Tonight at Church Requel we are going to consider the parable of the prodigal son, perhaps the best known parable that Jesus ever told. We know it so well that we might actually discount it's meaning for us today. Especially if we are Christ followers, we might think that we know the major characters and the meanings attached to each of them. We think of the lost son and think to ourselves that his story doesn't apply to us. We're part of the "found" we say to ourselves, not the "lost." We think of the father who welcomed back his lost son and know this refers to God the Father who loves us with so much compassion. And we think of the older son, so critical of both father and son - we don't want to identify with him either.
We'll come to each of these characters over the next three weeks in our LOST series. But in preparation for tonight I thought of the younger son and the part of the story where Jesus says, "the younger son packed up all he had" (Luke 15: 13 NIrV). We often think of ourselves as "staying" with God, not moving off to a far away land. I wonder, though, if sometimes we keep ourselves "packed up" with those aspects of our lives we would just rather keep to ourselves. We all have those "monsters" that we're not proud of, that keep up the barrier between us and God.
In preparation for tonight I came across a movie clip from a recent movie, "The Answer Man," that I think demonstrates well what I'm talking about. The main character admits that he collects monster figurines and keeps them packed away inside of his closet. A friend suggests that he takes out his monsters and display them in his home. The friend says, "Just try it out. Consider it an experiment."
We can all identify with the collector who says, "But I don't want it (the monster) there. I want it with all my other monsters." Like him, we want to contain all of our monsters in a safe and closed off place, all packed away.
Fortunately, God wants to deal with our monsters. He wants to heal us. He wants to live with us, to abide with us. This means I can be myself with God. I can be real. Authentic. Do you have some monsters hidden away in your closet that need unpacked?
Come tonight to Church Requel to hear more. We have lots of good things in store for everyone who comes. Our service begins at 6PM and meets at the Mid-Ohio Conference Center, 890 4th Street, Mansfield, across the street from Arlin Field.
