The Citizen, 2013-10-31, Page 24PAGE 24. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013.By Pastor Gary Van Leeuwen
Blyth Christian Reformed
Church
Some years ago, a pastor friend
travelled to the middle east to study
and learn about the culture and the
place where Jesus and his followers
lived. While there, he was asked to
give the message at a local church
and he decided to base his message
on what we know as the parable of
the Prodigal Son. I will retell the
story in a few moments, but first I
would like to recount what my friend
experienced.
As he was reading the story from
the Bible, he came to Luke 14:21
where the Bible says that the father
saw his son in the distance and began
to run toward him. At this point there
was a collective chuckle in the
church. My friend did not
understand why people would laugh
at that point, and he asked some of
the leaders of the church after the
service why the people had laughed.
“They laughed,” the leaders of the
church said, “because dignified men
do not run.” They walk, or,
preferably, they remain seated while
their son approaches them.
It was an interesting insight into
the parable which we know as the
Parable of the Prodigal Son. My
friend has become convinced that we
should rename it The Parable of the
Running Father.
In case you haven’t heard the
parable in a while, let me remind you
of the story. A man had two sons,
and the younger one said to his
father one day, “Give me my share of
the inheritance.” As the younger son
he was entitled to one third of
everything his father had, but not
until his father died. Essentially this
younger son was showing a total
lack of respect for his dad; he was
almost wishing him dead.
The father gave the money to the
son and the son began to travel. He
ended up far from home and
surrounded himself with many
friends. (It is much easier to find
friends if you have lots of money and
you are willing to spend it on them.)
Before long, this younger son
squandered all of his money and
found himself destitute, without
friends and desiring to fill his
stomach with pig food. It was then
that he made the decision to return to
his father’s house and beg to be
accepted back, not as a son, but as a
slave. He reasoned that it was better
to be a slave and have food than to be
a wayward son and starve.
As he arrived near home, his father
saw him from a distance and
recognized that the traveller was his
younger son who had treated him so
badly. And what did the father do?
He ran to greet him. This younger
son who had cared nothing for his
father received a wonderful welcome
home. We recall that the older son
complained about the lavish
treatment the younger son was
receiving, and the father informed
him that he would treat him the same
if he would just ask.
The parable is meant to give us a
picture of God and his response to
human waywardness. The parable,
as told by Jesus, was not really a new
picture of God; rather, it was a
picture of God that we have seen
before.
In the third chapter of Genesis, we
see Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden and they have just disobeyed
God by eating the forbidden fruit.
They hid from God because they
were ashamed of themselves and
they didn’t want to face the one with
whom they had such a good
relationship before. But God wanted
to see them, and Genesis 3 tells us
that when God did not immediately
find Adam and Eve, he called to
them, “Where are you?” Of course,
God knew what had happened, but
he wanted us to see his response to
Adam and Eve’s wilful
disobedience. He wanted them to
know that he was looking for them.
This is always God’s response to
our waywardness. Our waywardness
(some call it sin or rebellion) is a
result of us not really caring about
God. We ignore him, sometimes
ridicule him and often leave him out
of our lives. We want to go it alone
and we say that we don’t need God
although we like to have the
blessings that the world he made
provides for us.
Some of us find that we haven’t
given God any time in years. But
then disaster hits. Perhaps we have
made a mistake or a bad decision and
we find our lives are a mess. Or
perhaps life has turned against us
and suddenly we find ourselves
battling disease or facing the loss of
a loved one. Some of us might find
that the only time we want to turn to
God and ask him for help is during
these times of distress and difficulty.
And we feel a little ashamed to go to
God only in times of need.
Sometimes preachers will mock
the fact that we turn to God only in
times of need. And, to be truthful,
there is something a little
hypocritical about it. Preachers are
right, in a sense, for we shouldn’t
abandon God until we need him to
help us solve a problem we cannot
solve ourselves.
But that is not necessarily God’s
perspective. The father in the parable
dearly wanted his son to remain with
him, but his son chose to walk away.
Did that lessen the father’s love for
his son? Not at all. In fact, although
the son had figuratively slapped his
father in the face, the father was
eager to re-establish the relationship.
THE CATHOLIC PARISHES OF NORTH HURON AND NORTH PERTH
CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO ATTEND HOLY MASS.
OUR SUNDAY LITURGIES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Brussels:
St. Ambrose
Saturday
6:00 p.m.
17 Flora Street
Wingham:
Sacred Heart
Sunday
9:00 a.m.
220 Carling Terrace
Listowel:
St. Joseph
Sunday
11:00 a.m.
1025 Wallace Avenue N.
Worship Service & Sunday School at 11 a.m.
CORNER OF DINSLEY & MILL STREETS
MINISTER
Rev. Gary Clark, BA, M. Div.
All Welcome
MUSIC DIRECTOR
Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.OFFICE: 519-523-4224
Worship Service & Sunday School at 10 a.m.
PASTOR
Sandra Cable, DLM
MUSIC DIRECTOR
Floyd Herman, BA, M. Ed.
Sunday, November 3 ~ 11:00 am
No Service at Blyth United
Please join us at Brussels United for their 137th Anniversary.
Guests are Rev. Gary Clark and the Blyth United Church Choir.
Message: “We Choose Celebration”
Lunch and fellowship to follow.
MELVILLE
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
BRUSSELS
Rev. Elwin Garland
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3
Nursery care available
519-887-9017
Worship & Sunday School - 10 am
Coffee & Snacks - 11 am
We invite you to join our church family in:
Fridays 11:30 am - 1:00 pm ~ Soup & More 2
- a free community meal held in Melville’s basement, and
made possible by the Brussels churches working together.
Youre Invited
to come worship
with us
Sunday, November 3
Brussels Business & Cultural Centre
at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Sunday School for children
4 to 11 years of age at 9:30 a.m.
Childcare provided for infants and
preschoolers during the sermon.
Coffee & cookies after the morning service
For additional details please contact Pastor Andrew Versteeg 519.887.8621
Steve Klumpenhower 519.887.8651 Rick Packer 519.527.0173
BRUSSELS
Sandra Cable, Pastor
Church Office 519-887-6259
E-mail - beunitedchurch@gmail.com
SUNDAY SERVICE 11:00 am
Sunday School
Celebrating our Christian Faith together in worship
United Church
Please join us as we celebrate our 137th Anniversary.
Guests are Rev. Gary Clark and the Blyth United Church Choir.
Message: “We Choose Celebration”
Lunch and fellowship to follow.
WorkChurch
Our Missionaries to
Ecuador
Keith & Ruth Ann Elliot
will be sharing with us.
HURONCHAPEL.com10:30am this Sunday morning
SUNDAYS
Morning Service 10:00 am
Evening Service 7:30 pm
Hwy. 4, Blyth www.blythcrc.ca 519-523-4743
Minister: Pastor Gary Van Leeuwen
You’re Invited To Join Us In Worship
BLYTH CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
getlivingwater.org
Living Water
Christian Fellowship
10:30 a.m. ~ Worship & Sunday School
Tuesday - Wingham Bible Study 7:30 pm
Thursday - Youth Group at CRC 7:30 pm
Women At The Well - 1st & 3rd Wednesdays 7:30 pm
at 308 Blyth Rd. (former Church of God)
Pastor: Ernest Dow ~ 519-523-4848
Nov. 3: Rom. 8:15-27
“Present Sufferings,
Future Glory”
Evangelical Missionary Church
International Day of Prayer
for Persecuted Church
Thursday, October
31
Youth Group FOOD DRIVE
for NH Food Share
250 Princess St., Brussels
519-887-6388
www.bmfchurch.com
Pastor Jim Whitehead
Guests Welcome
Jesus Is Lord!
Brussels
Mennonite
Fellowship
Worship Service 10:00 am
Sunday School 11:15 am
From the Minister’s StudyGod welcomes us back, says Van Leeuwen
Continued on page 30