Homecomings
Luke 15:11-32; 2 Corinthians:16-21

August 17, 2003

Over the past few weeks, Owen and I have come to a whole new meaning to our understanding of the word HOMECOMING….We just recently returned from an extensive trip to Alberta that took both Owen and myself down memory lane….some of it way DOWN memory lane to our babyhood…we were both born in Northern Alberta about 50 kilometers apart geographically.. and about four months apart time-wise….but a homecoming for Owen as a baby is a trip to SPIRIT RIVER and this August their United Church celebrated their 100th anniversary….and our homecoming job was to re-new connections to the church’s past and the special memories of the three years Owen’s Dad spent there as minister—1937 to 1940….It was a glorious homecoming…and a holy time that neither of us will ever forget…

That’s just a hint of the glorious and joyful homecoming that Jesus describes in his familiar parable that we call THE PRODIGAL SON…Owen and I experienced a hint of that nervous feeling that the returning younger son probably felt….wondering if we would be welcomed….or had the folks of Spirit River really forgotten what happened sixty years ago…(pause) .But we need not have feared at all…for the positives of that past were there in their memory through laughter, worship, scrapbooks , poetry, pictures and storytelling par excellence…special stories of Owen’s Dad as an outstanding pitcher in their local baseball history…..stories of him hitching up the horses for a long trip to baptize a baby…and a copy of both his books, one on the story of his pioneer ministry and the other his poetry…..Wonderful memories to cherish!.

And I guess it’s that kind of feeling within this parable that makes it one of my favorites…It’s also connected to one of my favorite meditation books entitled THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON…A STORY OF HOMECOMING…It’s written by Henri Nouwen a biblical scholar from the Netherlands. ..The framework of this incredible worship resource is a Renaissance picture by Rembrandt entitled THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL SON…….

****Rembrandt painted this picture in 1661 about six years before his death….he had sketched and re-sketched it for over 25 years as he struggled to create a scene of family forgiveness, mercy and blessing…my favorite parable verse is still verse 21….”While the younger son was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” That’s the wondrous feeling at the heart of this picture…a tribute to a talented artist dramatically and tenderly communicating his feelings through his boldest of brush strokes….

At the moment, this painting hangs in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia…it is 6 feet by 8 feet….It’s a dream of mine to see this painting some day… Henri Nouwen stared at this picture for many hours…..always beginning by focusing on the light … for the return of the prodigal son is a parable that highlights the crossroads between the Light and Dark in our lives…..the Good News and the Bad News in our lives… In this portrait Rembrandt has his central focus…his central spotlight…. on a circle of light spreading over the father and the kneeling reconciled son with one shoe off and one shoe on … That circle of light, says Henri Nouwen, represents the reconciling power of God’s Forgiving Love that never ends……the forgiving light and love of God that welcomes outcasts and unconditionally celebrates differences…. The Good News in that Light is that the repentant returning son who was lost… is now found…the returning son has now become a survivor of his questionable past….And if I magnified that circle of the father’s compassionate embracing hands, you would see how they symbolize both the tender fingers of the feminine and the strong and firm hands of the masculine…both an essential part of God’s compassion…..This inclusive love of God is at the heart of Jesus’ gospel message…

But our picture by Rembrandt has far more to it…there are the shadows in the darkness….first, the shadow of the older brother…the dark shadows of his righteousness are heard in the gospel reading…verses 29 and 30…LISTEN, FOR ALL THESE YEARS, I HAVE BEEN WORKING LIKE A SLAVE FOR YOU, AND I HAVE NEVER DISOBEYED YOUR COMMAND; YET YOU HAVE NEVER GIVEN ME EVEN A YOUNG GOAT SO THAT I MIGHT CELEBRATE WTH MY FRIENDS... BUT WHEN THS SON OF YOURS CAME BACK, WHO HAS DEVOURED YOUR PROPERTY WITH PROSTITUTES, YOU KILLED THE FATTED CALF FOR HIM!

And so we really see the darkness of his judgmentalism, his deep resentment, his hardness of heart. Truly, he has become a lost victim of the negatives in his life…And many a sermon has focused on him as the true prodigal in this parable.

Yet Rembrandt chooses to place 3 areas of light in this picture of the older brother: one: the eyes and nose; two: one of his folded hands;…and the third area: the light in the area just below him….extending from that circle of reconciliation…

For me, the light that Rembrandt has placed on his face, one folded hand and just in front of his feet, highlights what needs to happen next in the story of this parable…For me, Rembrandt is hinting that what needs to happen next is that the older brother needs to find the courage to accept any genuine invitation towards reconciliation…the courage he needs to take a few steps forward and see and do some reconciling acts of courage…and in that forward-stepping, become an integral part of that joyful and loving circle of two homecomings…the courage he needs to take a time to see and do the healing things that will help him step beyond his darkness…away from his woundedness, his anger, judgments and hard heart….a time to see and do something about his rough edges and find out why he feels he has been treated so badly…WHO KNOWS..…perhaps Rembrandt is focusing the light of the picture on his own need to step towards healing vision and actions with his the memories of his own father….certainly, that’s what scholar Henri Nouwen believes.

Paul talked about reconciliation in our epistle reading that Owen read this morning….ALL THIS IS FROM GOD, WHO RECONCILED US THROUGH CHRIST AND HAS GIVEN US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATON…THAT IS, IN CHRIST GOD WAS RECONCILING THE WORLD, NOT COUNTING THEIR TRESPASSES AGAINST THEM AND ENTRUSTING THE MESSAGE OF RECONCLATION TO US..

We hear of that same circle of reconciliation in Joshua…It takes place as God’s people arrive in the Promised Land…As part of their celebration of arriving, they are to celebrate the Passover, honor their time in the wilderness. And this is how they will celebrate their circle of reconciliation…God and God’s people united together…united as survivors, not victims, of their past.

NOW there are still two other figures not accounted for yet… a man and a woman in the background….they are barely seen…I’d like to suggest that that woman and man are you and me…Within this portrait before us, we can choose to have the light of reconciliation shine brightly on OUR face and hands…and feet…

And we, like all the people in this portrait, have the same choices …to see and move towards the light which celebrates differences…to see and reach and move towards that light of the circle of reconciliation…to see and move and reach out in caring relationships inside and outside this faith community… caring as your Outreach Ministry cares…..caring as those who choose to feed the hungry at Soul’s Harbor…. Caring as our church’s Mission and Service Fund Cares..

Let there be reconciliation and peace on earth and let it begin within us…

Preached by Celia Ricker
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan