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Parenting, prayers and parties
Luke 15 begins with Jesus being criticised for eating with ‘sinners’ and ends with a party for a prodigal. There are challenges throughout about welcoming, parenting, praying and partying.
Context
- Eating together is a holy habit and one Jesus practised frequently. As a good Jew he knew the value of table fellowship as a sign of welcome, reconciliation and koinonia. It is at the heart of the grumbles of the pharisees and the celebrations when the prodigal son is welcomed home.
- Like the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable Carl had hit rock bottom ‘my life was just social workers, probation officers and the police’ he says. When he came to the Christian Charity, Walk Ministries, he experienced the welcoming love of God and his life was transformed. When he was in a mess, he met Katie and invited her out for a drink. She declined but prayed for him (like the prodigal son’s mother perhaps – see below). Eight years on Katie married the transformed Carl.
- This week the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has delivered her Spring Statement. This has included significant cuts to welfare payments. Radio phone ins, websites and newspaper editorials will have been busy discussing these. At the heart of the debates there will have been much discussion about what people ‘deserve’ or are ‘entitled to’. The pharisees thought the ‘tax collectors and sinners’ were not deserving of Jesus’ company and generosity. He saw things differently.
Ideas for sermons or interactive talks
- On Mothering Sunday how might we explore the Parable of the Loving Parent? Might today be a day when we explore and give thanks for fathering as well as mothering? And might we take a moment to wonder where the mother was in this story? Was she running the household? Was she praying for reconciliation between father and son? Had she died?
- Professor Paul Jackson is a Professor of Politics at Birmingham University and a member of Bromyard Methodist Church in Worcester. He has also worked in peacekeeping roles for the United Nations. At a Holy Habits event at which we were exploring eating together he explained to me that the first thing his team tried to do in the process of building peace was to get the previously warring parties to sit and eat together to recognise their common humanity. Often this proved foundational to the process of building peace. How, and with whom, might we practise the holy habit of eating together?
- Luke 15 begins with Jesus being criticised for welcoming sinners and eating with them. It ends with a party for a young man who has, by his own admission, messed up. The American sociologist, pastor and evangelist Dr Tony Campolo (who died in 2024) was a great story teller. One of his most impactful is the story of the birthday party he arranged for a sex worker and her friends. When asked why on earth he was doing this he said because "I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for [sex workers] at 3:30 in the morning [and] that's the kind of church that Jesus came to create!’’
Questions for discussion
- What does the parable of the prodigal son have to say to us about parenting, fathering and mothering? How could it be the centre piece of a Mothering Sunday service?
- Who might God want you to eat with? Who might be ‘the sinners’ or prodigals you could welcome or welcome back to the meal table either at home or collectively as a church?
- Katie prayed for Carl for years. The prodigal’s mother probably prayed every day for her son. For whom do we need to keep praying?
- If we were setting tax and spending polices how would the example of Jesus help to determine our priorities?
Andrew Roberts is a husband, father, Methodist Minister and the author of Holy Habits. He enjoys watching football and, despite that, supports Aston Villa.
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Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people
It’s Mother's Day on Sunday - otherwise known as the the second busiest day of the year if you’re in the flower-selling business.
How do the words ‘Mother's Day’ make you feel?
Some of us might be feeling pretty smug because we have our gift sorted and it's great! Others might be panicking because, up until right now, we had completely forgotten Mother's Day was this Sunday.
This Sunday might be gearing up to be a fun celebration but, for some of us, it might be difficult for lots of reasons.
Jesus told a parable about a difficult family situation - a son that comes crawling back after wasting his father’s money. He has no idea what sort of welcome he'll receive - he doesn't expect it to be good! Yet, instead of a telling off, he gets new clothes and a party. He experiences unconditional love.
At its best, Mother’s Day is a celebration of the unconditional love that makes up family life.
If that sums up your experience of Mother’s day then I have good news for you. It's just a taste of God's love for you.
And if Mother’s Day is a trickier subject for you then I have good news for you too. God's love for you is uncomplicated and unreserved.
However we feel about Mother’s Day, let's all of us remember that we are welcomed in God’s family.
Chris Neilands is the co-founder of Play it by Ear drama company, based in Belfast.
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