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Dear Abby recorded a powerful story.

 A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school.  It was a custom in their affluent community for parents to give their graduating children a new car, and the boy and his dad had spent weeks visiting one dealership after another.  The week before graduation they found the perfect car.  They boy was certain it would be in the driveway on graduation night.

One the eve of his graduation, however, his father handed him a small package wrapped in colorful paper.  His Father said the package contained the most valuable gift his Father could think of.  It was a Bible!  The boy was so angry he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house.  He and his father never saw each other again.

Several years later the news of the father's death finally brought the son home again.  Following the funeral, he sat alone one evening, going through his father's possessions that he was to inherit when he came across the Bible his dad had given him.  Overwhelmed by grief, he brushed away the dust and cracked it open for the first time.  When he did, a cashier's check dated the day of his high school graduation fell into his lap -- in the exact amount of the car they had chosen together.  The gift had been there all along ...

but he had turned away AND LEFT IT BEHIND.

there are A LOT OF THINGS that CAN MAKE US TURN AWAY FROM SOMEONE’S OR SOMEONE’S GIFT,

OR LEAVE EVERYTHING WE KNOW BEHIND.

ANGER, as in the case of the unhappy graduate.

PRIDE, thinking we can “make it on our own.”

GREED, wanting everything for ourselves.

A SENSE OF ADVENTURE, a desire to see the world.

OR EVEN GUILT AND SHAME.

DOES any of this sound familiar? 

Has any of this happened in your life?  

It happened to the younger son in today’s gospel lesson.

Unfortunately, we don’t have enough information to know why the son asked for his share of the inheritance and then leave the family.  In those days, to ask for one’s inheritance while the father was still living was considered an insult. 

The son had insulted his father first by asking for his share, and then by leaving! 

The son made a choice.  A choice that hurt everyone involved and made strangers of them all.

In 1981 I did the same thing. 

In 1981, I should’ve graduated from college.  I didn’t.

My family had flown in from Kansas to see me graduate.

I met them on the houseboat they’d rented, and they had surprised me by flying my grandmother down with them.  I was a nervous wreck, because they didn’t know I wasn’t going to graduate. 

Standing there in front of them all, with butterflies in my stomach, I told them what had happened. 

My grandmother sat and fidgeted a bit.  My mother stood there with a shocked look on her face.  My sister sank into a chair.  MY FATHER WENT BALLISTIC.  EVERYTHING HE COULD THINK OF TO YELL AT ME, HE DID.

Everyone eventually had their say and everybody had a chance to grasp the situation.

THINGS WERE VERY TENSE. 

I stayed on the boat with them a day or two and tried to come up with some sort of plan about what I would do.  

We tried and tried.  We didn’t agree on ANYTHING.

I WAS SO ASHAMED of being such an embarrassing disappointment that I left my family there and went to stay with friends near the school.

MY FATHER AND I NEVER SPOKE AGAIN FOR 3 YEARS.

BOTH THE YOUNGER SON AND I had turned away from and left behind the place and people we had held for so long. 

AND WE BOTH FOUND OUT JUST HOW HARD IT WAS

GONNA BE TO DO THAT.

WE HAD RUN SO FAR AWAY THAT WE WERE LOST.

BEING LOST IS MORE THAN JUST NOT FINDING OUR WAY. WHEN WE’RE LOST,

          Our resources dry up.

          Our friends aren’t who we think they are.

          Our self worth goes right out the window.  AND

          We  lose our sense of direction.

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO, OR WHO TO TALK TO.

The younger son had squandered his fortune away and was forced to take a job slopping pigs.  The people he worked for didn’t even treat him like a human being!   

AS FOR ME, I quickly wore out my welcome with the friends I had been living with and was forced to borrow money from relatives. 

THE INEVITABLE HAPPENED.     WE HIT ROCK BOTTOM. 

HAS THERE BEEN A TIME WHEN YOU’VE BOTTOMED OUT?  HAS THERE BEEN A TIME WHEN YOU’VE TURNED AWAY FROM THOSE WHO LOVE YOU, ONLY TO FIND THAT YOU’RE LOST?

ONCE WE HIT ROCK BOTTOM,

WE’RE FORCED TO TAKE DESPERATE MEASURES

TO FIND SOMETHING TO HANG ON TO.

Drugs.

Alcohol. 

Untreated depression.   Anxiety.          ISOLATION

Compulsive behaviors such as:

Spending.              Sex.            Gambling.

ARE YOU IN THIS PICTURE?  IS THIS YOUR STORY?

ONCE WE BOTTOM OUT, WE’RE FORCED TO FACE OURSELVES AT OUR DARKEST MOMENT. 

          Once we bottom out and find out that none of these work,

          we’re forced to look in a mirror at who we really are.

THE IRONY OF THIS is the same as in the story of the gospel. 

ONLY WHEN the younger son realizes his own brokenness is he FREE TO FIND HIS WAY BACK.

Only when you and I realize our own brokenness are we REALLY FREE TO FIND OUR WAY BACK FROM THE “FAR COUNTRY.”

For the elder son, this happened when he realized that he was living with pigs--unholiest of creatures.  For me, this happened when I had lost my best friend in the world, when I began moving from place to place, and when my father was diagnosed with cancer. 

WHAT ABOUT YOU? 

ARE YOU ABLE TO REALIZE YOUR OWN BROKENNESS?

ARE YOU ABLE TO STAND UP AND SAY, “I’M GONNA MAKE MY WAY BACK?”

When in your life have you “come to yourself” after hurting someone and begun the journey back? 

The youngest son did just that. But we don’t have much detail about what actually happened on his journey back to his father.  BUT BECAUSE WE’RE HUMAN LIKE HE WAS, WE CAN IMAGINE WHAT HE MUST’VE BEEN THINKING AND FEELING:

          “I’m not worth being treated like part of the family.

          I’m so ashamed of myself.

          They’ll think I’m a failure!

What if there’s nobody there?

          What if they still don’t want me?

          What if they reject me and tell me to leave?

          How will everyone treat me?

ARE YOU IN THIS PICTURE?  IS THIS YOUR STORY?

WHEN THE SON DID GET BACK TO HIS FATHER,

HE GOT THE SURPRISE OF HIS LIFE.

His father RAN out to meet him!  Now in those times, it was considered HIGHLY IMPROPER for an elderly man to RUN ANYWHERE!  Proper protocol was for the father to wait until the son returned completely. 

HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE SEEN “TORCH SONG TRILOGY”?  REMEMBER THE SCENE when Harvey Fierstein’s character has to meet his son at school and shows up IN  HIS ROBE AND BUNNY SLIPPERS? 

THAT’S WHAT THE FATHER DID! 

HIS FATHER WAS SO THRILLED that his son had come back, he essentially said, “I don’t care WHAT people think!  I’m gonna go out and MEET MY SON!”

AND BEFORE THE SON COULD EVEN GET HIS WORDS OUT, HIS FATHER SHOWERED HIM WITH GIFTS.  HE GAVE HIS SON:

          A robe, which signified authority.

          A ring, which signified honor.

          And shoes, which meant that the son was once again his child. 

Slaves weren’t allowed to wear shoes.

BEFORE THE YOUNGER SON COULD EVEN

GET HIS WORDS OUT,

HIS FATHER HAD GIVEN HIM

HIS FULL PLACE WITHIN THE FAMILY…

…AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED.

          Remember when we were teenagers?

          Every time we went out with friends, or came in late,

          Our parents gave us a lecture and an inquisition?

                    I called your friend’s house, and you weren’t there.

I’ve been worried SICK!

                    WHERE have you been?

                    You were supposed to be home 2 HOURS AGO!

THE FATHER DID NONE OF THAT…

HE DIDN’T ASK HIS SON A SINGLE QUESTION.

HE DIDN’T GIVE HIS SON A LECTURE.

SO IT IS WITH GOD.

WHEN WE “COME TO OURSELVES” AND JOURNEY BACK TO GOD, GOD WELCOMES US BACK NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

WHEN WE TURN AROUND AND MAKE THE JOURNEY TO GOD, WE ARE IMMEDIATELY RESTORED AS CHILDREN OF GOD.

NO LECTURES.

NO NAGGING.

JUST GOD’S COMPLETE LOVE and TOTAL FORGIVENESS.

A WEEK BEFORE MY FATHER’S DEATH,

My mother called to say that he wanted to see me. 

On the plane to Kansas, I went through

the same anguish, guilt and doubt

I had been going through for three years.

But suddenly I realized that I couldn’t let my father die

Without making amends. 

After I arrived, I went in one day and began talking with him. 

Before I could finish telling him how sorry I was for hurting him,

he turned his head toward me and said,

“I LOVE YOU MORE THAN I’LL EVER BE ABLE TO EXPRESS.”

THAT WAS GOD’S WAY OF RUNNING OUT TO MEET ME.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

HOW DO YOU ENCOUNTER

GOD’S COMPLETE LOVE AND TOTAL FORGIVENESS?

HOW DO YOU AND GOD MEET EACH OTHER?

Do you wait for God to come to you?

Are you staying trapped in desperate behaviors?

Are you like a scolded teenager, waiting for God to lecture you?

REMEMBER—GOD IS LOVE, NOT LECTURES.

No questions asked.

No inquisition.

JUST COMPLETE LOVE AND TOTAL FORGIVENESS.

A love that says, “Everything I have is yours.”

And a forgiveness that says,

          I love you more than I’ll ever be able to express.

WILL YOU PRAY WITH ME PLEASE? 

                    (PASTORAL PRAYER)

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