Fourth Sunday Lent : Refections on the Prodigal Son

 3/27

Good Shepherd Faith

It's a cold March morning, Adjusting to the temperature after a few days in Florida. Preaching live and in person at Good Shepherd Faith. Today a mainly Korean congregation. Here's what I had to say:

Okay.  The equinox is past and we are officially into spring. The days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. And baseball is back and my much delayed annual trip to Florida happened. It’s that season when anything seems possible, even for Pirate fans. The city has  ended the vaccination mandate. And tonight is the Academy Awards.

But underneath it all, there is that nagging awareness that won’t go away that across the world, a war is going on. A  nation that was not threatening any other country has been invaded and bombs are falling on houses, schools, theaters and even maternity wards and innocent people are dying daily and we know this. Even as we are inspired by courageous resistance, there is an almost helpless feeling as we watch the daily reports and feel like there’s nothing you and I can do except maybe support humanitarian relief efforts. 

And dare I say it, for the first time decades, we worry again about the possibility of nuclear war. Those are the worst kind of worries…ones where you have no agency in the outcome.

And this is the context, this 4th Sunday in Lent, when my job s to try and find a new angle on a very familiar story …Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. 

Told in response to the scribes and Pharisees grumbling about the kind of people Jesus hung out with, its contours are all familiar to us. A headstrong young man demands his inheritance, goes far away, squanders all his money in dissolute living, winds up feeding hogs, those despised unclean animals, decides to go home and finds his father waiting with open arms, ready to celebrate.  And a grumbling older brother. 

We all know the standard interpretation…we need to “come to ourselves,”  get real about our shortcomings, ask God for forgiveness. Repent and be forgiven. Turn around and be ready to live in a new way. And God is always ready to forgive us. 

It’s the overriding theme of this whole season of Lent. 

There have been efforts to deepen our understanding by focusing on characters other than the son. The father, for example, has to look past that his son's actions were equivalent to  wishing him dead. (Ironcially, it’s the son who later will become as dead.)  The father sees the son while he is still far off, meaning he had to be out there looking, looking, waiting for the son’s return, believing he would come back. And he runs to greet him. Leaving aside  all dignity and runs. And this is a metaphor for how God is out there looking for us.

And we have looked at the older brother. The apparent bad guy of the story, at least as our spoil sport. Until we stop and think about. Sympathize with his position.  He has stayed, been responsible and done the right thing. Taken care of his father’s business.  And never received a word of thanks. Or felt appreciated. His feelings are hurt.  He needs to be reminded that his father is “always with him.” That all that his father has is his.  And that this son of his fathers in truth, his brother.  And that it is our job to be compassionate and see the reason to rejoice. 

Okay. Not sure what new I can add to these understandings. But here’s my idea.  What if we pause and reflect on each character of the story? Pause and think about what each thinks and feels and imagine  ourselves in the place of these characters? (Which is actually the way to read any parable.)

Lent calls us to see ourselves as the son.  But can we also see ourselves as the father? Ready to extend forgiveness? Can we see ourselves as then older bother? In fact in any church, there are a lot of elder brothers, we who are responsible, who  strive to do the right thing. Who watch others reap the benefits. And perhaps if we step outside the parable and see ourselves as the scribes and pharisees who inspire the parable. Though I’d say for Jesus, these scribes and pharisees are the elder brothers.

We see this usually in terms of our personal individual lives. Maybe sometimes we can extend our understanding to our church community. But there is something broader at stake. 

Our Presbytery is currently seeking to deal with its own reality of systemic racism.  It is complicated. Deep rooted. Our denomination has yet to acknowledge that a significant part of our church provided theological support for chattel slavery and broke  off because of that belief. 

Our nation has yet to face fully the truth of the genocide of our indigenous people or the ongoing legacy of chattel slavery. We’re caught between land acknowledgements in theaters  and new laws against critical race theory or books or teaching that might "upset" anyone.

We have learned historically from South Africa that only when history is squarely faced and openly talked about can there be reconciliation.

Country blues singer Robert Timothy Wilkins in the 1930's ended his version of the Prodigal Son (later covered by the Rolling Stones)  like this:

Well, father said, "Eldest son, kill the fatted calf"

"Call the family round"

"Kill that calf and call the family round"

"My son was lost, but now he is found"

"'Cause that's the way for us to get along”

                                                             Prodigal Son

Yes. That’s the way to get along. The only way to get along. We need to be about the business of truth and reconciliation. 

I believe that this war will end.  We will need to find a way to get along, even as  this divided nation we live in needs to figure out a way to get along.  Those moving images from Ukraine…of then people who captured a Russian soldier giving  him food and hot tea and offering him a phone to call home to  his parents…those images point the way,

Let those words stay with you…

"My son was lost, but now he is found"

"'Cause that's the way for us to get along”

Let those with ears to hear, hear.

Amen.

1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

3So he told them this parable:

11b"There was a man who had two sons. 12The 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. 13A 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. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But 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! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' 20So 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. 21Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22But 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. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

25"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But 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. 30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' 31Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But 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.'"

4th Sunday in Lent: Coronavirusworld

3/22

The word on the street.....

Lots of conflicted feelings about going to Ecclesia in Marcus Garvey Park today. Of course services at Good Shepherd-Faith-and all Presbyterian Churches- are cancelled today. But my brother Clyde  will be in the Park to serve the homeless people who gather there and I want to be with him. 

I’ve come to understand however, that it’s not simply about ourselves when we take a risk. It’s others we put at risk as well.   That raises the stakes ethically. And I’m just at the end of a self-quarantine due to a close friend of mine having come down with the virus. But after much refection, based on the fact that we will be outside, based on Clyde’s understanding of what’s at stake and the fact that many food programs for homeless people have shut down and we are providing a meal, I decide to go. 

It’s colder than it’s been most of the week. Back to the high 30’s. The streets are very quiet.  Even my favorite coffee shop that intended to stay open for carryout has given up. I take the slow walk to the drumming circle at Marcus Garvey.

I find Clyde in a theological conversation about the nature of God with a most emphatic man from Jamaica. As he enters into a discourse on the “illegal Maccabees Bible,” it’s time to begin our service. 

(I later learn that the Maccabees Bible, including the four books of Maccabees and Psalm 151, was banned in British colonial empire days and possession of it considered seditious and punishable by imprisonment!)

There are about half a dozen folks as we begin. Including one who only speaks Spanish. That number will grow as we continue. Our Jamaican friend coughs and Clyde immediately gives a passionate discourse about how to cough and no spitting.  He also talks about fear. How our strange days create fear and we continue to come to the park to allay those fears. We try to get everyone at least six feet apart. Clyde explains how we will have eucharist in only one species today. Each host will be placed on an individual napkin. 

We begin our service. Read the gospel, John 9: 1-41, the story of the man born blind and Jesus healing him with mud. My choice, however, will be to preach on the 23rd Psalm, which I read in Spanish before I begin…..

My friends…these are strange days we are living in. I have never experienced anything like this in my lifetime.  It’s the kind of feeling like in science fiction or horror movies. And it’s the whole world….last night at 9PM Pope Francis called for the  whole world to pray at the same time.  They’re asking us to stop every night at 8PM to say a word for health care and wellness workers. In Spain, France, Italy and Israel they go to windows to applaud workers on the way  to the hospital. 

(Clyde interjects…and they sing!)

So how bad is it now in New York?  New York State has 5298 cases….40% of the nation’s total. At the beginning of the week we had 700. That’s a nearly 700% increase.in one week!  So it’s real. Does anyone here know someone who has the virus? I do. 

The streets have an eerie quiet to them. All the closed shops and stores. We’ve been through hard times before. But it was different. We could come together. Sing songs together. Dance. Play ball games. Hold each other. That’s how we got through.  So what do we do this time?  It’s a great time for ZOOM. They have increased their value 26% in the last month while the market has plunged by 32%. Friday night I was in a nationwide concert on ZOOM. That’s how we do. But not if you’re my mom in her assisted living facility. Not if you’re someone without a phone. You are isolated and alone. 

 So how do we reflect on the moment theologically?  The lectionary this week is filled with rich passages. Some of my favorites…like 1 Samuel 16: 1-13 where Samuel goes to Jesse and goes through all his sons before finally landing on David, the youngest and least likely to be the anointed. Or John 9: 1-41 where Jesus heals a man born blind with a little spit and mud. Another favorite. (Used as an ascription for Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull”..) Both of those have the stuff for many sermons.

But today I have to go with Psalm 23. That’s it, our “go to” Psalm. The one we go to for comfort. There’s a lot of reasons for that. It’s used at probably every funeral we’ve ever been to in our lives. It’s part of the “walk around Bible” most of us have inside of ourselves. Back in the day, the old folks used to have all kinds of Bible verses memorized. They could walk around with them. Not so much anymore. For one thing, we all used to use the King James. Now there are so many versions, there’s no real common shared Bible. And two, well, we just don’t. But we’ve still got Psalm 23.

My denomination uses the New Revised Standard Version. Just not the same.  The darkest valley just doesn’t get you like the valley of the shadow of death….and that’s kind of what it feels like right now. My kids have been fairly frequently reminding me that I’m in the target group. One of my friends is still in the middle  of the fever stage. We worry about my mom. There is a shadow hanging over us. And it’s not just illness. I have friends who have lost all income as bars and restaurants shut down. And multiply that across the country across the world…it’s a BIG shadow. 

But the psalm is about hope. There is the image of bounty. My cup runneth over. (So much better than ‘overflows.”) We always have the choice to view our life as scarcity or abundance. Need or capacity.  When I started community organizing, we started with "Needs assessments. ”  And in most of the communities I worked in the needs were so great that at that point, people were ready to give up. On the other hand, if we started with capacity, it’s a very different story. We always discover we’ve got resources we didn’t even realize we had. 

Theologian Walter Breuggeman  said that doxology is beginning of resistance. Giving thanks is what it takes to start your way back. When I’d been fired and lost my job, I felt so alone. But then a friend asked what I had to be thankful for. It took me aback. But also helped me get on my feet again. I had so much to be thankful for. Nahum Ward-Lev says at the end of every day, we should make a list of what happened during the day for which we have gratitude. It’s not a bad exercise. 

And I will dwell in the house of the lord my whole life long? Or forever? I like  forever. 

Even in the shadows, God is with us. And if we look deeper, listen deeper, what do we see? In his beautiful poem Lockdown, Irish Father Richard Hendrick reminds us that in Wuhan Province, the air is clear again, the sky blue. And people hear the birds sing again. In Assissi, people’s voices fill the square and touch the lives of those who live alone.  We’ve got a chance to stop. To take a breath. And maybe figure out how to heal ourselves. And heal the earth. 

…we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever…

Amen

We have our prayers of  the people. Share the peace from afar. Then one by one, come forward for eucharist. It seems to work relatively smoothly with some hiccups. Someone coughs on a laminated song sheet and we have to get rid of it immediately. 

As we are finishing eucharist, a van stops by. A Park ranger gets out and stops to investigate. “What’s going on here?” She asks.

“We’re having church” says Clyde, “and then lunch.”

“Well keep a safe distance,” the ranger says, “Six feet apart” and then takes off. It’s a reminder of what is so hard to enforce. Even after the ranger’s visit, we still have to remind our congregation over and over.

Finally, Clyde says, ”If we can’t keep six feet away, we just can’t do this anymore…”

 Put the lunch bags on the altar. People come up one at a time. There are so many, we’ve barely enough food. The people take their bags and move on.

Clyde shakes his head. It’s been a struggle. ‘I don’t know” he says. “Maybe we’ll just have morning prayer, forego the eucharist. I don’t like that idea, but…” and he shares the potential vulnerability of his home situation and sense of responsibility. 

“We’ll just have to see…”

No one knows what happens next.

I start my walk home through the empty streets.

No one knows.

Psalm 23

1   The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.2        He makes me lie down in green pastures;
     he leads me beside still waters;3        he restores my soul.
     He leads me in right paths
          for his name’s sake.

4   Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
          I fear no evil;
     for you are with me;
          your rod and your staff —
          they comfort me.

5   You prepare a table before me
          in the presence of my enemies;
     you anoint my head with oil;
          my cup overflows.6   Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
          all the days of my life,
     and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
          my whole life long.

Psalm 23 King James Version (KJV)

23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Fourth Sunday in Lent: What about reconciliation?

3/6

Pastor Brashear and Victoire Oberkampf

 There’s just enough time to rehearse with Victoire before the service begins.  After we read 1 Corinthians 5: 16-21, Victoire sings her own arrangement of Go Tell It on the Mountain. And after Luke 15: 1-4, Amazing Grace.  (You can hear these songs here: https://soundcloud.com/victoire-oberkampf-1)L-./ )

                                                                                                                                                               And then time for reflection on reconciliation.

Our topic today is reconciliation.  Let me repeat these words from Corinthians:

¹⁷So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 

Let’s talk in terms of a familiar story…the prodigal son…we’ve heard it so often…it’s hard to come up with a new angle..

Try something..they say to fully understand a parable, you need to see yourself as each of the characters in the story…

For the father: What your son is asking for is equal to: I wish you were dead..this is your youngest…the  baby of the family…your favorite…(so many times in the Bible, it’s the youngest who winds up with the birthright, the coat of many colors…you get the picture..) But you give in anyways….weeks, months , years? go by and you’ve heard nothing…the neighbors critical about what you’ve done…still every day, you’re looking out at the horizon, waiting, waiting….and when that day comes, you’re happy enough just to see him…so you welcome him..and of course you celebrate, and bring all your neighbors…so the boy can be restored…so community can be restored.. the new ceramic lid to our baptismal font is a gift celebrating a child, an Occupier restored to his family…

But what we don’t know is this….what if he does it again?

I’ve met too many parents over the years…in situations  especially related to drugs…met parents who have had to draw lines.. and try to live with them…and had their hearts broken over and over and over again. How many families have that one child…

For the youngest son.. everything was too good, too right, too constricting. You have to get away, just to  survive..it’s OK for awhile, then it all goes bad…and you realize what it is you’ve squandered, what it is you’ve lost. You’ve got to live with the awareness of not only the material benefits you had, but the sustaining  love you threw away, didn’t take care of. Lost. Biggest loss of  all..it is the relationship…(That’s the one that gets me…loss of relationship..it’s like losing a limb…) In the end…you can’t expect, you don’t deserve, but…you go anyways…and how do you respond to such a lavish, embarrassing welcome? Why no demand to prove yourself? What will the day after the party look like?

And of course, the older brother. Who has done everything asked for …and more…his whole life this younger one has gotten the attention. The benefit of the doubt. Never did his share. Just plain left with me having to run this whole place. And now he comes back and he’s welcomed? With a party? And by the way, how come everyone else seem  to know about this party except me?  Like servants are sent to invite the whole town, I’m out in the field and I don’t know? Dad, am I invisible?

It’s common among clergy to hear that members feel the pastor spends so much time with those in NEED that they never see those who are in need. The troubled, the poor, the crazy, the …who get all the attention. The steady, diligent ones who keep things going, who are responsible, who wear themselves out helping the church simply survive don’t feel seen, much less appreciated.  Why keep doing it? And if some of those who have been absent should come back, should they expect to jump right in and start deciding how things should go when they haven’t been here when things were do or die? What’s right about that?

And what about the mother? Oh, right, there’s no mom in the story. What’s up with that? Why did Jesus leave her out? (There’s a special relationship between mother and child…they’ve discovered shared cells that have passed back and forth through the umbilical chord…an awareness…a knowing…intuitive )

OK. Who was story for?  The Pharisees. We always look at them as the bad guys. They were natural allies of Jesus. They are concerned that he spends his time eating with, breaking bread with, those of ill repute, and reputations. How does that make us look? If others see so many of them around, who’s going to want to stay here? Who’s going to pay the bills for this guy? Could the Pharisees be saying we’re backing him, giving him the benefit of the doubt while the temple powers, the political powers are getting upset and he doesn’t even care?

Note the message from the father to them…it’s not your day is over, you’ve been replaced, It's you have been with me always…everything I have is yours…(the oldest son still gets his 2/3 share after all..).This is important for Christians to hear…What Jesus is saying on behalf of God…is come into the party….everyone…

There are lots of emotions in this story…Now..what if Jesus is all the characters in the parable? I’ll leave that one with you…

BUT..consider the word prodigal…what does that mean? One synonym is promiscuous…I read recently in Queer Christianities a chapter on the theology of promiscuity…it was a bit of a bait and switch advertising…not what you expect…it makes the claim that God’s love is promiscuous ……freely given, without regard or judgment or demand or….it’s just….. come in to the party….

The symbolic meal we participate in today is like that ….  .so….let us break bread together…

Victoire and I share in various variations of Amazing Grace…like the Blind Boys of Alabama..( ) I do my own Hank Williams style ( So Lonesome I could cry..) and we finish together.

Later, I’ll sing My life flows on as Pete Seeger sang it in the days of the House Un American Activities  Committee and the Red Scare:

My life flows on in endless song
Above earth's lamentation.
I hear the real, thought far off hymn
That hails the new creation
Above the tumult and the strife,
I hear the music ringing;
It sounds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
What through the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it liveth.
What through the darkness round me close,
Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of Heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble, sick with fear,
And hear their death-knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends by shame are undefiled,
How can I keep from singing?

We share bread and cup together. Then Victoire blesses us with another song…so good to have her spirit with us…

SECOND READING 2 CORINTHIANS 5:16-21

¹⁶From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.  ²¹For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

GOSPEL LUKE 15:1-3, 11B-32

¹Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

³So he told them this parable:

11b"There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The 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. ¹³A 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. ¹⁴When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷But 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! ¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' ²⁰So 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. ²¹Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' ²²But 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. ²³And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

²⁵"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. ²⁷He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' ²⁸Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. ²⁹But 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. ³⁰But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' ³¹Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²But 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.'"