Artist of the Week: Mark Lowry
(I've never had an Artist of the Week before - but then I've never published this many blog entries in a row before, so obviously new things are happening).
Mark Lowry has something to say that is worth hearing.
If you are a fan of Bill Gaither, you may remember that Mark Lowry has been a member of the Gaither Vocal Band. If you have loved the song "Mary, Did You Know?" at Christmastime, you may recognize his name as the one who wrote the lyrics. He is often referred to as a Christian Humorist - which is accurate as far as it goes. In addition to his considerable musical and comedic talents, though, he is excellent at telling the story of Christ.
I was looking for information on Mr. Lowry in preparation for a sermon this week at Parkview UMC in Miamisburg, Ohio, where I will be filling in for a friend. The Scripture will be Luke 15:11-32 - the story usually called The Prodigal Son - take a moment and refresh your memory if you have not read it recently.
Most sermons about this Scripture focus on the younger son - the one who takes a walk on the wild side and brings shame on himself and his family but who is still welcomed home . This week, though, I was thinking about the Older Brother in the story - the one who stays home and faces up to his responsibilities.
Picture the 2 brothers later in life sitting around a fire sharing their testimonies. Little Brother would have a story of travel, adventure, loose women, throwing money away, disaster, survival, and redemption. Older Brother would have a testimony that most people would find - let's be honest - boring.
Those of you who know me will NOT be surprised to find that I tend to identify more with the Older Brother.
When I would attend my High School Sunday School class (a couple of years back), we would receive a Sunday School paper each week containing some Scriptures along with someone's Testimony on the back page. Almost without fail these testimonies were from 'Little Brother' types: former runaways, former heroin addicts, former criminals, former hippies, etc.
Most of us sitting in the basement of the McComb UM Church were relatively well-behaved, and we shared the shame of thousands of young Christians - a boring testimony. That's why I appreciated Mark Lowry so much when I heard him introduce his own story this way:
"I was saved from a life of desperate wickedness at the age of 8."
I laughed out loud. Those of us with the (mixed) blessing of growing up in the Church and identifying with the faith from an early age never really had time to get mixed up in a lot of "desperate wickedness" before claiming Jesus as Savior and Lord.
That quote, though, while it is an excellent line, is not the quote I had in mind when I said that Mark Lowry has something to say that is worth hearing. The quote below came from a talk that he entitled Recovering Fundamentalist where he talks about God's grace:
"God spreads grace like a 4-year-old spreads peanut butter. He gets it all over everything."
That's the one. That's a pretty good summation of why I have always referred to Luke 15:11-32 as the story of the Prodigal Father - the Father is lavish - some would say to the point of wastefulness or scandal - with Love. He spreads so much around that there is even plenty for the - let's be honest again - self-righteous Older Brother. Do you remember Older Brother's reaction to discovering that they were throwing a party for Little Brother (the one who had dragged their family's good name through the mud)?
He was angry - and refused to go in to the celebration.
Then the Father comes out and begs him to join in the festivities. The story ends without telling whether or not the Older Brother joins in the feast, but Luke - the storyteller - has a clear lesson in mind:
If you get an invitation that good, get into the party.
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(Editor's note: When I figure out a simple video program, I will include videos here of my Biblical Storytelling version of the story on the blog - any suggestions for video programs? Also, thanks to the folks at BibleGateway for the Bible link, and thanks in general to Artist of the Week Mark Lowry - once again, very well done).
2 comments:
Everybody come to Parkview Sunday! It will be great.
I heard something on a Steve Brown podcast one day that was interesting. They made the point that the prodigal son didn't wake up one day and decide his dad was a great guy and that he had mistreated him and his brother in his selfish and self centeredness. He came back because he figured no matter how bad it was to go home, it would be better than his present hopeless situation. I don't remember the rest of the point they were making, but I don't think the story mentions him ( the son that is) being repentant at all, and it makes me wonder if he wasn't more like the alcoholic who's family with best intentions won't allow him to hit his bottom and keep enabling the behaviors that are keeping him stuck where he is. I don't think we hear any of the follow up of how many debotrury rehabs he attended before finally finding recovery but usually in my experience real change only happens when the fear of the change is outweighed by the pain of staying the same( or something to that effect) but maybe he hit his pain limit at that point. I think for me the beauty of the story (as with all of the bible stories ) is that each one is full of many different lessons on many different levels which helps to demonstrate to me that it is inspired by God. I tend to look at it as another" what's the motivation story" The younger brother was selfish and self centered and his motivation was misguided but honest and maybe that was how he had to learn; The older brother was self centered and selfish but was doing the right things for the wrong reasons ; And the father was demonstrating (to the best of his ability )the unconditional love of our father in heaven and his motivations were in keeping with this. Thank you Steve, Dawn forwarded me your blog really neat. I have never done a comment on blog before so I hope I did it right. Scott
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