Hearing something for the first time...
My friend, Alberto, came by to visit the other day. We have been friends for a few months now and i had preached at his church one Sunday months ago. Apparently his church has been asking for me. Now, when a church asks for here in Africa i assume it wants something, I was right. They were hungry for more preaching. HA. I couldn't believe it. Apparently my sermon on the prodigal son (Luke 15)had caught their imagination and hearts and they had been reading and studying it. I am thrilled. I will go back after vacation and preach again.
On a similar note today i started meeting with a bunch of pastors who come in from the district(bush) twice a month to study with me. Well, only one showed up and after waiting the obligatory hour i decided to just open the Bible and start teaching something. So i asked the guy, what do you want to study? He said "Anything!" Ok, that is easy. I turned to the prodigal son story. I assumed he knew the story but when i asked him, he replied he had never heard it! Wow. So i told about the cultural implications about what the son had done and how the father responded in a very unusual way, i shared how the story mirrors God's love for us and how we can either be the younger or older son depending on our attitude. I shared how the Father was always waiting, expecting the son to return and how he restored the son, not just taking him back but elevating and rejoicing in the sons return, regardless of what he had done. As we talked he soaked it up, telling me how it was a great story, something that he had never heard but will share with his church. Wow.
Now, i love the story of the prodigal son. But what i love more is seeing people hear it for the first time. I am shocked that these pastors, these leaders of their Churches don't know such great stuff in their Bible and now i look forward even more to opening it for them and sharing this wonderful story of God's love for each of us wayward children and at the same time i am reading it all for the first time through their eyes. What a privilege!
Maybe we need to forget everything we have been told once and a while and read the story for the first time (again).
