"What Does Our Church Need From Us?"

 

Luke 15:1-2,11-32

 

      As most of you know, I have an older brother.  Tom is six years older than I am.  Although my mother will not admit to this, it is obvious that she has a favorite son, and his name is not Dan.  At least it is obvious to me.  She would say that she loves us both equally, much like the father in the parable we just read.

 

      It is good that women can only have one husband.  If Jean had more than one she would probably love the other one more than she loves me.  Monogamy protects us from those kinds of jealousies. 

 

       In the parable the father loved both the younger son and the older son.  But as the story progresses the older son was making it an either/or situation rather than a both/and situation.  I think a lot of us do that, not only in families but also in the church.  Isn't that what happened in the early church?  The Pharisees and the Sadducees were not happy about the Gentiles or the Samaritan or the sinners becoming a part of the family.  They chose to leave when certain people were accepted. 

 

       The same is happening today.  People are making the church an either/or situation rather than a both/and situation when it is obvious that the father loved both the younger son and the elder son.  The father's love is greater than our fears, our jealousies, our prejudices.  But we choose to allow our insecurities to impact our choices more than we trust the father's love to lead us to better life.

 

        When two people walk into a church, our first thought would be that God loves them equally.  But then if we were to add some qualifiers like one is a model citizen of the community and the other abuses his wife and children, it might change our minds about the equality of God's love for those two people.  It certainly impacts the way we love them. 

 

        Isn't it true that if any place in this world should emulate the father in the parable, it should be the church?  Isn't the church the place that should offer love and forgiveness?  A couple of weeks ago we talked about Jesus being the hen who took care of his brood, protecting them from the fox, Herod.  Isn't the church the place that should take on the role of the protector for the sheep?  The truth of the matter is that we do not do a very good job of protecting our own, let alone those outside our walls.

 

         Last week I was reading an article in Presbyterian Outlook.  There is a lot of talk about downsizing in the PCUSA.  It is easy to blame Louisville and the people who work in Louisville for the decline in the denomination.  And some of the blame is justified.  But right now, I think many of them have a difficult time being effective because they are worried about their jobs.  Rather than being badgered by local congregations what they need is to experience our support.  Right now they may be the younger brother, they need to experience God's love.  They may feel like they are out in the wilderness and have no place to call home.

 

        Our first reaction might be, yes, but they have led us down this difficult path.  We have a difficult time feeling sorry for them.  And then we get a vision of the father, welcoming home the prodigal, and e know that God loves us equally. 

 

      One of the questions from the article that stuck with me is this: "What does our church need from us at the moment?"  We could ask what does our denomination need from us right now as a church?  What does our presbytery need from us?  What does Waverly Road need from us as ministers, elders, members? 

 

       It seems to me that at the present time there are too many churches that are elder brothers right now.  They are looking out for themselves.  They are not interested in what might be good for the body as a whole.  There is division caused by people choosing to be either/or rather than both/and. The truth is that the father wants both sons at the party.

 

      Remember the story of the wedding feast when the king sent out invitations and everyone made excuses as to why they could not come so the king sent people out to bring people in from the streets and the thoroughfares to enjoy the feast.  When we make it either/or, either the Samaritans or us, either the gentiles or us, either the younger brother or me, and the host chooses to invite the Samaritan, the Gentile and the elder brother, we are separating ourselves not only from our brothers and sisters, we are separating ourselves from the host.  We are saying that we think we know better than the Father.   

 

      The Lenten journey begins with Ash Wednesday, acknowledgment of sin, a cross being placed on our foreheads.  But as we move through Lent the emphasis moves from our sin to God's grace.  God is saying come, join in the banquet and don't let the guest list get in your way.  The younger son is going to be here, so is the Samaritan, and the Gentile, and the people who work in Louisville.  I hope you will choose to come too.