in God's Country, may this video find you enthralled with all that our Gracious God has made for our enjoyment and awestruck wonder.  

In Christ,
Roy

The old Highway 16 Bridge crossing the Missouri River at Chamberlain, SD
WmRoy Karlen