thankful

i complain when sermons go awry, so i should probably tell you when they go well. yesterday i had the opportunity to preach at Hill Memorial Baptist in allston, ma. Hill Memorial is an older, ABC congregation that consists of middle aged and older believers, most of whom have led challenging lives and bear evidence of the scars of broken relationships, and a smattering of wonderfully curious children and teens. i preach there once a month, try to express a measure of pastoral concern for the congregation and get to pay my comcast bill as a result. so, up to this point, our relationship has been mutually beneficial.

after preaching a bomb of a sermon earlier this month and so desecrating their 'children's sunday,' i promised myself that i committed myself to preparing a well-developed sermon this time. fortunately by God's grace, the results weren't half bad. for the past few weeks i have been reading the gospel of luke. when i stumbled across the 'parable of the prodigal son' in lk. 15, i couldn't help but wonder why i had never heard a parable from the perspective of the elder brother. following craig blomberg i think that this parable provides 'one major point per person.' so i set out to preach from the elder brother's perspective.

although i was more than a little hesitant to do so, i decided to shape the sermon as a first person narrative. so, after studying the text with some care, i wrote a story about a upper class, pious episcopalian elder brother whose younger sister drained a third of the family trust (botching the family plans to invest in the yahoo i.p.o. in the process) and abandoned her well healed, beacon hill family to marry a disaffected, upper middle class hippie on the west coast. i reshaped a couple of incidental details as well, such as her returning with a second dirtbag husband whom she wanted to marry (picture connie in the godfather II), the father throwing her a celebration that served as both a welcome home party and a bridal shower, and her being adorned with her late mother's wedding dress and ring. the brother is confronted with dave matthews band pumping out the bay windows and the sight of a catering truck in front of the brownstone as he walks home from work. things proceed from there. anyway, to make a long story short, the sermon connected. i worked hard at trying to understand the psychology behind the brother's response and, compared with other sermons i've preached as of late, i practiced my ass off. there were a few in the congregation that arched an eyebrow during the sermon (perhaps due to the fact that i called my father's daughter a whore on a number of occasions) and extended a pious condemnation after (that was interesting...). thankfully, most of the people were clearly connecting with the sermon and afterwards a few of them took me up on my offer to discuss the sermon afterwards.

however, as is often the case, in the end i was the primary beneficiary. though i have often identified more readily with the prodigal, as is fitting considering the immature, and sometimes illegal, antics of my adolescent years, i realized that in the last couple of years i have been trying on the role of elder brother. this is especially true in the case of felipe, a chilean student who my parents graciously took in as one of their own (they are well practiced in this area), and who subsequently brought dishonor to the ministerial vocation and shame to my family. my parents, no doubt following in the footsteps of God, have long since forgiven felipe of his trespass and have sought to walk with him towards restoration. however, i have continued to condemn felipe in my heart for some time. i have little respect for someone who dishonors their pastoral vocation in the way that he did (i suppose the ways i dishonor it are much more acceptable...) and i have no tolerance for someone whose actions impugn my family in any way (i tend to protect my family in the same fierce way that the elder brother was trying to protect the father). i now see that by continuing to reject my fellow sinner, i have been rejecting the overwhelming love of my parents and that of the father, which i have been the beneficiary of on so many occasions. i confess that such condemnation is out of step with my profession of love. thus, i want to set it aside. may God give me the grace to realize that by rejecting those he has forgiven, i am, in essence, rejecting Him.

i realize that this is yet another long winded, confessional entry that is more for private reflection than public consumption. thanks for bearing with me.