June 7, 2009 Sermon

The Prodigal Son
Luke 15:11-32

My grandma loved the BeeGees. She probably did not know the title of a single one of their songs. Maybe she did not even know their name. But when one of their tunes came on the car radio she would sway and hum along. Often she would make a comment like, “That has a catchy melody!” My grandma loved life. She loved music. She loved family. She made the effort to include my wife Linda in the family, to make sure she knew she belonged as a Riggins. When Grandma Riggins was around, fun happened. She knew how to take joy in the moment. She knew how to celebrate.

A week ago our church's Odyssey of the Mind team attended the awards ceremony of the World Finals tournament. As we entered the arena at Iowa State University the PA system blared out the BeeGees' hit song from 1977, Stayin' Alive. Tens of thousands of people clapped and sang along. Later they played a 1984 hit song by Ray Parker Jr. I guess it should not have surprised me when at the right moment everybody, even the youngest kids, shouted, “Ghostbusters!” More than 7,000 children and youth from OM teams were tense with anticipation at the announcement of the awards to come in a few minutes. It was loud. It was confusing. Powerful emotions saturated the air. It felt like a family reunion on steroids. My grandma would have loved the scene.

The Prodigal Son comes at the end of three parables Jesus told in quick order. Each one illustrates the joy God the Father takes in finding the lost. First a shepherd leaves behind the 99 sheep he has safely corralled and searches for the one still wandering out there in the dangerous night. When that shepherd brings in the lost sheep, he rejoices. Next a woman turns her house upside down to look for the one coin (out of ten) she has lost. When she finds it she throws a neighborhood party. Next comes the parable of the Prodigal Son. Jesus explains that these parables dramatize the joy God feels when a lost person returns to the loving embrace of the Father. His message was clear: return to God. God longs to embrace us.

I have preached a number of times on the parable of the Prodigal Son. I have looked at the younger and the elder sons; this time I want to focus on the father. This father represents God the Father. The story opens with his younger son demanding his inheritance. This wayward boy as much as tells his dad, “You are dead to me. Give me the money.” The father does. In fact, he gives the elder son his (double) share, too, a fact we usually overlook. The younger son takes off and blows through his money. A famine hits. Excellent timing! It's as though a church built an addition to its building just before the worst economic downturn in seventy years. (We have not behaved rebelliously in constructing our new building. But I pray that we will fill that space with ministry that lifts up the love of the Father.)

The younger son gets a job feeding pigs. The Old Testament law, the law under which Jesus and his Jewish audience lived, forbade eating pork. This young lad has fallen far—but not as far as he will. Jesus tells us he starved, “and nobody gave him anything.” He has reached bottom. Ever feel as though you have reached bottom? Ever feel as though nobody gives you anything—and that it's your own fault? When this young man comes to his senses his first thought is that he has sinned against heaven and against his Father. Rejection plus guilt equals deep pain.

The United States Secret Service has conducted a study that attempts to profile students who might someday go over the edge and become school shooters. The study, authored principally by Katherine Newman, a professor of sociology at Princeton, debunks many myths. School shooters do not come from any one group (the “Goths” or the “Burnouts”, say). Some are athletes and/or scholars. They are not all obvious loners, nor do they all have obsessions with guns and explosives. Some come from broken homes; others, from intact families. Some come from rich backgrounds; others from poverty. What school shooters do have in common, according to Professor Newman, is that they feel alienated. They “failed at social integration”, and they blame themselves as well as their peers. They feel the need to prove, to themselves as well as to others, that they can exert enough power to take control of the school. As Ms. Newman points out, “These students feel they have fallen. They are ashamed. They cannot imagine any way to get up off the bottom that does not involve extreme measures.”

As Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ, we fall. We fail. But we need not resort to extreme measures to climb back up on our feet. Jesus has already taken extreme measures to accomplish this feat. In his parable, the Prodigal Son decides to confess his sins. He walks home to do so, but before he can get the words out of his mouth his father runs—runs--to meet him. The son squeezes out his confession: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The Father, though undoubtedly glad for this admission, wants nothing to do with it. He calls for a celebration. He throws a party, pulls out all the stops, extravagantly expends the very best in honor of this son who has come to his senses, come to the point of admitting his guilt, come home.

I know all about the elder son's reaction to this. In many ways I am that elder son. I know that he (falsely) believes himself worthy of being called the Father's son. I know he is self-righteous, a prig. The next section of the parable teaches important lessons through this character. We will ignore them. This time we will focus instead on the delight the Father takes in receiving his wayward younger son. We all stray. We all sin. But we serve a God who rejoices when we come clean. God longs to embrace us. Confess your wandering ways, and God will throw a party. God's love is unconditional. God's generosity knows no end. Come home to God.

It was fascinating to observe the young people on the church OM team last week. We spent a lot of time together. This came after having spent a great deal of time together over the past year. But the social groupings I might have predicted did not always happen. Two long-standing, extremely close friends spent barely any time together. (Not, I hasten to add, that their friendship appears at all affected.) Nor did the teammates stay set in subgroups throughout the competition. They drifted in and out of groups of two, three, or six. One thing that did not happen was the isolation of any one child for any span of time whatsoever.

The Northern Lakes Community Church’s OM team walked out of that awards ceremony that started for us with the BeeGees singing Stayin' Alive with sixth place in the world. It was a tremendous, thrilling result. Before we climbed in our vehicles to return to our hotel we had a prayer circle in the parking lot. One young lady on the team prayed, “Thank you that I get to be a part of this, and that I have never felt better in my entire life.” If you wonder why I coach OM years after my own children have moved on in life, there is part of your answer. “Thank you that I get to be part of this, and that I have never felt better in my entire life.” That is why we do OM. That is why we do church.

Church offers fellowship. Those three words convey a truth far more deep and satisfying than their simplicity suggests. Church offers fellowship, intimacy with God the Father and with the people of God. Or it does when we do church right. At the Northern Lakes Community Church we do hands-on mission well. We do certain aspects of worship well. We do Odyssey of the Mind well. We do our junior/senior high youth group (The Preacher's Creatures) exceedingly well. We are working diligently to do fellowship for younger children and adults as well. From where I stand, it appears we are in a race. If we develop our fellowship for all ages quickly enough we will survive and even thrive as a congregation. If we do not, this church—it is becoming increasingly clear—will not survive.

I mean what I just said. This church is at risk. If we do not grow numerically we will not survive. If we do not deepen our fellowship we will not survive. Maybe we should not. But I still believe God the Father has ordained the existence of this congregation. I still believe God has gifted us with all we need to make it happen. All that remains is for us to admit we have not gotten where we ought to be and to do the work of reaching out to embrace young children and adults as God the Father embraces us. The time has come for us as a congregation to make an elementary youth group happen. The time has come for us to form new small groups. The time has come for us to invite people to visit us. Maybe the best place for the visiting to start is a women's Bible study. Maybe it's the Men's group that will start up in two Saturdays (June 20). Maybe it's the Preacher's Creatures.

But while I honestly believe that the existence of NLCC is at risk, I do not believe that’s why we invite people into the fellowship of the church. When we do church correctly we embody the love of the Father. God longs to embrace us. When we do church correctly, God does embrace us through our fellowship. We come to know acceptance, unconditional love, and belonging. We get to be a part of this, and we have never felt better. Praise God! Now, let us extend that extravagant offer to others. Let us open our circle. One regret I have with OM is that not every child in this church who would like to participate gets to be on the team. You cannot include more than seven. There are no such limits on the fellowship of the church. Go out there. Invite them in. The Father waits to embrace them.