[Propertalk] FW: Sermon Resources for March 10 - Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

March 10, 2013	 	
	


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Sermons for Lent 4

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32- "The Other Prodigal Son" 

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 - "Are You Part of the Scandal?" by Leonard Sweet

 

 Luke 15 ,  the sermon title "The Other Prodigal Son"     

 

In 1986 Henri Nouwen, a Dutch theologian and writer, toured St. Petersburg,
Russia, the former Leningrad. While there he visited the famous Hermitage
where he saw, among other things, Rembrandt's painting of the Prodigal Son.
The painting was in a hallway and received the natural light of a nearby
window. Nouwen stood for two hours, mesmerized by this remarkable painting.
As he stood there the sun changed, and at every change of the light's angle
he saw a different aspect of the painting revealed. He would later write:
"There were as many paintings in the Prodigal Son as there were changes in
the day."

It is difficult for us to see something new in the parable of the Prodigal
son. We have heard the story so many times we believe that we have squeezed
it dry of meaning. Not only that, but, as the saying goes, familiarity
breeds contempt. When we hear the opening words of the parable once again,
"And there was a Father who had two sons," we greet the words with ho-hum.
Heard it. Heard it. Heard it.

Yet, I would suggest that just as Henri Nouwen saw a half dozen different
facets to Rembrandt's painting of the Prodigal Son, so too are there many
different angles to the story itself. This morning I would like for us to
re-examine this familiar story by looking at the other prodigal son... 

The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0012Ba3gPZjZbuXfBljSZOFJ9_RGsvDcTcAXLlyfk2Q9yVN
AJgPyPwokYUP81nSOQgngYWAd4V9UZR6gNhGVuTy-tS4ry0V570LY0cY3gFVDPil2oLxrZrjv_Aw
ssnlT4sg> http://www.sermons.com/signup 

_______________________

 

Luke 15 ,  the sermon titled "Are You Part of the Scandal?" by Leonard Sweet


  

In many local elementary schools, every few weeks the "Lost and Found" box
is emptied out and the contents are scattered down the length of the main
hall. Coats, mittens, shoes, sweatshirts, gym clothes, are all laid down and
spread out in the hopes that their owners will spot them and take them home.
But the scene of all those empty clothes creates an eerie sensation, as if
it is not the clothes that had been left behind, but that the children
themselves have somehow been "lost" - zapped out of their clothes and
transported to somewhere far away. For any parent walking down those empty
halls, those empty clothes give an empty feeling, a feeling that is
disturbing and desolate.

Losing track of a child is every parent's worst nightmare. It only takes a
moment to go from peaceful to panic when you suddenly realize that somehow,
someone has gone astray. And, sorry to tell you this, it is a worry that
never stops. Just when you think you have gotten through the scary "I can
walk but not really talk" phase, children go off to pre-school and
kindergarten - out of our sight for hours on end. Then they get older and
want to do things like ride their bikes to a friend's house, or go to the
mall by themselves, or "hang-out" without you quite knowing where they are
or what they are doing. For some reason teenagers always insist on getting
driver's licenses and then they graduate from high school and go off to
college, or join the military, or get their own place. It doesn't matter how
old they get - parents still want to know where their "kids" are and how
they are doing. "Out of sight" definitely does not mean, for a father or
mother, "out of mind."

But good parents also know there is a time and place when letting go is
necessary. To grow and develop their own sense of responsibility, to take
their own actions seriously, and to learn to live with the consequences of
those actions, children have to let go of the "family lifeboat" and dare to
test the untamed waters of the world.

Yet for Jesus' first-century audience, such a message was unfamiliar...

The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining
<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0012Ba3gPZjZbuXfBljSZOFJ9_RGsvDcTcAXLlyfk2Q9yVN
AJgPyPwokYUP81nSOQgngYWAd4V9UZR6gNhGVuTy-tS4ry0V570LY0cY3gFVDPil2oLxrZrjv_Aw
ssnlT4sg> http://www.sermons.com/signup 

______________________________

 

 God Said... 

 

Is there a better picture of forgiveness in the whole Bible? It reminds me
of a story about a woman who had upset her pastor because she claimed that
she had conversations with God. She had attracted quite a following in the
church and every day people gathered at her house, got on their knees,
prayed, sang hymns and listened to her describe what God was saying to her.

The pastor thought all this was getting out of hand, so he went to visit
her. "I know you say you are talking with God," he said, "but what you hear
talking back at you is just your imagination. Just to prove it, I want you
to ask God to name three of the sins that I confessed this morning. Then
tell me what God said. If you can name those sins, I'll believe that you
really are talking with God." The woman sat there for a long while, praying.
Then she looked up and said, "I asked God to name your three sins, but God
said, 'I forgot.'"

Norm Linville, The Prodigal Father

________________ 

 

He Seeks Until He Finds You 

 

There is a wonderful story about Maya Angelou. She is an active member now
of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. She wrote that
years ago when she first came to San Francisco as a young woman she became
sophisticated. She said that was what you were supposed to do when you go to
San Francisco, you become sophisticated. And for that reason she said she
became agnostic. She thought the two went together. She said that it wasn't
that she stopped believing in God, just that God no longer frequented the
neighborhoods that she frequented.

She was taking voice lessons at the time. Her teacher gave her an exercise
where she was to read out of some religious pamphlet. The reading ended with
these words: "God loves me." She finished the reading, put the pamphlet
down. The teacher said, "I want you to read that last sentence again." So
she picked it up, read it again, this time somewhat sarcastically, then put
it down again. The teacher said, "Read it again." She read it again. Then
she described what happened. "After about the seventh repetition I began to
sense there might be some truth in this statement. That there was a
possibility that God really loves me, Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry
at the grandness of it all. I knew if God loved me, I could do wonderful
things. I could do great things. I could learn anything. I could achieve
anything. For what could stand against me with God, since one person, any
person, with God form a majority now." 

There are many people who are just like that. They think it is unbelievable
that God would know me, that God would love me, that God would know my name.
Just the grandness of it, as Maya Angelou says, that God would really love
me. But that is the gospel. He seeks you until he finds you. She found that
God found her, in San Francisco. 

Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com 

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