Certainly an eventful week, some of which we didn’t plan on.
Wednesday – A late snow 1- 3 inches in Port Royal, twice as much in Fredericksburg
Thursday – "Feasts with Jesus" continues with the wedding feast, the largest feast. Appropriately the group was up to 7 people as they dined on humis, olives, nuts in the appetizer. The main course was beef and barley stew and followed with desert sweet breads, melons, wedding bread. Read more here about this feast.
Saturday – Ladies Night Out #11. This year the featured entertainment was a Murder Mystery with 20 parts and organized into 4 rounds. Thanks to Boyd and Barbara Wisdom for doing all the working organizing it. Boyd had an entire notebook full of the story and parts. We were constantly given new updates on our characters. The game was actually played over the entire evening. Cookie and Ken won special prizes for their costumes
25+ people were here for a fundraiser originally created by Tom Mahoney, 11 years ago. We feasted on lots of meats and fish (venison, ham, meat loaf, fish), macaroni and salad and lots of drinks before hand. I can safely say everyone had a wonderful time. Where else have you heard of a church holding a murder mystery during Lent ?
Here is the cast and a photo gallery
Sunday – Lent 4 – 40 in attendance with sunshine that was beaming. Daylight savings time began. We continued with Part 4 of the Forgiveness series at 9:45am
Choir was augmented by Paige Martindale, Thom Guthrie and Helmut’s granddaughter. Susan O was here to lead the congregation. We collected more funds for Haiti’s toilets and accepted donations for the community dinner (Easter Eggs).
Catherine was given flowers by Eunice, Elizabeth and Cookie for winning the John Hines award. She announce prize money of $2,000 would be given to the church to be given away. The congregation would have a vote on the organizations to receive the funds. Here is her sermon and a story about the award on the frontpage last week.
Johnny Davis announced that Hunters for the Hungry had donated venison that covered one of the largest freezers at social service. The amount donated was 500 pounds! He describes the process. "Our hunt club (which does not have a name) donated several deer to Hunters for the Hungry during December and January this year. Upper Essex Baptist Church has a trailer where we deliver them. They contract to have them cut up and packaged.
The meat is then stored in their freezer until we pick it up and deliver it to Social Services in Bowling Green."
Also, an article on the bulletin board mentioned he was able to get a company to donate $2,500 to Caroline’s Promise and $2,500 to the museum. The former was part of winning the American’s Farmers Grow Communities contest. Congratulations Johnny!
Todays scripture was on the prodigal son, probably the most know of all the parables. The sermon talked about the Old Testament reading from Joshua also. It is also about new beginnings and life.
"As I thought about parables, it occurred to me that our gathering together each Sunday to celebrate the Holy Eucharist could be considered a parable. "
"Now here we are today, having entered into this weekly ritual, this worshipping together, confessing our sins, receiving absolution, exchanging God’s peace with one another, and taking and eating and drinking bread and wine. "
"The Bible is full of meals that turn out to be parables—fascinating stories with layer upon layer of meaning, stories that tease us, and worry us, and puzzle us." Examples -Garden of Eden,Abraham and Sara, Jacob
"The meals we hear about today in the lectionary can lead us toward newfound joy in our lives. The first meal is the Passover, referred to back to in the passage we have heard in today’s Old Testament reading. The story of the Passover meal is in Exodus." The shift was made to the New Testament and the prodical son
"So the fatted calf is sacrificed and roasted, and the feast begins. This meal is a true celebration—not only does the delectable smell of roasting meat greet the oldest brother when he comes in from the field, but he also hears music, and sees people dancing. "
"Today as you come to God’s celebratory feast, will you enter into a strange and vivid parable that draws you through layers and layers of meaning into joy and new life? "
The lectionary this week is here – readings
There are numerous ways to look at the Prodigal son. The parable is often used to teach the truth that God welcomes the repentant sinner. The story of a loving, forgiving, accepting father, illustrates the way God treats those who turn to him for mercy.
Jesus addresses the parable against his critics, vindicating his message and ministry, by which he consorted with the outcast. His critics are illustrated by the behavior of the elder brother, who cannot join in the rejoicing over the lost being found.
It reflects Jesus as much as the son and his teachings of the kingdom. His message was about a God whose love surpasses all typical expressions known to humanity. On the one hand the love is shown celebration after the homecoming of the younger son
Jesus is introducing people to the relational logic of the kingdom of God that runs contrary to and way beyond the legal logic of the world Jesus’ behaviour is a significant disruption of community standards: he is welcoming those who have been cast out; and honouring those who have been shamed
How is this a disruption ?
1 To ask for his share of the father’s estate while the father is still alive is the height of scandalous greed. The son is saying, in effect, "You are as good as dead as far as I am concerned. The father and the eldest son both had the duty to protect the honor of their family by refusing the request of the younger son. If anything, the youngest son should have been disinherited immediately
2. A few days later the younger son takes his personal belongings and leaves home It is this last act of squandering the property so that foreigners come to own it that transforms the story from one of merely individual reckless behavior to a story that individual reckless behavior endangers the whole community. Without knowing why the younger son is returning, when the father sees him in the distance, he runs to greet him so that the villages wouldn’t get to him first and drive him off. However, the action of running is undignified for an elder and would only further confirm the public shame and dishonor of this dysfunctional family.
3. We are all bound to each other despite the mores of society. We know the younger son has been foolish, wasting his family’s wealth. The father is also foolish. In response to his son’s remarkably offensive request – asking for an inheritance ahead of time is akin to wishing your parents dead – this father goes ahead and gives it to him. Given that wealth is tied up in land, this isn’t about going to the bank but rather selling off tracts of real estate, herds, and more. And then, when his son has wasted all this away, he runs – something no self-respecting landowner would do – to meet his son, cuts off his lame apology, and restores him to his place in the family.
The last scene is with the older son who does not want to accept the younger son. The father seems to interrupt him too as he did the younger. What about the eldest son? By accepting his share of the estate, he has now become responsible for supporting his father and his father’s household. He would now have to provide for his younger brother as well. The elder son, too, ends up in a “distant country,” this one of his own making as he loses any connection to his brother, his father, or the others rejoicing in the new life his brother has been given.
All are foolish in the story and all need grace. In the end it is as much about the result of Jesus ministry – grace as shown to both sons and how to accept it. One son lost to his father in body, the other lost to his father in mind. Both had free access to the father’s unlimited bounty, both needed to rely wholly on his kindness, but only one chose to do so, and this the worthless son.
We can also look at the community’s reaction to all of this. They have been shamed too. They could have conducted a gesasah ceremony on his return. They would gather around him, breaking jars with corn and nuts and declare that he was to be cut off from the village. His entry into the village would be humiliating as his townspeople expressed their anger and resentment toward his actions. However, in this case, they accept the offer of reconciliation and attend the feast.
Both the father and the community are trying to preserve relationships. The father addresses him as his “son” and to the elder son "this brother of yours" in contrast to the elder son who says "this son of yours."
And Jesus may be focusing our attention on that too. Reliance on the free grace of God in Jesus Christ is the only means of accessing the fullness of his promised blessings. That brings us all together.