Jesus tells a great story! This past Sunday we took a glance at some of his greatest from Luke’s gospel. The one that has always been my favorite is his story of the “Prodigal Son” in chapter 15. Its familiar to most of us, but I sketched it out anyway. It was such a common story… one, no doubt, most in his audience could relate to. A son. Actually two. A father. An inheritance. When the younger son asks for his inheritance up front… the father, reluctantly I imagine, goes ahead and gives it to him. Surely it came with a warning. “Be careful not to spend it all in one place.” “This is all of it, so be sure to save some for a rainy day.” “Watch out for folks who might take advantage of you.” That kind of advice… the kind you would expect from a father to a son. Well, you know the story. The son goes out and squanders it all on high living! Then he hits rock bottom. The economy takes a downturn. No money. No food. Everything is gone. I’m sure the son had to have felt awful. When he comes to his senses he decides to turn around and head home. Hoping to just get hired on in his father’s farm, he is surprised to find his father waiting for him… arms outstretched… ready to welcome him home. When his jealous older brother expresses a bit of bitterness at the shin-dig thrown for his prodigal brother, the father just says, “Rejoice, be glad. This brother of yours was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found!” What a great story! But I wonder what happened next?

I mean, what would have happened if Jesus had continued the story into the next day in the life of this reunited family? Would the prodigal son have woken up in the warmth of his own bed and had a renewed appreciation for it… after all those nights with the pigs? What would the conversation around the breakfast table have been like that morning? Would he thank his father again for the reception? For the party? For the absolute and unconditional love that his father had shown? Would he tell his dad again how sorry he was for leaving? Would he savor every bite of his meal, appreciative of where it came from. Would his manors be more full of “please” and “thank yous” than ever before? Do you think he worked extra hard for his father, knowing how much his father had done for him? Or do you suppose that the little brother got up the next day and fell right back into a pattern of ungrateful behavior towards his family? Do you suppose he complained about his breakfast? “Dad, the toast is burnt.” Or “Mom, the juice isn’t cold enough.” Do you guess that he picked a fight with his older brother just for the sake of an argument? “Mom loves me more.” Do you imagine that he would decide to test his father’s patience again? Do you suppose he did any of those things?

If not, why do we? We who have come home have been welcomed unabashedly into God’s glorious kingdom! God has thrown his arms around us and called us his sons once more… despite the fact that none of us deserved it. He has thrown a party and given us a room in his dwelling place! And yet so many Christians wake up every morning woefully neglectful of all that God has done for us. We act as if making it to church once or twice a week is about all we can do in return. Surely the Father’s okay with that. Surely there isn’t any more he expects of us. Will we live our lives as grateful children ever mindful of what our Father has done for us? Our Father hurt when we sinned and turned our backs on him, but he welcomed us home anyway. He forgave us of our sin… and even gave his Spirit to us to empower us over sin. He has given us LIFE and life TO THE FULL! What will we do with it?

What a great day Sunday was! I don’t often spend much time reflecting on Sundays, but I can’t help but feel that this one was special and as I look back I see what a glorious day it was. For the first time in days I saw the sun come out and even though it was still unseasonably cool, the crispness in the air coupled with the rays of the sun gave me an extra bounce for some reason. Then as we gathered for worship there seemed to be an extra measure of the Spirit of God among us. There’s nothing like “Joy to the World” to set the right tone for worship! As our songs and as our thoughts centered around the coming of the Christ, the birth of Jesus, I was reminded just what an incredible gift that was (and is) for us. God left the throne of heaven to become a human being just like me… “God in the flesh.” What a great theme to remember… and one we should constantly keep before us… certainly more than just one season out of the year! To top it all off, our hearts were pricked as a dear brother responded to the Lord’s invitation confessing sin, and asking for prayers. Oh, if we could all be more open and honest about sins that we face… perhaps we could help one another avoid getting ourselves into the messes that we do. After lunch with good friends the afternoon was spent at the Heartwalk where we enjoyed a great walk with beautiful weather. Afterwards, I hurried back for a great Share Group meeting with my wonderful small group. Jeremy Howes led us in a great devotional and we capped off the evening with Chili and hot dogs. It doesn’t get any better than that! I love my Share Group! We are so blessed at Washington Street to have such a great church family. You are all a blessing and I hope your weekend was equally blessed. Please keep our brother in your prayers this week… and pray for God’s Spirit to continue to move among us… moving us to increasingly become the people and the church that God wants us to be.

I have a preacher friend who used to say all the time, “People are funnier than anybody.” He was usually referring to something silly or outlandish that a church member had done without thinking and he would just shake his head and repeat it again, “People are funnier than anybody.” He was right, of course. People are funny and we do some pretty silly things. Take football for example. This is the season for football and the time of year when a lot of folks go a little nuts supporting their favorite team. In fact, it could be argued that for many in Tennessee and Alabama, football borders on being a religion. Fans make their weekly pilgrimages to the stadiums where, in exchange for some big bucks, they are seated along with thousands of other screaming fans to root on their favorite teams. Fans aren’t interested in playing for themselves… no, that isn’t their intention. They are content to just be spectators. They sit on the sidelines and watch others have fun. They cheer as others make the big plays and achieve the victories. They holler as others take the hard hits, pick themselves up and get ready for the next down. They are content to watch others live life to the full… while they just sit by and watch… spectators. Oh, they’ll make excuses… “I’m just too old to play anymore”… or, “I played many a game in my time,” or “I never was good enough to play myself” or “I’m not sure I’ve got what it takes”… and they’re content to sit by and watch while others play the game. How ludicrous is that? People are funnier than anybody.

As I said… football is something of a religion in many places… but what may be worse is that many treat their religion like they do football… as a spectator sport. They are content to make their weekly pilgrimages to church where they can find a comfortable seat among the others who have gathered to cheer, throw in a few dollars to the offering plate and ensure that the gospel is spread. The actual work, however, is left to others… the ministers? The elders? The deacons? They will do the work, take the licks and make the plays. The spectator Christians are content to sit by and watch. Oh, they’ll cheer and holler! They’ll be the biggest cheerleaders when a new ministry opportunity comes down the pike… but they won’t volunteer to participate. They’ll be the first to point out when the coaches have made a bad move or the referees have made a bad call… but they won’t volunteer to lead or coach for themselves. They’ll be glad to point out the need for a new ministry here and there… but you won’t see their name on the roster. That’s because they’re content to watch… they don’t want to get into the game for themselves. Maybe they’ve put in their time and want to enjoy retirement? I wonder if Moses was contemplating retiring when God called him from the burning bush at 80 years old? Maybe they just don’t think they’ve got what it takes? I wonder if Peter ever wondered why Jesus had picked an impetuous fisherman to preach God’s Word to thousands? Maybe they just don’t want to get knocked down? I wonder if Paul ever considered staying down when they were throwing rocks at him? Whatever the reason, spectator Christians are fine just watching as others play the game. “People are funnier than anybody.”

God has called us and he has called EACH ONE of us. That means we are all on the team… meant to play not watch. We are meant to participate, not spectate. We are meant to get in on the action, not watch it pass us by. We are meant to live life to the full, not simply sit idly by. Where are you? Are you on the field or in the stands?

Andy’s trip to the State Capitol… they don’t call it capitol hill for nothing!

Ezekiel preaches to a tough audience....

Cool title… I just need a sermon. Sunday I’ll be looking at the message of Ezekiel… now here’s a guy that God really messed with! “Eat this scroll”, “Lay on your side for a year”, “Shave your head”, “Eat this over a fire of human dung”… what was he thinking? Of course, Ezekiel being the faithful prophet of God that he was… always did just as God commanded. (Actually he did protest having to eat his meals cooked over human poop, so God made an allowance and told him that he could use cow manure instead… I’m still not sure that was any better, though.)
Anyway, as eccentric as Ezekiel was… what was his message? I love the task he was given in ch 37… “Go and preach to a bunch of rotting skeletons in the valley of dry bones.” Woo hoo! I’ve preached before some dead audiences before, but THIS is ridiculous! Actually it was a huge object lesson for Ezekiel and for Israel. God is giving the people a message of hope in the midst of despair and telling them that He can bring forth life from their destroyed and “dead” nation. And if God can bring life to dead bones, and if God can bring life back to Israel after their total and utter destruction… wonder what else He can do?
Thoughts for Sunday???

I love Labor Day weekend! What could be a better way to honor all of those who work day in and day out all year long to make our country what it is… what could be a better way to celebrate our jobs and thank God for the jobs we have… than to take the day off?! I think its a great idea and we should do it more often (hear that, bosses?) And Sunday morning was such a special time to be together as a church family. There seemed to be a special air of excitement about! Labor Day weekend always brings visitors our way… some newcomers and many old friends who come to town just for a short visit. I’m told that unless you’re a dove, it’s a great time to be in Lincoln County! I wholeheartedly agree. And with the “kick-off” of College football also this weekend, you can just tell that Fall is around the corner… although the temperature has yet to dip low enough for it to truly feel like Football season.

With Fall comes more opportunities for new beginnings at church as well.
Our Share Groups got off to a great “kick-off” Sunday night. Thank you to all of our group leaders for the wonderful hosting job they did and for all the scrumptuous ice cream which was served! I am looking forward to our first Share Group meeting THIS Sunday night. With that, the time of our services are again being adjusted to accomodate people’s schedules.
Beginning THIS Sunday, the evening group will meet at 5pm for a devotional and prayer in the auditorium. Most of our groups will be meeting Sunday evenings at 6pm, including a Share Group for parents of teens in the youth group meeting which will meet at the building.

Along these lines, let me remind you of the challenge I made to us all on Sunday. Let’s be on the lookout for ways that we can help encourage and “connect” folks… maybe folks who have been sick, out of town, or otherwise not in worship. Make a special effort this week to drop them a note, give them a call or just drop by to let them know that they are missed. Over the next few weeks on Sunday nights, we’ll be exploring ways we can help more people “connect” to our church family and most importantly to God! Thank you again for letting me serve in such a loving, church family!

Jeremiah is famously known as the “weeping prophet” but why? I just finished reading through Lamentations (which most ascribe to Jeremiah) and Brad did an excellent job last week preaching from Jeremiah itself. What a dismal message the poor guy had to deliver! Wow…
Still, I’ve got an affinity for the guy. Here he is… a prophet of God… called to preach God’s Word to the doomed nation of Judah and he hates it! He absolutely hates his job. No matter what he does, he can’t win. When he preaches what God wants him to… the people hate him. But when he doesn’t, he can’t stand himself. There’s a “fire in his bones” that he just can’t contain. The only thing Jeremiah hates worse than preaching God’s Word is NOT preaching God’s Word.
I guess I’ve had those days… certainly not to the degree Jeremiah did. Still, I’ve got to admire him. Here he is preaching away… for 40+ years… and nobody ever listens. The people don’t listen. His family doesn’t listen. The kings don’t listen. At one point the king even burns all the man’s sermons and he has to start all over! There are times when I feel like nobody is listening to what I’m saying… and yet Jeremiah pressed on. He was faithful. He kept preaching… in season… out of season… despite hardship… despite persecution… despite apathy and despite outright hatred. (you’d cry too if it happened to you!) He kept on. A good example to consider, I think.