Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country and there he squandered all his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything he had, a severe famine took place throughout the country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of the country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands." So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe - the best one - and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and its alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began to celebrate.
"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'your brother has come and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and he refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen for all these years I have been working a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me so much as a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours comes back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.'"
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This story is well known and it often comes to us in the season of Lent. It is a desperately human story. It is a story that speaks to our struggles, to our longings, to the sin that entangles us and others in it. It speaks to the dysfunction that is coursing just below the surface in our own family relationships, that is blowing up in our faces or perhaps has settled into remote and dishonest ways of relating with one another. But, woven into the gritty realities of our lives is the story of God - a story of love, forgiveness, restoration, a story that culminates in a great gathering, a feast of celebration. The story of the prodigal has captured people for thousands of years, it has inspired artists, because it reveals who we are and who God is. It also calls us into maturity, inviting us to become the father, to extend the table, to offer grace, forgiveness and love.
Our story begins with a father and his two sons, the younger son wants to split from the family - "give me the share of the property that belongs to me," he demands. And with these words the young son sets a trajectory for his life and for his family that will both reveal and open up deeps wounds, a trajectory that everyone must contend with. The family must divide and sell land so that this young man might have his share and make his own way in the world. The older son is left to manage what remains, to re-envision a future on the farm, to care for his parents. 'How dare he,' the older brother fumes - his head throbbing, his heart pounding 'but, this is just like him. He never pulled his weight around here; he has always been propped up on the backs of everyone else. Why is Father letting him do this to us. We are getting walked on and disrespected. We are becoming that family. I am getting sideways glances and looks of judgement, disapproval and pity everywhere I go.' All of this reminds the older brother that this isn't just a personal pain or a family pain, there is a public dimension to this too - he feels the shame of the community. 'Father never should have let this unravel... He should have controlled this situation. This has gone too far. What will this foolhardy boy of ours do with his share of the inheritance? Go and squander it all in Rome? He is a disgrace to his family and to the community.' Feelings of self righteousness and anger settle deeply into the older son, it all becomes a part of the narrative he has been telling himself: 'I am the responsible one. The one who does what is right, who is always keeping things together or putting them back together or cleaning up the mistakes of others. I am the one who really takes care of this place.'
But to the younger son this isn't just about him and what he wants, he hasn't arrived at the point of leaving without some deep complication and heavy consideration - he is tired of being bossed around, squeezed out and treated like a second class citizen in his own family. He does not see a way forward with his family. Beyond his desire for self determination there is a sense of futility and despair. He wants something that he doesn't think he can find at home - love, acceptance, significance, belonging. These things are just out of reach, just beyond the farm, he is sure. And they are so important he will just about bankrupt his soul to get them. The problem he soon discovers, is that the further he travels from home the more disoriented and lost he feels. He tries to numb the pain, he tries to buy his way of the hole he has dug for himself but, he soon discovers he is in so deep he is running out of air with no way out and no one to rescue him. He is forced to look at some hard truths: he isn't the greatest manager, he isn't as entrepreneurial as he had liked to think and he is not a hard worker. It is all true. He has squandered everything. Maybe his family weren't the only ones to blame, maybe some of this is his own doing. And deep in the muck - broke and surviving on pig slop; working for people who stripped him of his dignity, he decides to take a risk and return home. Yes, he would own up, he would make it right. He would ask to become one of his Father's servants.
The young man summoned the courage and began the walk home, hungry and weak.
On his way home, he began thinking about the past, ruminating on the false ideas he had about his Father and himself, cursing his blindness and arrogance. He was filled with sadness for all that he had wasted, for how he had treated people. He began to feel anxious about how he might be greeted, about what might be waiting for him at home - he knew a refusal would be justified - 'how could I have asked for everything only to return with nothing and ask to be received.' And yet a faint hope persisted almost against reason, might his father would give him a second chance? 'Is it possible?' he wondered?
As his home came into sight he was filled great grief and deep relief - everything he had left was there, waiting. And then he heard something familiar, it was the unmistakable voice of his father calling to him from up the road. How did his Father see him, he was still a half mile from home? It was as though his Father had been calling for him, looking for him, all this time. His heart began to quicken, his knees felt like they might collapse beneath him. And then he saw the old man, his Dad, running as fast his old legs would carry him, his robes flapping and his arms outstretched - he appeared unselfconscious, unashamed of himself or his boy, almost desperate. The boy fell to his knees, heavy sobs wracking his body as his father threw his arms around him and kissed his neck. The words that were on his heart tumbled out of his mouth as the tears fell down his face, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' He buried his face in his fathers robes and let out all of the pain of the past but, the pain did not overwhelm him anymore; he felt something he had never felt before - love. Love that stopped all the bleeding, all the pain, love that healed and made whole. In his Father's arms he received it for the first time, love, that had always been there for him, but that he had never felt worthy of, that some part of him had always refused. And now on this dusty road home, he received it as pure gift. He felt no shame in his vulnerability, in fact in his weakness he felt something new gathering in him, a new kind of strength, a new kind of courage. A new man was emerging from the robes of his father, like a butterfly from a cocoon - new and beautiful and pulsing with life. A crowd was beginning to gather, his father was calling his hired men, 'get my son a robe, and some sandals, put a ring upon his finger. Let's feast tonight!' And with these words the son's dignity was restored and his sonship was claimed.
Well our story doesn't end there because this family has more than two people in it and reconciliation is complicated. What about that older brother? How is he going to react to all of this? After all he has been left to bear the responsibility of the land and his parents since his brother left. There have been struggles on all sides. He has seen his parents beset with grief, isolated from their community and growing increasingly desperate. But, he has been managed, he has held it together since his brother left, but that is his role. That is what he always does - the right thing, the responsible thing. What will this homecoming mean for him? It is no surprise that he doesn't come running out to greet his brother and that he doesn't show up to the feast. It would just taste bitter in his mouth. His brother is home and all of the pain and anger that he has been absorbing a lifetime is bearing down on him. And the jealousy! A red hot jealousy at this ridiculous 'welcome home, son' party, is overtaking him. Where was his ring? His robe? His feast of honour? Surely not! 'My father has gone mad in his old age,' he thought to himself. Who knew the cancer of that stingy, holier than thou attitude that had been creeping in was making him a miser and worse a monster in his soul? Even though he stayed home and did everything right, today he was a million miles away from his Father, how had he arrived at this place? How had he become the furthest person out. This felt like a terrible reversal and the worst part was, he was blindsided. He never saw this day coming. He had seen glimpses of this generosity in his Father but he had never really known this side of him. His father's words to him sounded tinny, : 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.'" It was like he was hearing the words in an echo chamber, they were bouncing off every surface and not settling in him. He was numb and unmoved.
As we share this story with children this week, let's not complicate it, let's see what the children notice about the story. I wonder what connections they will make - to the old testament story of Joseph, to Jesus, to their own lives. Let's tell the story of a Father who runs out on the road and throws himself around his child saying, 'let us eat and celebrate, for this child of mine was lost and is found!' Let's tell the story of the younger brother and the older brother and may we all hear God calling us his children.
I think this story might open up an opportunity for us to spend some time in confession as we pray. We don't often get to this in our times together and it important in our life of faith and especially appropriate in this season of Lent. And this story gives us a way of entering into this that is natural as this is a story of forgiveness and restoration. Children need the practice of confession too - they are often are saddled with feelings of not being worthy, of not being good enough, of disappointing or hurting others and they need space to tell these things to a God who comes toward them in love and welcomes them just as they are and offers them new life.
Here are a couple of resources for prayers of confession/forgiveness:
Merciful God,
You pardon all who truly repent and turn to you
We humbly confess our sins and ask your mercy.
We have not loved you with a pure heart,
Nor have we loved our neighbor as ourselves.
We have not done justice, loved kindness,
Or walked humbly with you ,our God”
Leader:
Merciful God,
You pardon all who truly repent and turn to you
People:
We admit that we sometimes say terrible things.
We use our words to hurt others and make ourselves look good.
We twist our words to avoid telling the truth.
We yell and whine and bicker.
Forgive us.
Give us new hearts and new words.
Help us turn toward honesty and kindness.
Teach us to speak in peace.
We not only say evil things, we do them.
We grab what we want without thought for others.
We insist on our own way.
We cheat and steal and find ways to feel OK about it.
Forgive us.
Turn us away from temptations and toward you.
Show us new ways of acting.
Teach us to love others as you love us.
Guide us every day.
http://flamecreativekids.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/prodigal-son-messy-church-prayer.html
http://flamecreativekids.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sorry-whiteboards-sorry-bin.html
Using a sand table and a small stick students may write or draw something they would like to confess, after they have expressed their feeling or thought in the sand, they can move their hand through it obliterating the words and images as a sign of receiving forgiveness.
Be sure to include the assurance of pardon as a part of your time of prayer.
Assurance:
Who is in a position to condemn?
Only Christ,
and Christ died for us,
Christ rose for us,
Christ reigns in power for us,
Christ prays for us.
Anyone who is in Christ
is a new creation
The old life has gone;
A new life has begun.
Psalm 103:8-12
1 John 1:4-7
You might even want to speak to why we pass the peace and practice it in your class saying, 'the Peace of Christ be with you', and responding, 'and also with you.'
Passing the Peace is our enactment of the reconciling love and forgiveness of God through Christ. We are literally touching one another, holding and shaking hands, in humility and in forgiveness, and in repentance. God’s peace is being shared freely among his people. We do this before the Eucharist emphasizing the importance of being in right relationship with our brothers and sisters and with God.
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