Dead and now Alive, Lost and now Found

Jesus would teach anyone who wanted to listen to him, regardless of who they were, what they wore or what they believed. The response from the religious leaders of his day was, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Jesus responded to them by telling a story: "There was a man who had two sons. . .” We’ve all heard the story. We call it the “Prodigal Son,” The Two Sons,” or “The Forgiving Father.” It’s a story about love and family and jealousy. About getting what we deserve and making sure that no one else gets more than they deserve. Ultimately it is about forgiveness and acceptance whether the forgiveness and acceptance are received or not.

Jesus often got into “hot water” with the “powers that be,” both religious and secular. Usually for talking to the wrong people or speaking of God more as a loving father than a despotic judge, and especially for eating with people who did not deserve God’s love: tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes. As we listen closely to this story, found in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 15, we see and hear Jesus illustrate that all deserve God’s love and forgiveness. Jesus hopes his listeners, then and now, see ourselves in this story, that we see our sins and mistakes as clearly as we see the sins and mistakes of others. Certainly some did and do, just as surely others did not and do not. I believe Jesus also hopes that we see God as bigger than we could ever ask or imagine.

In this story we can see the selfishness of the younger son as he takes his inheritance while his father is still living and blows it on parties and high living with his friends. The older brother, on the other hand, appears to be the perfect son: he stays home and cares for the family business, does all his father asks of him and never asks for anything special. This perfect son’s jealousy comes out when he feels he is not getting what he deserves, even to the point of expounding on his brother’s “sins” which may or may not have taken place.

God’s love, represented by the father’s actions, is greater and different than both expected. The younger son expected to become a servant and his father welcomed him as a son. The older son expected to be rewarded and the father welcomed him as a son. He loved them both with his whole heart and mind and strength, and forgave them both of their blindness and selfishness and lack of vision.

Wherever we find ourselves in Jesus’ story: the older brother, the younger brother, the father, a servant or just on the outside looking in, Jesus’ proclamation to the brother who stayed home is God’s gift to each of us. “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.”

May we celebrate God’s loving and forgiving presence in our lives, and may we go and do likewise. For truly we were dead and are now alive, were lost and have been found.

Litany of Penitence

I share with you one of the most powerful and important portions of the Ash Wednesday Liturgy

(found on Page 267-269 in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer)

The Celebrant and People together, all kneeling

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

The Celebrant continues

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and
strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We
have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.
We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved
your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the
pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation
of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those
more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and
our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to
commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:
for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our
indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our
neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those
who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of
concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world. 

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

Let’s Talk: This is Really Important

As strange as it may seem, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is one of my favorite days of the Christian year. Perhaps an explanation is in order: My family and I lived in New Orleans for sixteen years. The last twelve years I was Rector/Pastor of St. George’s Episcopal Church on St. Charles Avenue, just two blocks from the main Mardi Gras Parade Route. This location made possible a major fundraising opportunity, “Mardi Gras Spirits!” We opened our doors and turned our fellowship hall (Undercroft) into a café with Cajun and Creole food, burgers, soft drinks, beer and wine. We also provided bathrooms for free, though we did accept “tips for trips.” After two weeks of daily and nightly parades ending with an eighteen hour Mardi Gras Day, I was so ready for Lent and for the Ash Wednesday reminder of what is really important in our lives, including the proclamation that “we are dust, and to dust we will return,” that we will die, and that what we do on this earth and in this life is important.

In the Episcopal Church, Fourth Century B.C. Jewish Prophet, Joel (2:1-2, 12-17) sets the tone for a Holy Lent by proclaiming God’s call to repentance to the people of Judah. As I read or hear this message, I hear it as God’s call to us as well.

“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near--a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come. 

Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him. . .

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy.

Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord. . .

God calls us to repentance, not to punish, but to bless. God chooses to bless us so that God might bless others through us and our lives. The importance of this invitation is seen in who is invited to this solemn assembly: the aged; the children including nursing infants; even the bride and bridegroom must put off the honeymoon to hear God’s invitation.

Yes, our daily lives are important to us and to our families and friends, and to God. But for our lives to be what God wants for us we must first hear Joel’s words and receive God’s blessing!

“Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him.”

As we return, weep and mourn, may the merciful God forgive us, shower us with God’s steadfast love and cover us with blessings.