{"id":1000,"date":"2025-03-24T03:59:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T03:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2025-03-24T03:59:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T03:59:03","slug":"gs13-the-prodigal-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/?p=1000","title":{"rendered":"GS13 The Prodigal Son"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>The Prodigal Son<\/strong> <em>Luke 15.11-32<\/em><br>Sermon at St Peter\u2019s Wellington, 30.3.25<br>Bishop Richard Randerson<br>richardrandersonnz [at] gmail.com<br><br>Best known of Jesus\u2019 parables? Known as the prodigal son, also the lost son and the waiting father.<br>Three characters \u2013 father, elder and younger brothers <em>(But think more<br>inclusively of parents and siblings).<\/em><br><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">KEY QUESTION<\/span>: <\/strong>With whom do we<br>identify?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prodigal Son<\/strong>\u2013 lavish, wild spending. wine, women and song. Deserted by friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Do we identify with him, past or present??<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lost son<\/strong> &#8211; types of \u201clost\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wild and profligate living<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Illness, grief, bereavement<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Unemployed, homeless, poor<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Being lost to family member or friend<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lost our way, purpose in living<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For me \u2014 as curate vocational crisis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Most of us could identify with some loss, past or present.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Waiting Father <\/strong>(or mother)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Grief-stricken, but always hoping<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dashes out to meet his boy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Waves aside the apology<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lavish clothing, ring, shoes, party<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Do we identify with the father?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Yes, we can remember when God\u2019s love embraced us. Brought us home when we were lost.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yes, we can aspire to be equally lavish with love and generosity to those who are lost. (But how far does it go?)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The elder brother (or sister)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Would not join the party<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Remrandt painting \u2013 son in background. <em>(see online)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>V30-brother to father &#8211;<strong>\u201cyour son\u201d<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>father to son &#8211; <strong>\u201cyour brother\u201d<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>St Peter\u2019s study group- most identified with older brother<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Worked hard, achieving, no rewards.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Not realising richness of what we have<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Translate this into national politics and see why we have entrenched poverty. \u201cWe worked hard, so should they\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We can identify with all three characters<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>We all know lostness<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We can all know the bitterness of missing out<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>We can all know the fullness of God\u2019s love and share it with<br>others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Rewards? = Parties good but ultimately<br><br>31\u00a0 \u201c\u2018My son,\u2019 the father said, \u2018you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Prodigal Son Luke 15.11-32Sermon at St Peter\u2019s Wellington, 30.3.25Bishop Richard Randersonrichardrandersonnz [at] gmail.com Best known of Jesus\u2019 parables? Known as the prodigal son, also the lost son and the waiting father.Three characters \u2013 father, elder and younger brothers (But think moreinclusively of parents and siblings).KEY QUESTION: With whom do weidentify? Prodigal Son\u2013 lavish, wild [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-general-sermons","8":"no-featured-image"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1001,"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000\/revisions\/1001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/awordforallseasons.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}