Reflections from Boston: Luke 15:11-32

Luke 15:11-32 (NRSV)

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The 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. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But 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! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’So 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. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But 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. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But 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. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But 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.’”

One of the definitions of “prodigal” is “extravagant.”  Wasteful even.  (From it we get the word, prodigious, which means "extraordinary in size). 

The tendency has been to look at this parable from Jesus as saying that it is the younger son who is lost, is lost because he has spent his money extravagantly and wastefully.  But is it the younger son who is truly prodigal?

Or is it the father who lavishes love so extravagantly on this son – this son who seems to throw everything away?  Is it he who is prodigal?  

The older son would probably think so.  This son has admittedly been working hard.  He's the one who stayed.  He's the one who never asked for anything.  What does this son think about the idea of throwing a party for his wastrel, younger brother?  Remember that this story follows after the story of the lost sheep in Luke.  Why do you think these two stories go together?  Is it as strange to throw a party for a spendthrift son as it is to leave 99 sheep unprotected to go look for a lone lost one?

What does this story tell us about God’s love for us?  And what would you say to the older son? 

We don’t know the end of the story.  We don’t know if the older brother goes into the party or stays out.  Look at some of the language of how the older son sees himself in relation to his father.  He uses words like “slave” and calls his brother “this son of yours” rather than my brother.  Does the father who loves lavishly strike you as someone who treats his older son like a slave?  It doesn't seem so, and yet, can we understand why the older son might have thought so?

There's a tendency when we hear this story to immediately feel connected to one or the other of the characters.  Who we see ourselves as or who we empathize with in the context of this story, is likely to influence how we see God's love and the Kingdom of God in general.

It is likely to influence who we see as lost and who we see as found.

It's likely to influence what we see as righteous and what we see as sin.

How do you imagine the story ends?  

God of lavish and extravagant love...lead me to love just as widely, just as deeply and just as lavishly as you do.  Amen.

Reflections from Boston - Genesis 37:12-2

Genesis 37:12-28 (NRSV)

Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.

He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

Joseph goes to find his brothers and ends up lost in a most tragic and real way.  Yet through that being lost, God will find a way for Joseph not only to be found again, but also for his brothers to be found as well.

How well do you know the story of Joseph and his brothers?  Maybe you’ve seen “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and know Joseph’s story from there. What do you remember from Joseph’s story?

 

At the end of this passage, Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt.  Egypt was the strongest empire of the age.  While we were in Boston, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts to do a scavenger hunt and got to see some treasures from Egypt.  Why do you think God had Joseph “find” himself in Egypt?  What made Egypt so powerful?  Who would be Egypt today?

Sometimes we have to find ourselves away from the comforts of home.  God is always a god of movement - sending us out.  Moving us into the world.  This was true for Joseph and was true for us as well.  Going to Boston gave us a chance to move beyond ourselves.  To serve in a place that wasn't familiar or comfortable.  

In what ways is God calling you out into the world to serve?  Beyond the walls of church and home?  Is there a place - perhaps out of the ordinary - where you might find yourself by losing yourself in service to others?

God of the world, remind us that you are always moving us. Always sending us. Help us from our comfort zones to reach out to those who we might not otherwise see.  Amen

Reflections from Boston: Luke 15:1-7

Luke 15:1-7 (NRSV)

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Which one of you…does not?”  Jesus asks the question with the underlying assumption that as shepherds, OF COURSE we would leave the 99 sheep behind to look for the lost one.  Would we?  Is that a fair assumption to make?  Would we leave the 99 unprotected to look for just one?  

And who do we tend to think of ourselves as: the one, or among the 99?

The 99 tend to be thought of as the “righteous” or those who follow the rules and do their best to follow God’s ways.  The one tends to be thought of as the “sinner:”  the one who tends to habitually sin over and over.  We know that we all have the capacity to sin, but to those listening here to Jesus, there was a definite difference between those who did right and those who sinned over and over again. 

Is this a choice that we can even really understand?

And while we can consider ourselves righteous – because we know we have been justified by grace though faith in Jesus – does that mean that we aren’t also lost?  Can we be BOTH lost AND righteous?

In what ways are you lost?  What things separate you from the Shepherd?

Do you ever feel pressure at church or at work or anywhere else in your life to be "perfect" (or righteous?)  - to the point where you feel lost?

Can you think of a time where you were the one Jesus came after?

In what ways does this parable help you understand God's Commonwealth of love?  In what ways does it still confuse you?

God of the lost, find me.  When I am lost, when I stray, and when I live under an illusion that I have it all together and am found.  Find me and lead me and guide me back home.  Amen.

Reflections from Boston - Matthew 16:21-26

Matthew 16:21-2 (NRSV)

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

Think about this for a moment: Jesus lashes out at Peter because Peter wants to save his life.  Or at least, Peter wants Jesus’s life to be preserved.

We do all kind of things and have all kinds of ways in the world to preserve our lives and keep us safe.  In Boston, the adult leaders put the safety of the youth as one of their foremost concerns. Every day we do things to keep ourselves safe - from eating well to wearing seat belts to driving speed limits, etc.  So does this mean Jesus doesn’t care about our safety?  What does Jesus mean by wanting us to lose our lives for his sake?  Literally lose our lives?  I think probably we know that's not what he's talking about.

Maybe what Jesus is saying is to "forget our lives."  And in the process we find our true lives.  Our true selves.

There were moments in Boston where the everyday cares of my life - and of the lives of the youth in Boston - seemed to vanish.  What we were doing - who and how we were serving - was the only thing that seemed real.  This is what Gandhi's quote means:  we find ourselves - our true selves - when we lose those parts of ourselves that get in the way of who we really are in service to others.

When we let go of the parts of our life that we wear like clothing - the accouterments we have made part of ourselves over the years: the labels that we buy, the jealousies we have, the money and status we seek, the sports teams we worship, we lose our true selves bit by bit.  Finding them again is a bit like peeling back an onion. 

Service to our brothers and sisters is a fabulous way to begin to peel back those layers.  In Boston, I asked the youth in my group if parts of their lives back home seemed distant and unreal while we were in Boston.  For almost all of them, they said that was the case. The layers began to peel back.

Service takes time and work.  It is more than writing a check to your favorite charity, as I heard one youth say last week.  It is getting involved.  What ways can you get involved that you've been thinking about but haven't quite yet started?

Merciful God, help me to lose myself in your service.  Service to you through service to my neighbors.  Peel back the layers, Lord, and help me to find my true self.  Amen.

Reflections from Boston - Ezekiel:37:1-6

I am back from Boston and still processing and feeling overwhelmed by all that happened while I was there.  Our theme for the Boston Youth Servant trip was Gandhi's quote: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others."  And as I reflect back on the week's events, I decide to put Ruth off for another week and share instead some of the devotions (or rather a modified, past tense form of them) that I shared with the youth while we were in Boston.

Ezekiel 37:1-6 (NRSV)

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

In Boston, 50 of us learned hands on about how we can find ourselves by losing ourselves in service to others.  Being found by being lost seems to be a strange paradox.  So too does creating life from dry bones as happens to Ezekiel in today’s passage.  Life and Death, Lost and found…what other things that seem to be opposite can you think of that God uses to fulfill mission and hope for God’s people?

As Christians, we know the Easter story of life coming from death.  Death and then resurrection.  But here in Ezekiel we see that God has been bringing life out of death for a long time!  Although we were in Boston to find ourselves by losing ourselves in service to others, we are also had many opportunities to find places where life springs from situations that seem to us to be hopeless or even dead.  Boston itself is a living reminder of a type of this renewal.  We worshiped on "The Greenway" which is the string of parks that now adds beauty to the city where the "Big Dig" once tore it apart and a highway literally divided it.

In our own communities we can look for these signs of renewal as well.  And we can be part of them.  Although most of us may live in the suburbs where renewal doesn't seem to be a critical problem, challenge yourself today to look for places both where it is needed - as well as where it has already begun.  How can you be part of it?

God of life and rebirth, open our eyes and hearts to be part of your ongoing renewing process.  Help us not to stay stagnant and stuck, but instead to be reengaged actively each day in your saving work for the world.  Help us to find ourselves by losing ourselves in the work of your re-creation.  Amen.