Fellow Labourers-
I pray you had such a great Sunday that your today is filled with great thoughts for a better tomorrow. Can you feel the exhilaration and the assurance that the omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God is with you?
For those of you who were present at yesterday's Fathers day service you can easily relate to the subject line above, but for those of you who were absent I hope my recap and summary will suffice.
After a beautiful rendition of people need the Lord by brother and sister Winston Campbell (I am convinced that brother Campbell does not have a singing voice but a ministering voice) we were treated to a God sent message by Elder Albert Theophilus Bailey (Pastor). In his message surrounding the theme 'people need the Lord' he took his text from St. Luke 15:11-32. He came to the podium shortly after he and I were in the foyer and my prodigal son ran up to me and hugged me and wished for me A happy fathers day. Elder Bailey looked at the three main characters in the text and he pointed out that the prodigal son acknowledged that "I have sinned". The father ran to meet him and was not too concerned about what he had to say but was only too glad to have him back home. The son who was at home all this time was upset because of the kind of reception the prodigal received. Could it be because he thought his brother would not come back home so everything would be his?' Selfish and unforgiving'.
Let me now share with you a quote from Douglas Lawton that I find quite appropriate. "Since the Church believes Jesus models the kind of relationship people should have with the Law, then everyone should follow Jesus' example. Of note, Jesus not only took cognizance of the need to be compliant with the Law, He also took cognizance of the need to be compassionate to those who are affected by it. In principle and practice, He recognizes the need to be responsive to human dilemma rather than slavishly conforming to the Law, unjustifiably injuring those whom the Law is intended to protect. As the Law interfaces with the human condition, we see God in Christ showing compassion and giving grace.
In so doing Jesus demonstrates that the very foundation of the Law is rooted in love. He shows that the Law rises to a place of significance and importance only through the application of unconditional love. In this absence of this love we have legalism-a system that seeks to meticulously apply the Law without regard for the individual and in disregard for context. If love is to have a rightful place and prevail, love must be the primary consideration in every situation. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets (Matt.7:12).
Omnia Vincit Amor,justitia Omnibus (Love conquers All, Justice to All).
Pax Vobiscum.
Robert A. Stewart
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Oh Yes Elder and Partners in Christ.
ReplyDeleteIt was such a great day yesterday. We were really blessed with such inspiring songs and message. God has been good to us.
You know I've always wondered about the brother of the Prodigal son. My thoughts were the bigger brother could have been the main reason why his younger brother left home. Maybe they just couldn't agree with each other. Maybe like Joseph the father loved the younger brother more which caused jealousy to develop. It could be a number of things. The Rev Bailey summed it up so well though: So many church goers are just like that brother, chasing away others fom the church and is puffed up if they dare to come back. In times like these people need the Lord. We've got to look to examine ourselves and see where wev'e fallen short, and stop the criticism and show more love and concern for one another. May God help us so to do. I rest my case.
Beldene
Sister Beldene-
ReplyDeleteSharing your thoughts is very helpful because it helps us to have an exchange which makes for a meaningful community of believers. When we don't share we become distrustful of each other and grow a part instead of together.
Keep on thinking and sharing.
Elder
Let me gather my thoughts
ReplyDelete“To be successful one must take systematic and calculated steps in the presence of risks”
ReplyDeleteBro.Junior your response gave a number of perspective worth considering but you wanted a specific response to your statement above.To answer appropriately it would be good to have your definition of success,systematic and risk.These are terms that mean different things to different people.When you say success are you saying achieving a well thought out plan or do you mean achieving regardless of a plan?Would you regard achieving without a plan as being successful?When you say risk is this risk based on sound information or trial and error?By systematic do you mean creating a system based on demand or a system based on some learned theory?
Your response omit the context in which Jesus told the story.This is a Jewish context so the yougest son was out of order.The father responded just like our heavenly father.We are agents of free will and for him to have interfered would be to obstruct the freedom of choice.You rightly pointed out that the eldest son missed his opportunity to celebrate when he had the opportunity.I rather liked how you expressed yourself.
Brothers and Sister,
ReplyDeleteBefore I ask my question let me say that I thought I understood the essence of what Jesus was conveying. There are some things I want to point out:
1. The young man made a request that was against the norm, he ask for his inheritance before his father's death and depends on how you are looking at it you could see him as stupid, impatient, or an irresponsible spendthrift. Note the Jesus did not give his age, but from another angle you could also see him as one who wants to determine his own future. I am one who supports asking for the chance to determine my future. I think many of us young people have been living through the fulfillment of other people's dreams and by the time they die or get too old to hand over to us, we ourselves are too old to make any meaningful impression, implementing our dreams or worst become frustrated with dreams and abandon them while waiting (because we got no chance) and thus the cycle continues. I stand corrected but many of what is happening today is happening because persons are not willing to implement their own dreams while proper supervision is still alive. Before I move from this point, let me stress that supervision is necessary. Consider the priesthood, you could not become a temple priest before 30 and you are not allowed to be active after 50. Up to 30 you learn the ways of the priest, between 30-50 you practice what you learn and after 50 you train the new set using the experience gained in practice. The practicing priest does not have the time to train anybody; his focus should be on the job, whereas the retired priest still have enough youth in him coupled with experience to teach the new set what is required when they get into the office and at the same time still is able to give instruction to the ones in office. So at all times you have continuity. What exist now is "go on watching me until your time comes." Not even in business that works. This takes me to my next point.
2. The father did not refuse his son's request. Either he was frustrated with the boy's spendthrift behaviour, he felt that he did a good job at training the boy or he just wanted to prove to him that he (the son) could not live on his own. Whichever case he did not refuse him. I would like to think that it was the latter. If it was not, he would not be sitting down everyday just looking for him to return: note the words "Your brother who was lost has returned." He consider him as lost from the start. That is a bad mentality for parents or leaders for that matter to have. I believe if he had refused he could have changed the boy's attitude. Not everything we ask for should be given to us but giving it to us just because you want to prove a point is outwardly wrong. Again I stand corrected but letting someone have their own way just because you want to say "see I told you so" is just straight up wrong and that is all some of us do. Giving me or anyone what they want should be on the grounds of "I have given you the training and I have also seen your ability, therefore here." In this way, waiting around is not a case of "I know you were going to fail" but instead an attitude of "OK you have failed but you have a support system and failing is a part of developing."
[See part 2 of comment below]
Junior
“To be successful one must take systematic and calculated steps in the presence of risks”
This is Part 2 of comment by Junior:
ReplyDelete3 My third point is on the attitude of the other brother. If you want something, ask for it and never be afraid of failing for nobody is going to give you anything unless you ask. Look at what he said "I have been working very hard and you did not even give me a kid to celebrate with my friends." People will not give you anything because you work hard unless you either directly or indirectly point out that, that is what you wanted. He stayed home and became bitter because he was a coward. The kid was his to have. He should have killed one and have a party with his friends, that would have given him a sense of purpose. If he had anybody to blame for his situation it was himself. He resented his father's reaction to his brother's return because he he did not have the guts to do what his brother did. I think this echoes the attitude of many of our brothers and sisters. They are afraid to take the step themselves so they sit back and become upset with you and the world for being different. They secretly want you to fail so that they can say "I am better than you cause I stayed home" but silently they are saying why not me? If staying home is going to make you bitter go out and kill a kid it will cause some peace in your life and free up the house from the misplaced anger. This takes me to my question.
Would you forgive the brother if he came home with two of the pigs, after all we don't have any dealing with pigs? I mean, he left home, got himself messed up and came back home without an attitude that says I have learn my lesson or I know that I have messed up and I am willing to subject myself to the learning process. So, would you still take him back as business as usual. In my opinion the young man in the story came to the knowledge that he made a mistake and decided to go home. Going home however did not start out with the idea of I will humble myself. It started out with look how many servants my father have and I am eating swine food but somewhere between going home and the idea of I could be eating better than this, he had a attitude adjustment. Many persons are coming back home but they have not gotton past the "I need food, I just need somewhere anywhere that will get me out of this pen." I believe once they don't get to the "I will humble myself part" (the attitude adjustment) there is still room for further problems. It is easier not to remind someone of their mistake when they don't have it hanging over their own head. Many persons carry their mistakes around and blame the world for holding them down. Again I go back to the story, this young man came home with nothing to lose, and nothing hanging over his head: he decided where he was going to start from (servant up). Persons are coming home however they have not decided where they are going to start from and hence when they come home they have problems. You must decide where you are going to start from as we have no system that says this is what we will do for you when you come home. The father had a plan; what his ours? After the initial welcome home you had better find where you are going to work from and stick to it are else you will blame the church for not giving you any opportunity and righfully so because we have no defined system.
Hope I hear an answer to my question.
Junior
Did you know my dear brothers and sisters, that out of the Prodigal Son's story alone, there could be six to even ten different ways to give a version or a lesson on it? One could preach or teach on it in a variety of ways. It all depends on how one looks at it and is inspired by it.
ReplyDeleteThe fight is fixed. "Fight the good fight of faith".
Beldene