Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this day. It will be one of the longest days of the year. I love summer. I love the daylight that lasts through 9 PM. I get up with the birds as they begin to sing praises to Jesus around 4 AM. The Lord of Heaven and earth ushers in the brand new day for us to live and serve. Praise the Lord for His generosity. Praise the Lord for His prodigality. Praise the Lord for His extravagant love and grace. He loves and delights in welcoming the prodigal daughters and sons home, who make a U- turn by repentance and come home.
Our youth made a video of the Parable of the prodigal son which they presented at the Sunday morning services. The youth acted out the characters of the parable. It was powerful and anointed. Jesus originally told this story to show there is hope for everyone, and that it is not a question of whether we deserve to be in the Father’s house, because the truth is that none of us do. He was contrasting the faithful religious people of that day to the sinners who were turning to God. The point was that neither of them had a relationship with the Father — in spite of all the religion in some of their lives. Yet, one group had “come to their senses” and returned home to establish a relationship with the Father from whom they had been estranged. The religious folk, instead of rejoicing, were incensed. They were angry and bitter. In their minds they deserved God’s favor, but they had never really experienced the Father’s love.
it dawned on me what the most likely ending to the story was: the older brother became increasingly bitter against the father and left his house, and the younger brother inherited everything. This is exactly what happened historically. Those who wanted to deserve God’s favor by their obedience have rejected God’s grace, and a relationship with him built on grace. They became bitter against the Father and accused him of wrong. They rejected Jesus, the incarnation of God’s grace. They hated Jesus for loving sinners and attending parties in their homes and, in their hatred, they killed him, thinking they would inherit everything. But in so doing, they lost everything, and the kingdom belongs to Christ and those who have followed him into the Father’s house where there is feasting, singing and dancing.
Fredrick Buechner, in his book The Alphabet of Grace, tells about Mark Twain at the end of his days, as he describes him, “riddled with guilt and fame.” Late in life Twain wrote, “There is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream — a grotesque, foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought — a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities.” The Christian message is the opposite of Twain’s message of despair. It tells us that life is real, we are real, God is real, and that we are not homeless, wandering vagrants, but people with a home — the Father’s home where we are welcomed, embraced and, yes, celebrated. The Father’s house has become our house — our eternal home.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/MVlzwEsYezw
Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday,June 25 , 2011
6 PM Dinner
6:30 PM Worship Service
Worship Music:
Speaker:Dave Hettinger
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