Moving Out in Love

Sermon for March 27, 2022

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Today’s Gospel reading is pretty familiar, right?  Even if you haven’t heard the story before, you probably have a sense of what it means to call someone a prodigal son.  So, let me ask: In this story, who do you identify with most easily?  Is it the younger son, the slacker who turns away from his family, loses everything, and comes back for a shot at redemption?  Or is it the older brother, the solid citizen who does everything right and resents his father for giving the slacker a second chance?  Or is it the father, who forgives the slacker and reaches out to the solid citizen, putting relationship ahead of justice on the world’s terms?

For me, I can connect with one character almost immediately.  I’m pretty boring, and I worry too much about doing the right thing; so I can see myself in the older brother, frustrated by the kid who knows how to game the system and tug at the old man’s heartstrings.  But by the same token, I’ve also hurt people just as the younger brother did, not thinking of the consequences that came with taking the path I wanted to take; so I can identify with him, too, and his need for the grace he doesn’t deserve.  But the father?  Isn’t he supposed to be God in the parable?  Can we see ourselves standing in God’s shoes?

One way to think about these characters is to look at a detail in the story that may seem strange, even trivial.  It’s how the three characters move.  Hang with me a minute.  For the younger son, he leaves home, of course, which is what sets the story in motion; but his defining movement, his defining action, is that he comes back.  Suffering the consequences of his bad choices, he realizes he’ll be better off if he admits his sin and asks to be taken back as nothing but a servant in his father’s house.  So the younger son comes back home.

For the older son, his defining action is a lack of action: The older son stays put.  When he hears that his father is throwing a party to celebrate the young slacker’s return, the solid citizen is beside himself, furious at his father for rewarding bad behavior … and, by the way, for not rewarding him.  So the older son holds still, refusing to go in and join the celebration.

For the father, his defining action is one he takes twice.  Responding to both of his sons, the father goes out.  When he sees the younger son in the distance, the father runs down the road to meet him, welcoming him and embracing him even before the son has time to apologize.  Then, later in the story, when the older son refuses to come and join the party, the father goes out again and pleads with him to open his heart and welcome his brother back into the family’s life.  The father’s defining action is that he goes out in love to meet others.

So, hold that thought, and let me ask you to look at the top of today’s order of service or at the bottom of the screen.  I’d like to introduce you to our congregation’s new statement of purpose and mission:  “We seek God’s healing love and share that love with all by growing in relationship with God, each other, and our neighbors.”  Your Vestry discerned this new purpose and mission at our retreat in February and finalized it at this month’s Vestry meeting.  In that work, we had some great help.  We began with what may seem an unusual source – not a theologian but Simon Sinek, who writes and speaks about how companies and organizations can achieve their greatest impact in the world.  We read his book Start With Why, which argues that the highest-achieving businesses or groups are the ones that focus on why they exist rather than what they produce.  About Apple, for example, Sinek notes that the company may produce phones and computers and gizmos and online content, but that’s not why the company exists.  Apple exists to “challenge the status quo and empower the individual” (43) with “simpler alternatives” (46) for day-to-day lives.  People may love their iPhones, but the phone’s not what makes folks line up around the block to buy the newest one.  Sinek’s point is this: “People don’t buy what you do.  They buy why you do it.” (41)

So, the Vestry read Sinek’s book and used that “start with why” thinking to develop a statement of purpose.  We looked at some of our ministries, especially those focused on blessing and serving the world around us, and we asked ourselves why we’re doing them.  After some great conversation, we were joined by Mayra Aguirre, president of the Hall Family Foundation, who shared her story of leading the foundation through a similar exercise and helped us hone our own sense of “why” for St. Andrew’s.

It probably won’t surprise you that our “why” centered on love.  That’s the connective tissue running throughout Scripture and Christian theology.  But, of course, God’s love isn’t just a feeling but an action – the act of self-giving that transforms you, the other person, and the world in order to create more of what God desires.  So, our “why” needed to capture the sense that we’re here both to receive and to give that divine love.  That’s what led us to this: “We seek God’s healing love and share that love with all.”  That’s our “why.”

Along with “why,” Sinek would say, you have to identify “how” – how do we do it?  How do we achieve our purpose?  For that, we drew on Jesus’ Great Commandment in the first three Gospels and his New Commandment in the fourth – the call to love God, love neighbor, and love one another.  So, we asked, how do we love?  Practically, how does that happen in human life?  Well, it’s by building and growing in relationships.  So, our “how,” or our mission, came out this way: “By growing in relationship with God, each other, and our neighbors.”  That’s how we go about seeking God’s healing love and sharing that love with all.

Now, the value of identifying our “why” and our “how” isn’t just to have a new purpose and mission statement on the bulletin and the website.  The value comes in the guidance that statement gives us.  We can look at our ministries – “what” we do as a church – and ask, “In this work, are we seeking God’s healing love and sharing that love with all?  Does this ministry put flesh and bones on growing in relationship with God, each other, and our neighbors?”  You know, there are a thousand good ideas out there; and here at St. Andrew’s, we’re wired to want to do them all.  But I’m here to tell you: We can’t.  Instead, we can do the things that best help us grow in relationship with God, each other, and our neighbors.

So, the Vestry’s next step will be asking all the ministry commissions to identify their top three to five goals for this year – the “whats” that will best live out our mission.  Then we’ll check in across the year to see how the work is coming.  And as we do, if we discern some things we should let go of, things that aren’t great examples of seeking God’s healing love and sharing that love with all – well, that would be a blessing.  Starting with “why” sometimes means ending with “no.”

So, when you find yourself talking with people about this church – when you find yourself trying to say what this place in God’s kingdom is all about – I hope what comes to mind first won’t be a “what.”  Yes, we worship in a beautiful building.  Yes, we praise God with glorious music.  Yes, we offer some great discussions and classes.  Yes, we have a fabulous time when we get together.  Yes, we serve people in the world around us.  But why do we do those things? 

Go back to the parable this morning.  We follow the lead of the younger son and the father in Jesus’ story.  Knowing that we’re always at risk of being lost, we keep coming back to our heavenly parent.  Knowing that the world and its people are broken, we keep going out to build relationships, regardless of whether that brokenness is our fault.  First and foremost – before we gather or sing or learn or celebrate or serve – first and foremost, we’re here to seek God’s healing love and share that love with all.  And we do it by growing in relationship with God, each other, and our neighbors.  It’s all about coming back to seek love and going out to share love – the virtuous circle of God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.