A Sneak Peak at the Sermon Today

My text is Luke 15:17 >>

When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

And here is a sneak peak:

The truth is: We are all bent inwards to self. Martin Luther, as well as St Augustine, Karl Barth and others used a Latin Phrase to describe sin in the human life:

Incurvatus in se

Which means: The Curvature of the Soul.

Like the nautilus shell, we are each turned or curved inward on oneself. No matter who far we travel, left to our own devices, we always curve towards self. And selfishness.

There is a Winnie the Pooh Story where Pooh and Rabbit are walking in the Hundred Ache Wood. Trying to find their way out. But no matter which way they go, they always come back to the same spot. Like A.A. Milne’s classic: No matter how much we travel in life, we always come back to the same spot: Ourselves.

Incurvatus in se

Is there a way out? Is there a way forward? Is there a way for the younger brother to get out of the Pigsty?

Isaiah 1:18 >>

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;

Yes there is.

In A.A Milne’s story, Winnie the Pooh has a suggestion: A counter-intuitive one. He notes: Every time we try to find our way out, we find this spot. We always do the same thing, and get the same result. So he suggests:Let’s try to search for this spot, and maybe we’ll find our way out. Something Rabbit roundly rejects.

The Younger Brother had likely done the same thing for a season. Lived for himself.

Incurvatus in se

And this behaviour led to the Pigsty: a place where he not himself, but a shadow of himself. A failure. A new and counter intuitive action had to take place. He couldn’t just think the same way.

What does Jesus say?

When he came to himself, he said: I will go back to my father.

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This morning:

• 8:30 for Traditional BCP Holy Communion.
• 10:00AM City Church (The Lord's Supper)

See our website for details.

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Pic on Flickr by Mark Coggins.