Advent Lutheran Church

"Letting Go"

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.  ² And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."  ³ So he told them this parable: "There was a man who had two sons.  ¹² The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them.  ¹³ A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.

 ¹⁴ When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.  ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.  ¹⁶ He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.  ¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!  ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;  ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."'

²⁰ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  ²¹ Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  ²² But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe-- the best one-- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  ²³ And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;  ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  ²⁶ He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.  ²⁷ He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.'  ²⁸ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.  ²⁹ But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.  ³⁰ But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!'  ³¹ Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  ³² But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'" 

Letting Go

Through out my life I’ve had the opportunity to serve as a leader of many different organizations.  One of the strengths I’ve always brought to the table is my understanding of accountability.  Who will pay for this?  Is this the best use of our resources?  Will our money be used wisely?  Who authorized this?  Does this fit with our vision?  These are the questions that I am often asking.  For me, being a good leader is being a good steward.  This parable calls into question my idea of stewardship.

I just heard an interview with Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  He says, that he decided long ago that God wasn’t all powerful.  God started out that way, but when entering into relationship with Creation, God decided that God would voluntarily give up the power to control the Natural Forces (weather, disease, etc.) and humanity’s freedom to choose.  Like the father in the parable, God gave up control.  In the story, the father can only hope that the money given will be used wisely.  The father can hope that a natural disaster or disease doesn’t come along and wipe out everything for which the son worked; but there’s no guarantee.  There’s no control.  Still, the father breaks with tradition, goes against convention and gives.

How lucky for us that things didn’t go well for the son.  It would have been an easy lesson to teach if the son had done well.  The moral would be, “Set yourself free; let go of control.  Take a leap of faith and you will be rewarded beyond your expectations.”  But this lesson is, “Set yourself free; let go of control and when things go wrong, love anyway.  Have faith anyway.  Restore the relationship anyway.”   That’s what God did.  But God could, because God kept the most important power – to love unconditionally. 

God loved us so much God sent his son and let go.  It didn’t go well – Jesus died as an outlaw, abandoned by his followers, crucified.  But God loved anyway.  God had faith anyway.  God resurrected Jesus and thus restored our relationship with God anyway.

In ministry, we must sometimes let go and let God.  Sometimes, the best stewardship is to bite my tongue instead of asking, “Is this the best use of resources? etc.”  Sometimes the most important part of stewardship is to love anyway.  To say, when the plan didn’t go well, “I love that you tried.  I love you.  Let’s try again.”  It may not be easy, and it may not be successful, but God never said it would be.  God just said, “I love you anyway.”