Weekly Liturgy : March 24-30

Luke 15:1-3; 11-32

The Message

By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’

“So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to feel it. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corn-cobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

“That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.

“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’

“But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a prize-winning heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

“All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’

“The older brother stomped off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’

“His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

REFLECTIONS

Thoughts from Elmarie:

Who receives priority time and attention from Jesus? Clearly, the people who held positions of status and power at that time thought his choices were wrong. Jesus was spending time with those on the margins in his day—people who had bad reputations according to the majority; people who would negatively impact Jesus’ reputation. They were socially unacceptable people. And so those who held social status and positions of power grumbled and complained. Maybe they didn’t want that bad reputation rubbing off on them?

Their grumbling led Jesus to tell three stories. The story of the man with two sons is third of those stories. But all the stories share something in common...they each showcase who or what receives the priority time and attention of the central character...no matter the cost to reputation.

I’m fascinated by the father in Jesus’ story. In the cultural context of the day, the father’s choice to give the younger son his inheritance early would have caused an uproar in the community. No father would lower himself to agree to this demand. No Middle Eastern man would ever take up the indignity of lifting his robes and running, let alone run to greet a son who had insulted him. The father pays no attention to his own reputation. In fact, he willingly accepts the shame (or poor reputation) his actions create in order to prioritize his son and restoring relationship with his son.

This is a story that calls me to account. Who or what receives my priority time and attention? For whom or what am I willing to set aside my reputation?

PRACTICE:

Outward Mindset Application

Adjust something you are doing today in order to give priority time to someone you might otherwise be tempted to marginalize. What did you learn from your time with them?

Non-Violent Communication Question of the Week

How might my need to protect my reputation (or rescue myself from shame) lead me to making judgments rather than offering observations in the priority time I spend with people this week?

Pathways toward Centeredness

Caregiving:

How might you extend hospitality (offering a safe, open space where a friend or stranger can enter and experience the welcoming spirit of Christ in another) this week to someone who could potentially cause you reputational harm?

Questions for Reflection

What actions of the father in the story Jesus tells most surprise me?

What invitation am I receiving through the example of the father? When am I more inclined to respond like the older son to the generosity of others towards the undeserving? When am I tempted to live like the younger son towards others in my life?

“Liturgy” refers to the habits and practices humans use to form community around shared values and meaning. At Church at the Park, we desire to be a community of practice, becoming people who see the world through the eyes of the marginalized, making meaning through the lens of pain and suffering, and committing ourselves to non-violence in a wounded world. This weekly email is intended to provide pathways of practice for becoming the type of people who embody these values.

Many of our reflections on each week's text come from other sources. If you're interested in reading more of what inspires us, here our our two favorite reflections.

Street Psalms

Girardian Lectionary

Praying Eucharistically with James Alison