Prodigals

A little over a week ago, I had the opportunity to preach on Christ's parable of The Prodigal Son as found in Luke 15. Included in a group of parables that deal with the lost being found, it has always been very personal to me. For I too have a brother who was lost, squandering his life away on foolish behaviors, who came home again and was welcomed back completely and without reservation by his father. Too often, I have played the role of the 2nd son in the story, too quick to judge and condemn. But what strikes me most in both Christ's story and in my own, is that the prodigal is welcomed without an expectation of change. He is welcomed because he is loved. Change, clearly, is hoped for, and even prayed for. Change will be encouraged. Change will be discussed. But it is not a prerequisite for acceptance. It is not a prerequisite for welcoming back to the family table. It is not a prerequiste for the gift of love.

Recently, I came across two seperate articles that impacted me deeply, as I was in post-reflection-mode regarding my sermon. The first, written by Joe Klein appeared in the March 26, 2007 edition of Time magazine. Klein writes:

"For preachers like Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and Pat Robertson, the prospect of hell has always been far more vivid than the possibility of heaven. Presidential candidates like Robertson, Pat Buchanan and Gary Bauer have loaded up on the "Thou Shalt Nots" and rarely, if ever, mentioned the grace and serenity that comes from doing "for the least of these."

Klein goes on to quote former Arkansas Governor and GOP candidate Mike Huckabee, who said:

"I'm a 'grace' Christian, not a 'law' Christian. The Second Commandment - do unto others - is the basic tenet of my faith. And so I believe that life begins at conception, but I don't believe it ends at birth. I believe we have a responsibility to feed the hungry, to provide a good education, a safe neighborhood, health care..."

Klein summarizes the role of Huckabee and GOP Senator Sam Brownback in the upcoming presidential election by saying:

They represent "the introduction of a new constituency into the political process: 'Second Commandment' Christians, those more interested in salvation than damnation..."

Klein also adds that both Brownback and Huckabee have "lost" recent conservative Christian audiences by talking about things like Darfur, food banks, feeding the hungry and health care.

The second, and profoundly more powerful article I came across was found in The Covenant Companion, the monthly magazine published by my own Evangelical Covenant Church denomination. In his Markings article (which appears monthly), Jay Phelan (President and Dean of North Park Theological Seminary and Executive Vice-President of Academic Affairs for North Park University) writes, in his article entitled "Do We Have To Like Sinners?":

Perpetual moral outrage shows neither strength of character nor depth of courage. It masks my passion to control the other in ways that comport with my own views of the nature of God and the world. It uncovers the violence that lurks in my soul ready to lash out at the disagreeable other. It is a sign of narcissism, arrogance, and insecurity. And it has never saved anyone. Did sinners flock to Jesus because he glowered at them angrily? Did they find him attractive because he looked disapprovingly down his nose at them? Hardly. The complaint about Jesus was that he was too friendly with sinners. He got along with them too well. He accepted their invitations to parties. He hung out with their disreputable friends. He actually seemed to like them.

Phelan goes on to write:

It is not a moral failing to like sinners. It is not a compromise of the gospel to hang out with them. We can disapprove without being disagreeable. We can disagree without become obstreperous. We can do this because Jesus modeled it for us. We must do this because we humbly recognize our own fallibility. We too are sinners. In a culture fueled by outrage and indifference we model attention and compassion.

My brother was found by a elderly Christian couple who literally found him on the streets of a Texas city, and welcomed him with their open arms. Even though he was a drug addict, and an alcoholic, and a thief. From their gift of love, he found a new path to a new life.

I wonder why it is, that so much of the church today has seemed to have lost the call to love the lost?