good morning and welcome to the Berkeley Divinity School Center at Yale University where each day we've been broadcasting step by step morning prayer towards St Luke's day which is the day after tomorrow we've come today into the dining area of this lovely place and what we see and remember the students are away for reading week so there's nothing going on here this morning what we see are tables which are infinite versatile in moving them around it reminds feter me very much of getting the way in which he used to get things ready in the dinery for conferences and for meals of Celebration and for great times of festivity so here we are just sharing this space with you because today our um our lesson is the lesson of the prodical Sun in St Luke's gospel which ends with a mighty banquet if you look at the end of the table behind me you'll see some glass doors Beyond that's the chapel of St Luke where we began our step by step towards St Luke on our first morning of morning prayer celebrating this event so let's begin morning prayer this morning and we are Wednesday morning prayer if you're using hour by hour if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us but if we confess our sins God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness the Canticle the second song of Isaiah seek the Lord while he Wills to be found call upon him when he draws near let the wicked forsake their ways and the evil one their thoughts and let them turn to the Lord and He will have compassion and to our God for he will richly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your ways my ways says the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts for as rain and snow fall from the heavens and return not again but water the Earth bringing forth life and giving growth seed for sewing and bread for eating so is my word that goes forth from my mouth it will not return to me empty but it will accomplish that which I have purposed and prosper in that for which I sent it glory to the father and to the son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen our morning Psalm is Psalm 46 God is our hope and strength a very present help in trouble therefore will we not fear though the Earth be moved and though the hills be carried into the depths of the sea though the waters thereof rage and swell and though the mountains shake at the Tempest of the same there is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God the holy place of the Tabernacle of the most high God is in the midst of her therefore shall she not be removed God shall help her and that right early be still then and know that I am God I will be exalted among the Nations and I will be exalted in the Earth the Lord of hosts is with us the god of Jacob is our refuge I'm going to read this morning three Parables the first is partly told in I think in Matthew's gospel and St John's gospel the others are entirely St Luke and so we will once again concentrate on things that only Luke is telling us these are lost and found Parables and in finding there is great rejoicing hence us being here with a celebratory banquet about to be prepared it's Luke chapter 15 now the text collectors and sinners were all Drawing Near to hear Jesus but the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying this man receives Sinners and eats with them so he told them this Parable what man of you having a hundred sheep if he has lost one of them does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it and when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 nine righteous persons who need no repentance I think that little lesson reminds us of when we lost Leo and he was lost for an unconscious time I think 3 weeks wasn't it and then one morning he uh we had a telephone call from a vet and uh that we were told that Leo had arrived at his surgery and had his chip taken by the vet and it came to our address we have we have no idea at all what uh uh what he'd been doing but then we think he may have been sort of taken away but but then run back and and was looked after by a lady for just three days of the three weeks at the end and she took him to the vet which caused them to know whose cat he was so we went back to receive him with rejoicing I don't know how monkey tiger and Lily felt about this rumbustious character coming back into the house but but he came back and added a huge meal and then thought no more about it we'd found our cat that was lost the next one is different it's set in a home and it concerns a woman who has lost a precious coin what woman having 10 silver coins if she loses one coin does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it and when she has found it she calls together her friends and neighbors saying Rejoice with me for I have found the coin that I had lost just so I tell you there is Joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents well that was thrust against those who were saying you're eating with all the wrong people tax collectors and Sinners and he himself is saying how much the recovery of just one person the repentance of just one sinner causes rejoicing and celebration among the angels of God it's a lovely Vision but the longest story and Luke doesn't mind telling stories at length with good detail T so our minds build up a wonderful picture of how this story unfolds this story is normally called the prodal son you could say the lost son just as the Lost coin and the lost sheep here we are chapter 15 starting at verse 11 and Jesus said there was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father father give me the share of property that is coming to me and the father divided his property between them not many days later the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country and there he squandered his property in Reckless living and when he had spent everything a severe famine arose in the country and he began to be in need so he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into his fields to feed pigs and he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs were eating and no one gave him anything but when he came to himself he said how many of my fathers hired servants have more than enough bread but I perish here with Hunger I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him father I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son treat me as one of your hired servants and he arose and came to his father but while he was still a long long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and the son said to him father I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to the to the servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and they began to celebrate now the older son was in the field and as he came and Drew near to the house he heard music and dancing and he called called one of the servants and asked what these things meant and the servant said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound but he was angry and refused to go in his father came out and intreated him but he answered his father look these many years I have served you and I never disobeyed your command yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends but when this son of yours came who has devoured your property with prostitutes you killed the fatten calf for him and the father said to him my son you are always with me all that I have is yours it was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this your brother was dead and is alive he was lost and is found I find it always a really moving story for what is not said and what is inferred is just as important as what Luke describes what is not said is that clearly the father has been watching and waiting with his eyes along the road for his wayward son to come home he believed in his heart that after many lessons he would come home and the day came when his eyes saw a very different form than the one that went away coming towards him on the road he'd gone away proud with his money bags filled he was going to conquer the world and make it his and he'd found in a far country that the world was a cruel place and friendships were hard made and often were falsely made and had found himself in the lowest depths a pigy pigs were not kept by the Jews because they were considered by the law unclean animals but he was so hungry that he was yes I'm is saying not Winston and and and Clemy um he was so hungry that he could have eaten the food that the pigs were eating well the second part of the story is equally inferred for here is the younger son coming in and hearing the music and sensing the festivity and he asked a servant who probably knew what the reaction would be your brothers come home after all these years your brothers come home we don't know what the intentions of the servant were but we hope they were well intentioned towards the father's wishes but he said that your your father's killed the fattened calf that was Dynamite to the Elder son and this brother refuses to go and enjoying a celebration which he thinks is unworthy so the father comes out and the father says to his son my son it it it's right your brother has come home and he was lost and is found there's a sort of sympathy that we might have with the elder brother on the other hand it's really like Matthew's story of the people who've only worked one hour at the end of the day getting the same wage there is only one reward in the kingdom of heaven and that is the Embrace of God himself into that Kingdom and of Christ himself into that Kingdom for All Those whom the Pharisees and the lawyers were complaining that she spent time with Luke is full of lost souls many of them named and many of them as they come to Jesus I'm thinking of zakus the the tax collector who climbed into a tree because he was so short and then afterwards invited Jesus to eat and drink with him in a massive celebration there's a small church at bet hanger near to us in Kent where the pulpit is surrounded by Sycamore leaves and in the middle of the leaves carved in the marble is little zakus sitting as the word is preached from the pulpit above it's a nice image and also zakus remember stood in front of Jesus and said today half that I possess I'm giving to the poor and if I have robbed any of anything I will repay them I think he says tfold it's another Lucan story and we rejoice in it that somebody whom the crowd despised not only probably for his stature the fact that he had to climb into a tree to see Jesus but also for the job he did working for the Romans collecting taxes all of that comes part of these stories of Lost and Found Luke is a gospel of lost and found but it's also a gospel of Mighty celebration and we return to his lovely sentence uh Luke's lovely sentence fear not little flock it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom it's not a case of earning it it's a case of wanting so desperately heart and soul to receive it and then to join in with the Norms of that Kingdom the way people behave in that Kingdom sometimes we trip and fall and ourselves have to make intentions back in sorrow but notice the father won't even let the son finish his sentence is a sentence we know well because it's used as an introduction to penitence in the book of common prayer I will arise and go to my father and will say to him father I have sinned before heaven and before you and I'm no more worthy to be called your son it's there that the father stops him he doesn't even get on to the bit about treat me therefore as one of your hired servants he stops him and re establishes his sunship not only by the fine robe that he clothes him in and the sandals he puts on his bare feet but at the same time by the Ring of entitlement he puts on his hand and that's an important symbol of um signature and connection with the family so lovely stories from Luke causing us to think in many different directions about our own sometimes going astray and the knowledge that the Embrace of the Savior the Embrace of the word made flesh is everything when penitence shows the that the lesson has been learned and with stumbling feet and really stuttering tongue we come back full of Sorrow Having learned a lesson we shall never forget so let's go on with our prayers this morning in this room of Celebration the little lesson attached to the office is from Hebrews long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various Ways by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by a son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom he also created the worlds the connect for today Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we may not fall into sin nor be overcome by adversity and in all we do direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen so we come to say our prayers which will conclude with the Lord's Prayer in a moment and as we do so we have in mind pictures from right across the world pictures of warfare pictures of horror for families and children with destroyed homes behind them not just in war but also in catastrophic natural events you will also have stories on your heart that you want to bring to the throne of the heavenly father people who need encouragement and need help and stories of your own need for encouragement and help and Thanksgiving for the way in which we are received unconditionally when we turn to the love of Jesus as he expresses it we continue to give thanks for the gospel of St Luke which is so full of humanity so as our savior taught us we ourselves pray Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us us all ever more and the blessing of God Almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and Those whom you would pray for today and always amen I thought of one other lost and found story because it's not only Leo we lost for three weeks but we lost monkey of all the cats who never went anywhere and used to cling by me all the time uh he simply vanished on a day that we had had to go to London and came back and found him not there we think later on that he must have followed us because we never really went on foot through the crowd but we didn't take a car to the station it was a school commemoration day full of people in the in the precincts and he must have followed us outside the gates and then found that he he' lost his way but um for a week we put up notices we devastated that that uh our our best friend really he was he was the one who understood Us best a black cat and uh we didn't find him and I had to go at the end of the week to the York General Senate and so I was staying with my friend my late friend Richard Shephard who wrote so much music to many of my words and he was driving me one morning from his house to the university where the the sinard was meeting and letter rang and he said what is the best news you could possibly receive and I said Monk Is back and he said yes he is and that was really really good news so this is the Lost found I'm not sure tiger thought it was a good idea but we did lose tiger once on the roof of the cathedral and he was gone several days until we heard him um or feter was feeding the chickens I think and heard seagulls uh making a ruckus on the on the roof right up high in the cathedral and uh we we knew then that that um tiger was up there we could hear him crying at that point and he'd got up there at the scaffolding and not been able to come back down so I had to go up inside the cathedral right up to the top open a weather door onto the roof and and um then find him and he had gone into a a place he he jumped down onto the roof of the song school which was impossible for me to get at and uh beh below me it was dark um but below I was in the flood lights below me all the chers who'd gone to bed but were hearing this kept saying um that that shouting you know cheering from the their bedrooms cuz they knew he he'd been lost um and uh at that point I went down and got into the song school and uh stood there on a step ladder and opened a skylight and it and tiger came to the Skylight and put his white paw through but I couldn't reach him and he wouldn't come any further and so I took the the um in those days he had four pores remember um I took the piano stool and stood on the step ladder and held it above my head and he stepped onto it and then I I lifted it down like a like an elevator a lift and took him tight cuz I didn't want him to run again and RAC down the spiral stairs and all the way back to the Deery and into the kitchen and he'd not fed and all the boys were cheering yes and he'd not been fed for for probably four or five days so he ravenously attacked the food there and it was at that time that monkey was looking and flicking his tail because he was trying to decide as the elder brother whether he actually wanted tiger back so sorry enough lost and found stories you'll have them of your own but it always ends in celebration and that's what we've tried to do today with this room that we're sitting in