The lost son runs away, wastes his father’s money, and works for pea pods in a pigsty. But what if the Church has got it wrong these 2,000 years? What if the lost son is not the runaway, but the stay-at-home; not the lad who reeked of swine, but the one who smelled of apple pie?

In effect, Jesus says, “Don’t spend too much time wondering why God allowed this terrible thing to happen. Instead, think about how you are going to live in response to the evil and the catastrophe of this world. What are you going to do in the light of it – how are you going to change because of it?”

We worship a God who stoops to our level, who came to live with us to be like us; not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as the means of rescue. God will not be an imperious eagle, soaring above us, untouchable and unmoved, aloof and remote. God will not be the gorgeous songbird – elusive, shy, nervous, defensive, always out of reach. God will be the mother hen.

Hear God’s word to you. You are not what you do – you are God’s beloved child. You are not what you consume – you are the pride of God’s heart. You are not what people think of you – you are what God thinks of you. You are loved with a never-ending love. Let’s live in the joy of the truth.

Sermon from The Rev. Christopher M. Decatur, Assistant Rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Westfield, NJ

Rector: The Rev. Dr. Duncan Johnston

Assistant Rector: The Rev. Christopher Decatur

Director of Music: Mark Hyczko

We live with minds that are decaying and bodies that are wearing out.

With every ache and pain, I remember that I’m not made for this.

With every pang of envy, I remember that I’m not made for this.

With every flare of anger, I remember that I’m not made for this.

With every failure of memory or lapse in self-control I remember that I’m not made for this.

We were made for justice, and yet we watch good people suffer and bad people prosper.

We were made for peace, yet we see aggression all around us - in world leaders, and just as troubling, in our own families and places of work.

We were made for joy, yet we experience out of control chemicals or the lack of them in our brains.

We were made for community, yet we throw up barriers between ourselves and exclude the other.

We were made for love but every day social media, cable news, and bumper stickers provoke us into judging our neighbors, feeling threatened by our differences, and forcing us into artificial tribal identities.

We were made for Eden, but we live in Babylon.

When we cross the road or turn the page or change the channel, or click out of the website, to avoid the people Jesus calls blessed we are depriving ourselves of the chance of basking in their honor. People who lack resources are our role models. They have discovered true riches, they are the ones we should look up to, the ones we should strive to be like.

Of all the metaphors Jesus could have used when he called these four brothers to the task of leading men and women to God, fishing has to be the most vivid and the most accurate. And the most troubling. Because it is tough out there. To share your faith with someone is all of the things trawling is - uncomfortable, inconvenient, and risky. You know it is. Most of us would be brave enough to say something personal about our faith in the safety of this building, to another Christian, but doing that with people who do not share our beliefs is frightening.

Paul had known certainty all his life. Now, in one moment, his convictions were trampled under horse feet. His old swagger was gone, the reassurance that he was right demolished, the secure castle of religious correctness flattened. O, the urge to cling on to the old certainties, the old prestige, his old cozy existence.

You may have been hurt by someone. Slandered, insulted, lied to, disrespected. They owe you. They really do. What they did to you was grievous. It has cost you your happiness, destroyed your trust, wrecked your friendship. You deserve to be treated better than that. They owe you an apology. They owe you an amends. Well, this is the Year of the Lord’s Favor. Declare a jubilee – drop the debt.