Sermon, Sun 3 Sept: 'Come home to the feast'... wk52 WMRBW

This morning, we gathered together around the bread and wine of communion, and also concluded our year-long journey with 'We Make the Road by Walking'

READINGS/ Romans 8:28-39; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; Luke 15:11-32

SERMON
Let’s pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Over the course of this last year, we’ve been on a story journey. This Sunday last year, we began to ‘Make the Road by Walking’ – following a year’s worth of bible readings designed to help us get a better sense of the greatest story ever told:
that of God’s relationship to the world and, to human beings…
and, of the relationship of human beings to God, to one another,
and, to the world.
We began with Genesis: the book of beginnings –
exploring the beginning of everything, the great story of Creation.
We wandered through the Garden –
and heard the story of two trees:
the tree of life,
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…
and of a choice taken to ignore God in favour of eating of the forbidden fruit,
a choice that marked a new beginning:
the beginning of a separation of human beings from God;
of a ruptured relationship.

Over the year, we heard many other stories:
stories of God’s continued love for humanity,
stories of God rescuing people and leading them from slavery,
through the wilderness, and into a Promised Land;
stories of God doing everything in his power to build bridges, to call people back
into a healthy and happy relationship with him once more:
stories of God’s attempts at restoration and reconciliation.
And in these stories, there were some who did come back to God
and others who didn’t – some doing almost everything they could to run the other way.
Overall, down through the ages and, through this year, as we've listened to
and reflected on the many bible stories we've heard God’s continued call for people
to come, to follow –
to receive life,
to receive love, and mercy, and forgiveness.

Having begun the great story with Genesis,
last week saw us delve into the Book of Revelation:
the final book of the Bible, the book telling us how the story ends…
and, begins:
for at the end of all things, we saw a new beginning –
a new heaven and a new earth,
a new Jerusalem in which there’d be no more suffering, pain, tears, death…
in which the old, not fit for purpose, human attempts at power and position
without God would be swept away:
and where God would give light - where God would be the light,
and where the river of the water of life would flow;
echoes of Eden,
echoes of Creation.
From Genesis, through to Revelation we have a story which
'came from God in the beginning, and which all comes back to God in the end.' [McLaren, WMRBW]

And today, we come to one last story:
a story of a man with two sons.
Many of us know this story –
have heard of the shocking request made by the younger son to his father
that would effectively harm the family, and the family business;
a request that would cause considerable difficulties.
A request made by the younger son as a way of filling whatever emptiness
there was within him that he couldn’t seem to fill by staying at home.
We know what happens:
at what would have been great cost to the father, the farm is essentially split up
and the younger son is given his share, which is then cashed in:
the land, probably held for generations, is now in the hands of others.
And once it’s gone, and he’s got the money in hand, so is the younger son:
he’s made his choice, and he’s away, much to the father’s great sadness.

The older son stays, and looks after what’s left of the land.
Meanwhile, the father yearns for his youngest child to come home…
which, after things have gone horribly wrong, he eventually does.
The boy comes home.
And his father is overjoyed:
he’s back, time for celebration!

But not all are celebrating.
The older son, who has stayed at home, is clearly unhappy.
He’s worked hard, he’s always done what he’s been told…
and he feels that he’s never been given the chance to have even
a wee barbecue with his mates.
The story ends without full resolution:
in the early part of the story, the younger son had placed himself outside of his family,
while the older son stayed inside.
Toward the end, however, it is the younger son who is inside,
and the older son standing, hesitating outside:
will he unclench his fists,
will he let go of his resentment,
will he share in the joy of a younger brother now back once again in the fold?
…Will he go inside and join the celebration,
or will he hold the grudge and allow it to fester and wound
the relationship he has with his father – who loves him no less than his other son?

This last story from our series, is a story that shows, in a smaller scale,
the larger story we’ve been hearing and telling this year.
A great, sweeping story which has at its centre a loving Father:
a great, sweeping story about relationship;
a story which contains poor choices, mistakes made, and the messiness of wrong paths taken.
But, like the story of the man with two sons,
it’s also a story that eventually follows a path back to the Father –
the Father who has never stopped loving his people,
for nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love.
A story of God…
always at work,
always about the work of reconciliation and renewal.
A story of God who does a new thing:
who sends his own Son to us, showing us
‘a gracious and spacious heart that welcomes all to the table.' [McLaren, WMRBW]
For in Christ, and at his table, we are reconciled once more to God our Father….

In the telling of the story of the night when Jesus created a new meal
to share with all who believed in him,
we look back to all that God has done for his people…
we look back to the stories that Jesus told about what God was like,
about what God’s kingdom was like.
We look back to the story of Jesus:
his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection…
we look back and remember the reconciling God who has called us his own.
And we look around, to one another:
each one of us, in Christ, a spiritual family – brothers and sisters –
with our own stories of what God has done and is doing in our lives.
And we look forward:
as we eat and drink together
we celebrate the One who restores and renews and reconciles
and who wants us to come, and to live, and to rejoice:
to join the great celebration feast –
a feast that never ends, a feast where all are welcome in. Amen.