Author: Daniel Westfall

Ep.146: The Man Who Wished His Father Was Dead.

Ep.146: Luke 15:The Man Who Wished His Father Was Dead.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.  

One of Jesus’ lost-and-found stories in Luke 15 is about a young man who wished his father was dead. The father lived with two sons on the family farm. The younger son found farm life tedious–a daily grind of chores assigned by a workaholic father who didn’t have a life. The son fantasized about getting a life of his own. All he needed was a bit of money to take him to a happening city.

Unfortunately, the father had to die before the lad could inherit his money, so he said, “Father, I want my inheritance NOW instead of waiting for it.” Surprisingly, his father rolled over, played dead, and gave him the inheritance. 

The son took his money and drew up his personal Declaration of Independence, claiming his right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He dissolved his association with the farm, the family, and his father’s values and opinions. He moved to a country far away and spent his whole fortune on wine, women, food, music, drugs, clothes, and friends. Then he ran out of money and friends at the beginning of a famine. He took a job at a pig farm to survive. His rate of pay? He got to eat what the pigs ate. 

Soon the son thought, “Why should I live like a pig? Back home even the  servants have good food. Maybe I’ll go home and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. I’m not worthy to be your son. Can you make me a servant?’” 

When his father saw him coming, he ran and hugged him, ignoring the son’s would-you-let-me-be-a-servant speech. He restored him to full sonship, and threw a  party saying, “My son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” 

I have three observations on this story. In 1886 the philosopher Nietzsche declared “God is dead”. Raised in a strict one-parent German home, in an atmosphere of gloomy Lutheran piety, Neitzsche came to despise the church that used God’s name to impose a cheerless lifestyle. He despised the German politics that used God’s name to build a self-serving empire. He despised the rationalism that used God’s name to oppress minds. 

Like the prodigal, Nietzsche declared his independence from God and home. He went into a far philosophical country where many still follow him today. 

A second observation is that our fantasies about the far country are always better than the country we arrive in. Marx and Lenin built a communist utopia in a country far from God, but the place they arrived in was more confining and repressive than the one they left. 

Our western civilization pursues freedom and justice through education, reason, science, and technology. But our brave new world still has mass shootings, populist leaders, rampant consumerism and massive public debt. This is not the way we imagined it. Perhaps we don’t have the wisdom and resources to build the country of our dreams. 

My third observation about the story is the fact that the owner of the farm did die. A man named Jesus who made the world died one day on a cross because the religious and political leaders had no room for him in their country. But when Jesus returned from the grave and went back to heaven, his Father threw a party saying, “My son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Let’s pray.  

Our father, with John Greenleaf Whittier we pray,
  Blow, winds of God, awake and blow
      the mists of earth away.
  Shine out, O Light divine, and show
      how wide and far we stray. 

In the words of the Anglican General Confession, 
     We have wandered and strayed from your ways. . .
     We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.
     We have offended against your holy laws.

Our father, a thousand times we have strayed from you, and a thousand times we have come home. Bring us safely to the time of death, and to our last great homecoming to you. On that day, may we hear you say,
    Rejoice with me!
    My sons and daughters were dead and now they are now alive.
    They were lost but now they are found. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

Ep.145: Psalm 63: Singing in the Desert.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

Psalm 63 says,
    O God, you are my God,
        earnestly I seek you
    my throat thirsts for you
        my body longs for you
    in a dry and weary land
        where there is no water (v. 1).

One summer day, my brother and I hiked two-and-a-half miles on a dusty gravel road to the top of a hill. Lunch with a view. Bologna-lettuce-and-mayonnaise sandwiches with a drink of milk, some of which I saved for the thirsty trip home. Sitting on the hill, we enjoyed a fourteen mile view of patchwork prairie farmland: squares of green wheat growing, fields of brilliant yellow canola,and fields of black soil lying fallow in the sun. 

On the hot road home, my brother said, “Hey, did you save some milk?” I took out my bottle, swished the milk around, smelled it and said, “It’s gone sour.” And I poured it out on the ground. My brother said, “Hey, I’m thirsty. I wanted that!” 

I tell this story not to comment on my brotherly kindness, but to offer a perspective on thirst. The poet in Psalm 63 experienced his relationship to God as extreme thirst and physical longing. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we understand the poet’s dry and weary land where there is no water. Like a hot gravel road under the prairie sun without even sour milk to drink. We long for your presence, but we feel the dryness of your absence. We look for you, but cannot find you. Are you present to us in the sun that burns our face? In the dust that chokes our throat? In the vast blue sky without shade or rain? 

Like the poet, we have seen your power and glory in the sanctuary. When you shone your light on us at a life-changing conference. When we felt your presence in a church that nurtured our spiritual growth.  When someone’s kindness helped us feel your deep deep love. But today you are absent. We are stuck in the desert where the only water is a mirage and the only comfort a memory of how things used to be.

With the poet we treasure our memories. When your presence filled our hearts. When your spirit quenched our thirst. When your love washed away our sorrows and sins. 

With the poet we say, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will praise you . . . I will lift up my hands in your name” (v. 3-4). This is our gravel-road statement of faith. In our thirst, we speak your praise with parched lips; we shelter under your unseen wings, we think of you in our sleepless hours at night (vv. 4, 6, 7). Our life is desert until your river flows through it. Our spirit is empty until you fill it. Our days are wasted until we voice your praise. 

With the poet we sing as we travel the dusty road of life. We sing with lifted hands, we sing in the shadow of your wings, we sing of love that watches over us at night and upholds us in the day. We sing of living water that quenches our thirst.

O God, receive our song. Show us the way on our thirsty journey. Lead us to rivers of life. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Ep.144: Lost and Found.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.  

Luke 15 tells us that tax collectors and sinners gathered around Jesus to listen. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and even eats with them.” The Pharisees were Bible-study experts who had created a system of literal interpretation and developed detailed rules for doing exactly what the Bible said. They were offended that Jesus wasn’t more careful about interpreting and obeying the Bible, and they were shocked that he associated with low-lifes who thought parties were more important than Bible study.

Responding to this criticism, Jesus told three stories about people who lost something, and then threw a party when they found it.

Today, let’s look at the first story. It’s about a shepherd with one hundred sheep. One of the sheep wandered off and got lost. So the shepherd left the ninety-nine in the open country (I hope there weren’t any wolves about), and he hunted for the lost sheep until he found it. Then he joyfully brought it home on his shoulders and threw a party, saying, “Rejoice with me, I found my lost sheep.” 

Jesus said, “There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who changes his mind and comes home to God than over ninety-nine righteous people who are certain they’ve got God figured out and aren’t about to change their mind.” 

The story has at least two pointed messages and a number of loose ends. 

Jesus’ first message is to his critics, the Pharisees. He tells them, “You think you have God figured out. You think he wants everybody to be like you, living sober, rigorous lives, keeping all the rules and getting everything right. But you’re wrong about God.” Jesus told them what God wants most is to find people who are lost, so he can throw a party when they come home. 

The religious people had built their own road to God. They knew they weren’t lost, and they knew they weren’t wrong, so they didn’t appreciate Jesus’ suggestion that they were both lost AND wrong! Like the T-shirt that says, “Don’t mess with my faith, my family, my firearms, my freedom”, the Pharisees had locked themselves into a whole worldview about what was right and necessary. And on pain of death, even Jesus wasn’t permitted to mess with that. 

Jesus’ second pointed message is that everybody is lost–both the wandering sinners and the competent middle class who’ve studied how to get it right. John Newton’s famous hymn says, “Once I was lost, but now I am found.” But my experience is that we all keep wandering off and getting lost, and we need Jesus to keep finding us. 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, we have tried to be good Christians. We have studied the Bible and interpreted it and built books of rigid doctrine and a whole system of religion that tells us how to get God’s approval. We pray the right prayers and keep the right rules. And we are sure that God will notice us and reward us with a place in heaven. And that he’ll keep the bad people out.

Jesus, what are you saying about lost sheep? And about people who need a change of mind? And about party-time in heaven? We had our change of mind when we exited the party scene and put on our religious straightjacket. Have we lost our way again? Is your story an invitation for us to change our mind again?  

O Jesus, lift us up on your shoulders and carry us home to God. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Ep.143: Psalm 62: Only in God.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray with Me”. 

In Psalm 62, the poet finds a quiet place of rest from his busy life and noisy enemies. He says,
    Only in God my soul finds rest;
        my salvation comes from him.
    Only he is my . . . fortress;
      I will not be shaken (vv 1-2). 

This psalm is unique because the poet doesn’t make any requests to God. Though he complains about enemies, he doesn’t ask God to save or rescue or deliver him. Instead, he finds in God a quiet shelter in his stormy life, a strong refuge in his weakness.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, this psalm tells us to trust in you at all times, to pour out our hearts to you, for you are our refuge (v. 8).

Thank you for welcoming the outpouring of our hearts, with their muddled thoughts and feelings. We present to you our thanks for food and shelter, our relief that spring has come at last, our fear of the coronavirus pandemic, our concern for the economy, and our faith that you are good. Take our hearts, Lord, protect and heal them.

With the poet we form a prayer of rest around three times our psalm uses the word “only”.

About his enemies, the poet says,
    How long will your assail [me]
       will you batter [me],
        like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
    Your only plan is to bring me down. . .
    With your mouth you bless,
        but in your heart you curse (vv.3-5, paraphrased).

O God, our enemies are single-minded–their only plan is to bring us down. The enemy in our minds discourages and depresses us. The enemy in our hearts creates numbness and apathy. The enemy in our relationships destroys trust and goodwill. The enemy in our spirits tells us faith is an illusion. O God, how often, like the poet, we are a leaning wall, a tottering fence. Fragile and vulnerable, we live on the edge of failure and ruin. But we choose with the poet to rest in your shelter. 

In a second use of the word “only”, the poet says,
    Those of low estate are only a breath,
          those of high estate only a delusion;
          in the balances they go up;
    together they are lighter than breath (v. 9). 

O God, the heavyweights of our world are not as weighty as they imagine–they are only a breath of air. When they stand on the scales, the needle doesn’t move. When they walk through the sand, they leave no footprints. When they stand before you, O God, their haughty speech and mighty words are reduced to silence. They cannot provide a reliable fortress or a  trustworthy salvation.

The poet also uses the word “only” to talk about you, God, for you alone are his focus. Twice he says,:
    Only in God does my soul find rest,
    Only he is my rock and my salvation (vv. 1-2, 5-6). 

Thank you that our souls find rest in you. Thank you for each night of sleep. Thank you for each day of peace. Thank you for the downtime that coronavirus imposes on our hyperactive society. As we take a break from shopping, eating out, commuting, and attending church, we invite you to bring us to rest. May this coronavirus sabbatical become a holy time of rest in your name. Bring us through the epidemic with a new desire to seek you in our lives and to follow you in our world. Care for the unemployed, the displaced, the weary, and the sick in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.

Ep.142: When to Quit Forgiving.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.  

In Matthew 18, Peter asked Jesus, “How many times should I forgive a persistent sinner? Maybe seven times?” Jesus replied, “Don’t stop at seven, try seventy times seven!” 

Then Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a king whose servant owes him twenty bags of gold. In today’s money, that’s 20 or 30 million dollars. 

The servant begs the king, “Be patient and I will pay it all back.” Right. That’s likely to happen. At day labor rates in Jesus’ time, it would take 10,000 years to earn just one bag of gold. This guy is going to pay back 20 bags on a servant’s salary? But the soft-hearted king says, “Why don’t we just forget it? Your debt is cancelled! Off you go.”

Now this servant had a fellow servant who owed him one piece of gold. Not a bag, mind you, just one piece. The servant who just lost his multi-million dollar debt was determined to collect that one piece of gold. The debtor begged, “Be patient with me and I’ll pay it back.” But the forgiven servant sued for his piece of gold, and threw the debtor into prison. 

When the king heard about it, he was angry. He said, “What’s up with this? I forgave your huge debt. That’s a hint about how things work in my kingdom. Clearly you didn’t catch the hint, so now you owe it all again. Off to prison with you, so the jailers can torture you until you pay back all 20 bags worth.” 

Now only death can set that servant free. 

Here’s a list of things that are wrong with the story: 

  1. First, how in the world did the servant manage to rack up a multi-million dollar debt? Didn’t the king do a credit check on him? Why didn’t the king fire him after the first bag or two? I think the king was an irresponsible manager.
  1. Second, the servant’s offer to pay back the debt was totally implausible. The king should have said, “That’s impossible. Can’t be done.” Instead he says, “Let’s just forget the debt.” My credit card company could take a lesson from this king.
  1. And third, when the servant didn’t forgive that small debt , the king retracted his forgiveness and reinstated the multi-million dollar debt. Kind of arbitrary, don’t you think? Does the king just go about offering forgiveness and then retracting it and throwing people in jail? 

But Jesus ignored all that and spelled out one lesson from the story. He said, “This is how my heavenly father will treat you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” 

Let’s pray. 

Jesus, is that how the kingdom of heaven works? We humans owe this massive debt to God because he’s given us ourselves and the whole world, and we’ve messed it up and squandered it and we’re unable to put it right? 

But you say that God will forgive all if we just forgive each other a bit? Is there no sense of proportion? No bookkeeper to track God’s losses? No list of wrongs we must right to make forgiveness kick in? No enforcer who tells applicants to repent?

Jesus, it seems from your story that the only way to receive forgiveness is to give it away. God’s forgiveness is not a bag of gold to hide under a mattress for judgment day. It’s a river that flows from God’s heart into our hearts, washing us clean as it flows in us through us and out into the lives of others. If we try to dam it up into a lake, it no longer works.  

O Jesus, let the river of forgiveness flow. Let it flow from you to us. Let it flow from us to everyone we know. 

Amen.

I’m Daniel on the channel “Pray with Me”.