Lent 4

Preparation

    Please begin by reading Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 in your Bible. If you do not have one at hand, we have provided that text for you at the end of this reflection.

Reflection--Resurrections
  
   We know about this ancient story. We know about it deep in our bones. It is as fresh as this morning. It is our story.

    Most of us who came to find spiritual homes in a Metropolitan Community Church left the spiritual homes of our youth long ago. Maybe some of us were drawn to the glitter of some distant place, like the child in the gospel story. More often than not, though, we left because we knew we just did not fit in anymore. Some of us were told to leave. Others picked up on the no less hurtful subtle clues that we weren’t welcome anymore. Others just wandered away when they realized that they were different and came to feel like strangers in their own land.

    We know too about the promise and the glitter of other things and places that somehow turn to dust and leave us with starving spirits. We know about that deep down hunger to go home to God—and about the fear that we can’t; that we will not be welcomed.

    Finally, things get too heavy and we set off to find God again—maybe without much hope, but willing to try. What we find is that all the while God has been waiting for us, longing for us; waiting with open arms and wonderful gifts—with all the very best things to meet our deep, secret needs. God meets us not with condemnation, but with joy and celebration! Another resurrection has happened!

    This is what we are about in my own church and in hundreds of other M.C.C. congregations around the world. This is our good news! Our brothers and sisters are welcome to come home, just as we came home.

    Sometimes, though, we are like the elder brother in the story. Maybe we came home a long time ago and have settled in, enjoying God’s bounty. Perhaps we too get a little resentful at the thought that God’s arms are also open to all our brothers and sisters who are still out there struggling somewhere. “God, must I give up my comfort with people I know to let more in? Must I deal with the overcrowding and the loss of intimacy? Must I be willing to give up some of the attention from you and from the leaders of my church I so longed for so that it can be focused on others?”

    Of course we know the answer. “Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we must celebrate and rejoice, because brothers and sister of yours who were dead are returning to life; they were lost and have been found.”

    Easter, the time of resurrection, is coming. Pray about everyone who is even now being drawn to come to a place of worship where they can hear good news on Easter morning. Pray for them, and pray for those of us who have the tremendous privilege of welcoming them in.  Pray that all of our hearts will be ready. Nothing else you have to do is even half as important.

revclay

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Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

    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:

    "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.'" [NRSV]