WEBVTT
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(choir singing in foreign language)
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(choir singing in foreign language)
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(singing in foreign language)
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(chorus singing)
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(chorus singing)
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Grace and peace to you
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in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
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We welcome you to this service of worship
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at Duke University Chapel
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and invite you to be with us again very soon.
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We welcome as our guest preacher this morning,
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the Reverend Carol Matteson Cox,
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minister of Fordham United Methodist Church
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in the Bronx, New York.
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Reverend Cox is well-known throughout Methodism
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for her preaching ability
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and was the first woman to preach
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an entire series of sermons on The Protestant Hour.
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We are indeed privileged to welcome her to our pulpit today.
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We also welcome as our guest musicians, the Raleigh Consort
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and their director, Mr. Rick Motylinsk.
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We have been blessed by their presence
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in the chapel in the past
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and we look forward to their contribution
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to today's worship service.
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Please note the other announcements
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as they are printed in your bulletins.
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This is the day the Lord hath made,
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let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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(organ begins playing)
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Almighty God, who through your only begotten son,
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Jesus Christ, overcame death
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and opened to us the gate of everlasting life.
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Grant that we,
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who celebrate with joy, the day of the Lord's resurrection,
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may be raised from the death of sin
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by your life-giving spirit.
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Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
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who lives and reigns with you
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and the Holy Spirit, one God,
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now and forever.
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Amen.
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Let us pray,
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Open our hearts and minds, O God,
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by the power of your Holy Spirit.
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So that as the word is read and proclaimed
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we might hear with joy what you say to us this day.
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Amen.
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The first lesson is taken from the book of Acts.
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And Peter opened his mouth and said,
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"Truly, I perceive that God shows no partiality,
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"but in every nation anyone who fears him
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"and does what is right is acceptable to him.
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"You know the word which he sent to Israel,
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"preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ,
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"the Lord of all.
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"The word which was proclaimed throughout all Judea,
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"beginning from Galilee
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"after the baptism which John preached.
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"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
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"with the Holy Spirit and with power.
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"How he went about doing good
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"and healing all that were oppressed by the devil,
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"for God was with him.
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"We are witnesses to all that he did,
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"both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
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"They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,
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"but God raised him on the third day
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"and made him manifest,
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"not to all the people,
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"but to those of us who were chosen by God as witnesses,
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"who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
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"He commanded us to preach to the people
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"and to testify that he is the one ordained by God
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"to be judge of the living and of the dead.
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"To him, all the prophets bare witness
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"that everyone who believes in him
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"receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
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This ends the reading of the first lesson.
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The second lesson is taken from the book of Revelation.
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After this I looked, and behold,
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a great multitude which no man could number.
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From every nation,
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from all tribes and peoples and tongues,
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standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
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clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
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and crying out with a loud voice,
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"Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne,
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"and to the Lamb!"
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And all the angels stood 'round the throne
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and 'round the elders and the four living creatures,
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and they fell on their faces before the throne
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and worshiped God, saying,
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"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
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"and thanksgiving and honor and power and might
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"be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
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Then one of the elders addressed me, saying,
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"Who are these, clothed in white robes,
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and whence have they come?"
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I said to him, "Sir, you know."
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And he said to me,
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"These are they who have come out of the great tribulation.
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"They have washed their robes and made them white
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"in the blood of the Lamb.
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"Therefore are they before the throne of God.
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"And serve him day and night within his temple.
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"He who sits upon the throne
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"will shelter them with his presence.
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"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore.
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"The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
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"For the Lamb in the mist of the throne
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"will be their shepherd,
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"and he will guide them to springs of living water,
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"and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
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This ends the reading of the second lesson.
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(chorus singing)
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Good morning.
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The gospel lesson is from the gospel of Luke,
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chapter 15 verses one through three
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and verses 11 through 32.
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Now the tax-collectors and sinners
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were all drawing near to hear him.
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And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying,
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"This man receives sinners and eats with them."
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So he told them this parable,
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There was a man who had two sons.
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And the younger of them said to his father,
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"Father, give me the share of the property
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"that falls to me."
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And he divided his living between them.
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Not many days later the younger son gathered all he had
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and took his journey into a far country,
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and there he squandered his property in loose living.
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When he had spent everything,
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a great famine arose in that country,
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and he began to be in want.
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So he went and joined himself
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to one of the citizens of that country,
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who sent him into his fields to feed swine.
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And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate
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and no one gave him anything.
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But when he came to himself he said,
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"How many of my father's hired servants
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"have bread enough and to spare,
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"but I perish here with hunger!"
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I will arise and go to my father,
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and I will say to him,
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"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
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"I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
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"Treat me as one of your hired servants."
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And he arose and came to his father.
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But while he was yet at a distance,
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his father saw him and had compassion,
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and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
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The son said to him,
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"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,
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"I am no longer worthy to be called your son."
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But the father said to his servants,
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"Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him
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"and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.
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"And bring the fatted calf and kill it,
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"and let us eat and make merry,
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"for this my son
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"was dead
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"and is alive again.
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"He was lost and is found!"
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And they began to make merry.
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Now his elder son was in the field
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and as he came and drew near to the house,
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he heard music and dancing.
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He called one of the servants and asked what this meant.
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And he said to him, "Your brother has come,
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"and your father has killed the fatted calf
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"because he has received him safe and sound."
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But he was angry and refused to come in.
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His father came out and entreated him.
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But he answered his father,
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"Lo! These many years I have served you
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"and I never disobeyed your command,
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"yet you have never given me a kid
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"that I might make merry with my friends.
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"But when this son of yours came,
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"who has devoured your living with harlots,
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"you killed for him the fatted calf!"
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And he said to him,
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"Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
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"It was fitting to make merry and be glad,
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"for this, your brother was dead
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and is alive.
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"He was lost and is found."
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May God bless us
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that we may hear God's word
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in our hearts this day.
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The elder son refuses to go in to the celebration
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to welcome his brother back home.
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His father came out and entreated him.
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But he answered his father,
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"Lo! These many years I have served you
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"and I never disobeyed your command,
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"yet you never gave me a kid
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"that I might make merry with my friends.
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"But when this son of yours came,
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"who has devoured your living with harlots,
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"you killed for him the fatted calf."
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Is this right?
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How can this be?
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The elder son seems to have a case.
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We hear of an outstanding young man
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who's been an extraordinary son.
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Served his father many years
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and never disobeyed his fathers command.
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A good son
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or daughter, we might add.
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On the other hand, there is this prodigal.
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A young adult who grabbed his inheritance and ran off
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and squandered it.
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When he got what he deserved,
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when he got hungry,
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he came running back home to daddy.
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The father seems to be a pushover
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who favors his younger son.
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The minute he sees this apple of his eye approaching,
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he runs out to meet him,
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hugs him and throws a party in his honor.
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The elder brother has good reason to be mad, doesn't he?
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The father goes out to talk with him,
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hears his anger,
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in good, pastoral counseling fashion,
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and tells him he should come in and join the party.
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There is something more here.
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There is something about this elder son
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that doesn't ring true.
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He's very angry, it sounds like
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he has good reason to be angry.
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He says, "I never disobeyed you.
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"You never gave me a party."
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Does that sound familiar?
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In an argument, I always am right.
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They never do things the way they should.
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I never misbehave.
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They are always bad.
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In an argument, it's not my brother,
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it's your son,
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your daughter,
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your relatives.
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The elder son is angry.
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He wants to know where his reward is.
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He's been good.
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He's played by the rules.
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How come the father hasn't thrown a party for him?
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You or I might say,
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"Where's my reward for all I've done?"
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The parent hears the child's anger,
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refrains from listing all that he's done
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for the elder child.
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Does not enter into a debate.
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The parent simply says to his child,
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"You are always with me.
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"All that is mine is yours.
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"All that is mine is yours."
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Somehow the son is not able to receive
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what the father is offering.
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He must have been a serious and rather dower young man.
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He reminds me of a bumper sticker that reads,
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"For a while I felt good, but I finally got over it."
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In this parable,
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Jesus describes our relationship with God.
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God entreats each one of us to enter into community.
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God is present for us,
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listens to us,
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we have only to turn around
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and turn back to God.
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The Greek word for repentance is metanoia.
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Literally, to turn around.
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Something was hindering the elder son,
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restraining him from entering into life and community.
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Perhaps he had been too serious.
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Maybe he believed the rules too much,
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became too burdened down with care.
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There is a story of a young milkmaid.
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Excuse me.
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She brought two new milk pails
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and decided to walk into town to buy some cream.
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On the way, she met several neighbors
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who asked her to carry some garbage
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into the town dump for them.
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Being a good neighbor,
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she obliged.
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When she got to town and tried to empty the new pails,
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the garbage had stained
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and stuck to the inside of the pails.
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When she put the cream in the pails,
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it soured before she got home.
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Garbage is readily available to each of us.
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The garbage of too much work,
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the garbage of fear and envy,
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the garbage of anger and bitterness.
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Is there garbage in your life
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that is hindering you
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from entering into the community that God calls you to?
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The father in this parable,
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what manner of person is this parent?
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He entreats his elder son to come in
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and join in the merry making.
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He receives his lost son home again.
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No lectures,
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no bargains,
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no if you only did as I had taught you,
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he simply receives him back home,
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and rejoices.
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He is compassionate, this parent.
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Our Christian faith,
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a faith guided by the Holy Spirit,
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not by law,
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is rooted in compassion.
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How hard it is to be compassionate
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towards those who have wandered and been lost
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when we try so hard to be good.
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Compassion is not valued in our culture.
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It was not valued in Jesus' day either.
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Walter Brueggemann, in a book called
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The Prophetic Imagination,
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which is quoted in
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A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants,
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says this,
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"Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism,
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"for it announces that the hurt
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"is to be taken seriously,
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"that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural
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"but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition
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"for humanness.
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"In the arrangement of lawfulness in Jesus' time,
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"as in the ancient empire of Pharaoh,
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"the one unpermitted quality of relation
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"was compassion.
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"Empires are never built or maintained
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"on the basis of compassion.
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"The norms of law, social control,
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"are never accommodated to persons,
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"but persons are accommodated to the norms.
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"Otherwise, the norms will collapse
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"and with them, the whole power arrangement.
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"Thus, the compassion of Jesus is to be understood
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"not simply as a personal, emotional reaction,
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"but as a public criticism
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"in which he dares to act upon his concern
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"against the entire numbness of his social context."
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If you
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and I
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could be compassionate toward others,
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perhaps we could be more accepting of ourselves as well.
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Not as we imagine ourselves to be,
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but ourselves as we really are.
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The younger son
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provides a model for us.
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Not in his sinning, of course,
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but in his coming to himself,
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and returning home again, acknowledging his sin.
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The younger child receives his inheritance
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and abuses it.
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Finds himself without the resources he needs for life.
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Strung out,
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hungry,
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and isolated,
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and no one gave him anything.
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But he comes to himself.
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What would it mean for you
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to come to yourself?
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When he comes to himself,
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he realizes that he's worse off than his fathers servants.
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They have bread, but he is perishing.
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He is aware that his sin has lead to a living death.
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He knows that he cannot go back home again
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and have everything as it were before he sinned.
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And yet, with courage,
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he arises and goes home.
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Intending, merely,
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to be received as a servant in his fathers house.
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When his father greets him,
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he confesses his sin.
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"Father," he says, "I have sinned against heaven
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"and before you.
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"I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
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"Treat me as one of your hired servants."
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But while he was yet at a distance,
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his father saw him and had compassion
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and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
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And the son confesses his sin to the father.
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But the father says to the servants,
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"Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him,
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"and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet."