The people of Israel have reached the end
of their 40 years in the wilderness,
and God has given them a vision
of who they are as a community
and has led them
to a new land.

Their crossing over the Jordan River
from wilderness and privation
to fields and crops of plenty
is a time of sober recognition
of what God had done for them.

So, Joshua, Moses' successor,
had the people set up 12 giant stones
on the bank of the river,
that generations to come
would not forget the graciousness of God.

"When your children ask their parents
in times to come,
'What do these stones mean?'
then, you shall let your children know."

Those stones must have stood
there on the banks of the Jordan
for many generations of pedagogy;
and children learned of God,
of self-less-ness,
of community and tradition,
and of vision as a people living God's promise.

When I read such stories
and think of the markers
these people left behind
for future generations,
I wonder what markers
what stones
what evidence of true worth
I shall set up in my lifetime.

What are the relics of our generation?
by which we will be remembered
and what will they represent
to our children's children?

This reading
is well paired with the Gospel Story.

A young man became restless and rebellious
and demanded an inheritance
from his father,
an unheard of thing
in that culture,

but the father agreed
and the young man left his family
his community
his traditions and his ideals.
He traveled to a far off land
and lost it all.

A great famine came
and he found himself destitute.
He was willing even to feed swine
serving pigs instead of family,
the lowest thing a Jew can do.

The genius of this story is, of course,
that it is our story
cast in a different time and place.

We have that tendency to assume
that the good things of this world
are ours
and that we are to gain control over them
and use them for ourselves.
- thereby turning our backs
- on who we really are
- and how we are to be together before God.

I think many of us,
perhaps most of us in this congregation,
have witnessed or experienced
a bit of this lately.

The stock markets had been bid up
in a feeding frenzy of greed,
and our culture bought in
to the false god of quick and easy wealth.

We couldn't trade stocks fast enough,
so, even now,
we see advertisements for wireless trading.
You too can loose money
from wherever you happen to be.

We looked like a school of piranhas
devouring every new "dot com" listed.

Now it looks as if
most of the stadia in our country
are going to be named
for companies that no longer exist.

Millions of people have that sick feeling
in the pit of their stomachs.

They followed a false god
named Nasdac
and that god
and his consort, Dot,
have let them -
have let us down.

How can that have been a surprise?

What is it that we thought
we were doing?

What stones,
what markers to greatness,
what marks of God
did we think to leave behind?

So, the son found himself
slopping hogs and starving,
far from home.

And, Luke writes,
that this young man, "Came to himself."

What a wonderful phrase,
"He came to himself."

He had a realization
that he could not survive in the wilderness
on his own.
He needed his heritage and his traditions.
He needed his community.
He needed his dad.

So, he adjusted his sights,
cast off his pride,
greed, and self-centeredness,
and said,
I shall go home
and be a hired hand for my father.
So, he headed for home.

This story we often call
"The Prodigal Son",
should most probably be known as
"The Prodigal Father".

The word means Reckless,
wasteful, extravagant.

The son was all of that
with the wealth he took away from his father,

but, the father was all that and more
with his love and grace
when his son returned.

The father saw the son coming
from a long way off.
He must have been watching
all that time.

and he ran to meet him.

That was a no-no
in the middle east in that time.

It was considered undignified for a mature man
to run
and certainly to show affection or emotion;

but the father grasped his son
in his arms
and kissed him,
whisked him home,
ignoring his son's speech
about becoming a hired hand,
put a purple robe on him
as a sign of his position
in the family and community
a ring on his finger
as a sign of authority
and sandals on his feet
as a sign of freedom;

and the father called the whole family
indeed the whole village
to a giant banquet,
so happy was he
to celebrate the return,
indeed the ascension
of his son.

He once was lost, but now was found
was blind, but now did see.
He, "Came to himself".

Friends,
I suspect that the slide from grace
of the god, Nasdac
and his consort, "Dot com"
is a good thing.
It gives us a real opportunity
to re-evaluate that for which we stand
that for which we want to be known.

What stones shall we erect
by which to be remembered?

Who are we when we come to ourselves?
Whose are we when we come to ourselves?

With what family
with what community
by what covenant
and with what God
does our hope and our promise lie?

What, truly,
makes for real wealth?
Where is home?
and what things of substance
shall we teach our children's children? that they might perceive the greatness of God
and be truly thankful.