As a highlight of the upcoming Ramsgate Winter Festival St George’s Church is thrilled to present A Soulful Winter’s Night with Sabina Desir & Jessica Lauren, in collaboration with Ramsgate Festival of Sound.
An evening of soul, gospel, and blues to lift your spirit and warm your hearts
19th of December, Doors open 7pm 🎟️Tickets available now – SOLD OUT £8 early birds (catch them while you can) £12 in advance (before 19th December) or £15 on the door. Under 16s are £8. 📍 St George’s Church, Ramsgate
Step in from the cold and let your spirit be lifted at ‘A Soulful Winter’s Night’, a celebration of soul, gospel, and blues music in the stunning setting of St George’s Church, one of Ramsgate’s most beautiful historic landmarks.
Featuring the extraordinary Sabina Desir’s powerful and deeply soulful vocals, alongside the brilliant Jessica Lauren’s rich, expressive keyboards and inspired arrangements. Together, they bring an unforgettable blend of passion, harmony, and soul that will fill the church’s vaulted ceilings with warmth and joy.
This concert welcomes everyone, of all faiths and none, from all backgrounds and walks of life, to share in an evening of music that celebrates connection, community, and the spirit of winter. Expect heartfelt performances that journey through the roots of soul, the hope of gospel, and the deep groove of the blues – music that brings light to the darkest nights.
✨ Feel the music. Share the spirit. Warm your soul.
“We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Newton’s past was far from the respectable life you would expect of a clergyman. Having rejected his childhood faith, he openly mocked those who believed. He spent many years working on ships involved in the transatlantic slave trade and gained notoriety as being one of the most profane and insubordinate men amongst crews of unruly sailors who habitually swore.
Yet, after crying out to God for mercy in the midst of a storm that threatened to engulf the ship he was on, he began to wonder whether God could indeed have mercy on someone like him. He discovered that God’s grace was great enough to save even someone like him and so, Newton began to change. Initially, he gave up swearing and became more submissive to authority, but over time he realised that the slave trade was wrong and took a lead in the campaign against it, which eventually led to the abolition of slavery.
The hymn he wrote, powerfully expresses the immensity of God’s grace towards him, “Amazing grace! (How sweet the sound) That saved a wretch like me!”. But it also reflects on how God’s grace protected him before he became a Christian: ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far…’. Furthermore, it is by God’s grace that he had a future hope: ‘And grace will lead me home.’
Jesus’ name was certainly glorified through John Newton’s life. And the ugliness of his early unruly life was transformed into the glory of someone wholehearted for God. Have you learnt to trust in God’s amazing grace?
Paul Worledge
Key Notices:
Light Party – Friday 31st October, 4:30-6:00pm
Our alternative to Halloween. A party event for all ages. This annual event is great fun and a good way to provide a positive alternative to the darkness that is the focus of Halloween celebrations. Do come and encourage both church and non-church friends to come. Everyone welcome and all is free. Please join us!
Christianity Explored – Starting this week
We are planning to run a trial version of the soon to be published new Christianity Explored in November and early December. This course is for you:
if you are interested in Christianity or new to faith
are looking to be baptised or confirmed
have questions about faith or want a refresher of the basics
We will be running small groups at St. Luke’s vicarage at the following times:
Sundays, 5:00-6:30pm, (13-18s only)
Mondays, 7:30-9:00pm
Thursdays, 11:30am-1:00pm
Please speak to Paul if you are interested in joining one of these groups or fill in the online form.
Life Groups – Small Groups starting this week
We are renaming our small groups, ‘Life Groups’. These groups, for up to twelve people, are to enable regular meeting outside of normal services to support and encourage each other in our day-to-day Christian lives. When the groups meet there is the opportunity to show care for one another, to pray with and for each other and to share encouragements as we dig into the Bible together. Why not think about joining one starting this week?
Next Sunday is our Remembrance Day service. This starts with a parade arriving outside the church and the Last Post and minutes silence at 11am. The wreaths of poppies will then be laid, and people will be invited into the church for our service. This year we are being joined by the Thanet Big Sing Community Choir, who sang at the Dunkirk Service in May.
Helping set up chairs for Remembrance Service
If you can help set out chairs for the choir from about 10am next Sunday (9th November), then please let Paul or Mark know this Sunday.
Coming Up:
Men’s Group: Film and Chip Night, Wed. 12th Nov., 6:30pm
This one will be in church. The cost is £10 to cover a meal of fish and chips. Please contact Bruce Stokes… 07708 682464 bruce.stokes@btinternet.com for more information.
Christmas Baroque at St. George’s – 18th December, 7pm
The Baroque Collective warmly invites you to the fifth annual Christmas Baroque Concert at St George’s on 18 December at 7pm. This much-loved tradition brings together exquisite seasonal music and community spirit as a part of Christmas tree festival. Tickets: £13 in advance, £15 on the door; free admission for children under 16. Purchase online.
From the Wider Church:
Churches Together in Ramsgate Prayer Breakfast,
This Saturday, 1st November, 9:00-10:00am is the Churches Together Prayer Breakfast at the Salvation Army on Ramsgate High Street.
Thanet Winter Shelter
Some of you will remember that in 2016 the churches in Thanet under the leadership of Ramsgate Salvation Army provided a winter shelter for rough sleepers. This was eventually taken over by the council with government funding. However, there is now a need for the churches to step up again. On Monday 6th October, a winter shelter for rough sleepers at St. Laurence Church Hall was started. Numbers attending are small at present, but expected to grow. Volunteers are urgently needed. If you want to offer some kind of support please go to the Volunteer Portal to sign up: https://portal.thanetsheltersupport.org
World Day of Prayer Planning
If anyone is interested in representing St. Luke’s to help plan for the World Day of Prayer service in March 2026, alongside other churches in Ramsgate, then please let Paul know. There is a meeting on Monday 1st December to begin to plan for this.
Interesting Blogs to Share:
Pathways to Faith
This gives a summary of recent research from the Evangelical Alliance about how people are coming to faith in the UK today. Find out more…The full report can be found here.
Living Virtuously with AI chatbots
AI chatbots have become part of our everyday lives, whether on our smartphones, in the workplace, or even on a church website. They are an impressive simulacrum of human cognition and their seeming endless knowledge, authoritative outputs and friendly behaviour is alluring and sucks us into deeper engagement. This paper explores the strength and weaknesses of AI chatbot technology, how it may shape us and how we can live virtuously as Christians with these applications and avoid being nudged into unhealthy habits by our vices.
Issues raised by AI chatbots with respect to pursuing virtue, and avoiding being drawn toward our vices, are explored in the paper across six aspects of humanness: moral agency; truth and reality; cognition and creativity; embodied relationships; freedom and privacy; and dignity of work.
What’s On – a page which lets you know what is happening this week and gives information about upcoming events.
Notices – You can read the latest notices on this page.
Sermons – Read a transcript of a recent sermon or watch the YouTube version recorded at St. Luke’s. You can also listen to the sermon through the podcast website castbox.
Safeguarding Training
If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.
If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@churchramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.
Luke 18:9-14 The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
King David was political leader, royalty, celebrity musician and military hero all rolled up in one. God chose him to establish the kingdom of Israel, which he did with great courage and faith.
Later in life, David failed spectacularly. He committed adultery, with one of his top soldier’s wives and to cover it up arranged for the soldier to be murdered. He thought he had got away with it, but God saw and God was angry. There were consequences for his crimes, including the death of one son and the rebellion of another. Yet, God forgives him. Nathan the prophet tells David, “The LORD has taken away your sin!”
How can God take away the sin of an adulterer and murderer? He does so, when the person in question comes to God in full acknowledgement of the reality of their sin and throws themselves on God’s mercy. The verse above, is the start of the Psalm in which David does just this in response to his sin.
God does not say that these sins do not matter – they are clear breaches of the Ten Commandments. The New Testament makes clear that a price has to be paid for sin and shows us how God himself pays the price through the death of his Son. So it is that when we acknowlege the seriousness of our sin and throw ourselves solely on God’s mercy made available by the cross, that we, like David, can have our sins taken away.
Paul Worledge
Key Notices:
Clocks Going Back
Remember the clocks go back this weekend, which means you have an extra hour in bed on Saturday night. Don’t turn up to church an hour early!
Consultation Meetings – Ramsgate Plan for Neighbourhoods
The council are holding a number of consultation meetings about the Ramsgate Plan for Neighbourhoods programme, which involves spending a £20million grant from the government to improve the town over the next 10 years.
You can read more about this and see a full list of meetings and how to book to come on this website.
Time and date
Group
Location
Friday 24th (4 – 6pm)
Shop Users in SEK shop Open workshop
St George’s Church Hall
Saturday 25th (12 – 3pm)
Community Soup (open drop-in session)
St George’s Church (Soup and Cake)
Coming Up:
Light Party – Friday 31st October, 4:30-6:00pm
Our alternative to Halloween. A party event for all ages. This annual event is great fun and a good way to provide a positive alternative to the darkness that is the focus of Halloween celebrations. Do come and encourage both church and non-church friends to come. Everyone welcome and all is free.
If you would like to volunteer with running an activity, then please speak to Tonya or sign one of the lists at the back of church. We especially need people to sign up to offer to bring food for the event. Please do that this Sunday!
Christianity Explored – Starting – November
We are planning to run a trial version of the soon to be published new Christianity Explored in November and early December. This course is for you:
if you are interested in Christianity or new to faith
are looking to be baptised or confirmed
have questions about faith or want a refresher of the basics
Filling in this form will help us to plan at what time of the week it is best to run the course or courses. It expresses and interest not a commitment to attend. Please fill in the form by the end of this Sunday, so we can plan when best to run the courses.
Life Groups – Small Groups relaunched in November
We are renaming our small groups, ‘Life Groups’. These groups, for up to twelve people, are to enable regular meeting outside of normal services to support and encourage each other in our day-to-day Christian lives. When the groups meet there is the opportunity to show care for one another, to pray with and for each other and to share encouragements as we dig into the Bible together. Why not think about joining one at the start of next month? Have a chat with Paul to find out more or fill in this form to express interest.
From the Wider Church:
Thanet Winter Shelter
Some of you will remember that in 2016 the churches in Thanet under the leadership of Ramsgate Salvation Army provided a winter shelter for rough sleepers. This was eventually taken over by the council with government funding. However, there is now a need for the churches to step up again. On Monday 6th October, a winter shelter for rough sleepers at St. Laurence Church Hall was started. Numbers attending are small at present, but expected to grow. Volunteers are urgently needed. If you want to offer some kind of support please go to the Volunteer Portal to sign up: https://portal.thanetsheltersupport.org
ACTS newsletter
The latest newsletter from ACTS is available to read on the World Mission Desk or using these two links: page 1, page 2. There is also an Update evening for ACTS on Monday 24th November, 7pm at St. Philip’s Church, Palm Bay. See poster for details.
World Day of Prayer Planning
If anyone is interested in representing St. Luke’s to help plan for the World Day of Prayer service in March 2026, alongside other churches in Ramsgate, then please let Paul know.
Interesting Blogs to Share:
This week, a couple of stories of Christian faith today, from around the world:
Church on the Move in North India
Eddie and George are like a modern-day Paul and Barnabas. They take God’s word to the very edges. They share the gospel, pastor, lead and disciple followers of Christ in situations where traditional church approaches cannot work. Read more (10 mins)
Have you seen the man in white?
Many people in North Africa and the Middle East are having dreams of a man in white. For some this is the first step in a journey to faith. Read more…
Weekly Calendar
Sunday 26th – Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity
Eucharist – (St George’s, 9:30am), Reading: Luke 18:9-14
What’s On – a page which lets you know what is happening this week and gives information about upcoming events.
Notices – You can read the latest notices on this page.
Sermons – Read a transcript of a recent sermon or watch the YouTube version recorded at St. Luke’s. There are now videos for all the sermons over the summer.
Safeguarding Training
If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.
If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@churchramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.
Finally, let’s rejoice that we have such a wonderfully gracious heavenly Father.
As Christians we have a lot to celebrate. However, we do not like celebrating the things associated with darkness and wickedness, as is common at Halloween. So, we are throwing an alternative to a Halloween Party, a Light Party.
All are welcome, although children should be accompanied by a parent or carer. You are free to dress up, but not in anything scary. There will be games, food, craft , treats and other fun activities, along with a reminder of some the truths that Christians celebrate.
So join us at St. Luke’s Church (on the corner of Hollicondane Road and St. Luke’s Avenue) on Friday 31st October from 4:30-6pm.
We are excited to be running an early version of the new Christianity Explored course in November and December. This course is perfect for those who are exploring whether the Christian faith is for them, are new to faith and wanting to understand the basics or just need a refresher. It is also great preparation for baptism or confirmation.
Join us as over seven sessions we look at Mark’s gospel in the Bible, watch videos and discuss your questions about faith. All are welcome.
We are going to offer a choice of three courses all hosted
at St. Luke’s Vicarage:
Sunday afternoons from 2nd November, 5-6:30pm (13-18 year olds only)
Monday evenings from 3rd November, 7:30-9:00pm
Thursday mornings from 6th November, 11:30-1:00pm
If you are interested in attending, then please press the button below to fill
Luke 18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.”
4 ‘For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!”’
6 And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’
The Obvious Parable: The Persistent Widow and her Prayer
Introduction and Story
Steve Coneys introduced himself to the congregation and online viewers
I don’t generally pray with lists or prayer diaries…Do any of you?
But I do pray for Open Doors, so I hear the very often the raw cry from the heart of our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters around the world. But that cry really lands when you know someone. Recently a friend of mine told me of his own experience. When as a teenager he was on a bus:
Steve told a story of a young person surviving the massacre of Christians on a bus, where any Muslims had been told to get off before the remaining Christians were killed. At each stage of this dreadful process his friend said, ‘No one said anything’….
I suppose when we pray for people with stories like that we are saying something about their suffering. And standing with them in prayer.
That is almost certainly the context for this parable. By the time Luke wrote his gospel, Christians were experiencing persecution. So, the parable emphasises the need to pray always and not give up, and the widow’s persistent demand for justice.
Paul Worledge tells me you are near the end of series of straightforwardly wonderful parables from Luke like the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Also, some less straightforward ones like The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (who does wrong but is commended by Jesus).
You’ll have seen that usually with parables there is an element of surprise where things are shown to be not what we would expect (like in Luke’s story of The Good Samaritan in chapter 10, where the surprise is that the Samaritan is the righteous neighbour, not the priest or the Levite.
Next week is the final one in the series: the great Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector – one which definitely works in the classic way.
This one, I have called The Obvious Parable: The Persistent Widow and her Prayer
Obvious? Because the very first verse says:
18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
The cat is out the bag. Surely there is nothing more to say!
The potential trap with that is where someone like me comes along and so emphasises that we should always pray and not give up that it guilt trips us. Because so many of us struggle with prayer – don’t we?
So we go home feeling worse than when we got here. And that helps no one.
Because church is the Grace Zone. Where we experience God’s mercy and overflowing love, which makes us better people than we were before. So we go home feeling better than when we arrived, not worse. Even when God’s mercy and love – being so radical – is challenging.
I’ll say something practical about how we can learn to be even more faithful and persistent in prayer at the end, as a take away.)
What else can we find in this parable?
As well as the teaching that we should always pray and not give up?
Justice is emphasised
3 “Grant me justice against my adversary.”
7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.
If, by the time Luke is writing this up, the church is experiencing persecution, this is why fairness or justice is emphasised. But
The parable is like a Cartoon
But finally (the judge) said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!”’ (Peter emphasised ‘bothering’ beautifully in the reading. 😊)
Or it could be translated she might come and slap me in the face!
Our Rabbi Jesus is telling us is: if persistence pays off in this cartoonish story, where this disgraceful and pathetic judge isn’t interested in serving justice, how much more is persistence due in prayer when we come before our loving and compassionate God?
Indeed, God’s character is implied
7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? (’Will he not delay long?’ NRSV)
That very last phrase (‘keep putting them off’) is hard to translate. The word used by Luke is often translated ‘patience’ or ‘longsuffering’. It is a compound word, with two parts. It literally means: ‘He pushes anger far away’. This tells us something important about who God is. (This insight comes from Kenneth Bailey.)
Just because we are being treated badly – let’s imagine we are being bullied – and we feel angry – and it’s not an ego-driven anger, but a right-thinking anger – that doesn’t mean that in the rest of life we are as pure as the driven snow either. For us, who are in Christ, God is love and only love because he pushes his anger far away in Jesus – who dies for our sins and rises again that we may have new life in him.
In that way this parable is very clear. God is our faithful God of love and justice.
Isaiah 61.8 says ‘I, the LORD, love justice. This like saying ‘God is justice, like we often say, ‘God is love’.
61.1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor
These are no random verses because in this same gospel (in chapter 4) they are the verses Jesus adopts to describe his own mission.
And, a little bit more below the surface…
A woman is the hero
Middle Eastern culture was then, as it is now, in certain respects, one of deference and respect towards women. (I am not saying in all respects.)
Who are then protected – and can get away with more than men.
In the parable, a persistent man would have been removed at once, possibly very forcibly.
But not a woman.
This is why it was the women who gathered around the cross of Jesus at the end. Any men would have been arrested. (John, the beloved disciple in John’s gospel, got a free pass, as he was both known to the High Priest (Jn 18.15) and younger.)
So, this woman models for all of us confident, persistent prayer.
(My then vicar said to me, 40 years ago, ‘The church will be renewed through the prayers of faithful women’. I have not seen anything to counter that claim. A challenge to some of us men. 😊)
So persistence in prayer is often needed
Keeping praying about the same thing is the thing to do, right up to the point there is an answer. If God says ‘no’ or provides a way forward different from the one we were planning on, as faithful pray-ers we say ‘Thank you Lord, your will be done’. But up to that point persisting in prayer is part of being faithful.
Unlike in the parable, we pray from within that relationship of love – covenanted loving-kindness – with our heavenly Father.
The final note of this parable: we have hope
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Martin Luther King could easily have added, ‘And towards the Kingdom of God’. History is not random and it has an end goal, in the Kingdom of justice and love. God will bring about justice for his chosen ones (‘putting his anger far away’) as he reaches out to us in love. But:
We need to stay on our toes
Because of that wistful final sentence, ‘When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’
Will he find faith here, among us?
Here’s the practical thing, the take away
Which works for Prayer and any spiritual practice (such as Bible reading, coming to church, serving, being in a small group, etc.)
To be faithful in prayer, and persistent, and to be changed in the process, our prayer needs to become our daily habit. Like brushing your teeth is a daily habit…and you feel bad if you forget. ☹
So how does prayer become habitual, so that it changes us and becomes part pf us? The 80% rule.
Let’s say your hope is to pray for 10 minutes every day.
If in practice you pull it off 80% of the time:
that plan is right for you
it will become your habit, so that when you miss it you feel you’re missing out
it will change you as a person so that it becomes deeply part of who you are
In that way the Spirit is at work in you
If in practice you don’t pull it off 80% of the time:
that plan – 10 minutes a day, every day – is not right for you at this time
There’s no guilt about this. You just need to set a more modest target which does work for you 80% of the time. 5 minutes? 2 minutes?
This this means that we change with the reality and rhythm of our lives. What I can do now is very different from when I was the Dad of 3 children under 5 – let alone what my wife could do then! So we change.
When we do hit our target 80% of the time, the habit grows, prayer becomes more ‘us’, who we are, and we become more thirsty for God. The godly habit then can flex and grow as you are led by the Spirit.
Then we will be those who are faithful and persist in prayer, as the parable says.
That way, when the Son of Man comes…he will find faith on earth.
Pie Factory Music and St George’s are teaming up for another gala fundraiser on Saturday 8th November in St George’s Church. The evening features alumni from Pie’s Emerging Artists programme, set in our beautiful church in the heart of Ramsgate town centre.
Taking to the stage are Char.B, Claire Pitt Wigmore, Zico, Aaron and Evan Williams (who recently toured with The Libertines), with special guest Kingfisher. Each will perform their signature styles, from singer-songwriter to jazz, rap and soul.
The immersive pairing of young musical talent with community togetherness is set to thrill, with all proceeds going towards Pie Factory Music and emergency repairs to the Vestry roof of St George’s.
With funding provided by the Diocese of Canterbury, Project 200 is a five-year regeneration project leading up to the 200th Anniversary of St George’s Church in 2027. Now nearly three years into the project, the church has been opening up to the wider community in Ramsgate, with events and projects outside of Christian worship.
This year’s Raise the Roof is also generously supported by Ramsgate Town Council.
St George’s regeneration officer Jemima Brown says: – ‘St George’s Church is delighted to be hosting artists from Pie Factory Music in our beautiful building. It will be fantastic to have young local talent showcased in the church.
Pie’s Music & Creative Arts Project Manager Moa Norrsell Fahlander says “We’re delighted to be returning to this beautiful building to showcase the talent of these young Kent musicians. It feels ever more important to demonstrate the power of music to bring people together. We can’t wait to see you there.”
Technical production is being provided by Matt Smith and Pie Factory Music alumni, Sound Engineer James Brown, who gained a level 3 MOCN NVQ in Music Business in 2007 with support from Pie.
Have Your Say – come along to the St George’s workshops and drop in sessions
Thanet District Council are holding a number of consultation meetings about the Ramsgate Plan for Neighbourhoods programme, which involves spending a £20million grant from the government to improve the town over the next 10 years.
You can read more about this and see a full list of meetings and how to book to attend on this website. St. George’s will be hosting some of these meetings and there will be refreshments available. See below for the session which start on Saturday 18th October:
Time and date
Group
Location
Saturday 18th(12 – 3pm)
Community Soup (Open drop-in session)
St George’s Church
Tuesday 21st (4 – 7pm)
Community Meal (Closed – meal volunteers and attendees only)
How do you see yourself? What labels would you give to yourself?
The BBC show ‘Who do you think you are?’ answers the question by looking at people’s ancestry. Who they are descended from. It sees our identity as being linked with our parents and their parents and so on. Our identity, it claims is rooted in our family relationships.
So, are we defined by our genealogy? People today, often prefer to see themselves as self-defined. But there is no escaping our family relationships. In fact the New Testament has two genealogies for Jesus’ human family.
The genealogy of Jesus in Luke, goes back to Adam and finishes:
“… the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”
There is a sense in which Adam is seen as the son of God. This also connects with the idea in Genesis 1, that we are created in the image of God. The same word is used to describe how Adam’s son, Seth is connected to Adam:
“When Adam had lived one hundred thirty years, he became the father of a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:3)
In other words, the image is passed on from one generation to the next. We are all in the image of God, because we are all descended from Adam. We are also all children of God, because we are descended from Adam.
As Christians, this is doubly true, because through Jesus we are re-adopted into God’s family. Indeed, Jesus taught us to pray to God, as ‘Our Father…’ explicitly affirming that we are his children.
But do you see yourself first and foremost as a child of God? Do you think God sees you in that way? Do you think of God as your Father? If so, what kind of Father do you think he is? What kind of Father does Jesus say he is?
To answer that question Jesus tells a story. It is one of his most famous parables and is normally called the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Context and Key
Jesus introduces the three key characters right at the start of the Parable: “There was a man who had two sons.”
The first part of the story focuses on the younger son, who runs away with his share of money, squanders it all and becomes destitute before finally returning home to see if he can get any help from his father.
The second part then focusses on the father’s reaction to his younger son’s homecoming, which is to welcome him with open arms and throw a huge part to celebrate his return.
The third part of the story then focuses on the older son, who is refusing to join the party and is angry that his father has welcomed his younger brother with such enthusiasm when he had acted so badly.
As we have seen with parables like this, it is important to understand the key. In this case, who does the father, the younger son and the older son represent?
The context helps us here. This story comes in the context of Jesus welcoming tax-collectors and sinners to hear him, whilst the Pharisees are grumbling that Jesus is welcoming such people.
It is clear then, that the younger son represents the sinners and tax-collectors. In fact, the tax-collectors were despised because they had betrayed their own nation of Jews and sided with the non-Jewish or gentile Romans in order to make money. The younger son, grabs the money from his father and runs off with it to a gentile land, a fact underlined by the fact that he ends up feeding pigs, that Jews would never own.
It is also clear that the older son represents the Pharisees. Both the Pharisees and the older son are grumbling that people who have behaved wickedly are being welcomed enthusiastically.
And so, the father in the story most naturally represents God. Jesus, who teaches us to call God, ‘our Father,’ is using this story to teach both the sinners and tax-collectors what kind of Father, this God is. But he is also challenging them to consider how they understand their relationship to God. So let’s look at each in turn.
The Younger Son
At the start of the story, the younger son does not care about his family or his dad. He doesn’t want the family relationships. He just wants the family money. In a move that would have been universally condemned, he asks his father for a share in his inheritance before the father has died or even close to death. And when the father rather surprisingly agrees to the request, rather than farming the land and flocks alongside his father, he sells off the estate and runs away to a foreign land to live it up. In doing so he shows utter contempt to his father and utter contempt to the family’s inheritance.
But life without God, often does not live up to its promise. So, for the younger son. His money soon runs out, and he is left destitute.
The he comes to a realisation. He has nowhere else to turn. So, he hatches a plan. He would go back, acknowledge his wickedness and plead to be treated like a hired man. Notice, that the son, does not plan to return and dare to ask to be treated as a son, but simply as a hired servant. Someone paid by his dad, who could maybe then earn enough money to eventually pay his dad back. That’s the best kind of relationship he thinks he can hope for.
Imagine you were the son, heading home. Wouldn’t you be fearing the utter deserved rejection and judgement of the father? What would you be expecting.
The Father
The story, then switches to the perspective of the Father. Will he reject and judge the son, as he deserves? Will he accept his plan to become a hired hand and pay back the money he took?
The answer to both those questions is, “No!” He neither rejects his son, or takes him back as a hired hand. Rather, he reinstates him as his son.
The father runs to greet him as soon as he sees him. Then before the son even has a chance to offer to be a hired servant, he calls to his servants to bring out a robe for him to wear, a ring to put on his finger, and sandals on his feet. All symbols to show that he is to be treated as a son.
Then he throws an enormous feast, which involved slaughtering the fattened calf. This would have involved the whole village being invited to celebrate together the return of his son.
Why does he do this? He tells us: “For this son of mine, was dead and is alive again, he was lost, but now he is found.” (Luke 15:23)
Notice, the emphasis on the relationship: “this son of mine.” Here is the utter joy of restoration and reconciliation, when a parent is reunited with a child.
For nearly twenty years, the story of the loss of Madeleine McCann has been in the news. Her parents still desperately hoping that she might somehow be found alive again. Imagine the ecstatic joy they would have if their daughter did turn up and they were reconciled once more.
That Jesus says, is what it is like for God, when people repent when they return to him. This is the kind of father, Jesus means when he talks about God as ‘our Father.’
But this is not easy for everyone to understand.
The Older Son
Let’s turn to the older son. Remember he represents the Pharisees who are grumbling about Jesus welcoming back the sinners.
Many people instinctively feel sorry for the older son or relate to him. After all, the son who has treated his dad and family so badly is being welcomed back with a lavish celebration. Isn’t his father condoning wrong behaviour? Surely, it’s no wonder the older son becomes angry.
But the problem is that the older son, has stopped seeing his brother and dad as family members. He only sees right and wrong, crime and lack of punishment.
Notice how the older son speaks to his dad, when he comes out to plead with him to come and join the celebration. First of all, although the younger son begins his speech to his dad, with, ‘Father’, and the father begins his speech to the older son a bit later, with the words, ‘My son’, the older son, does not address his father at all.
Then look at how he describes his relationship to his dad. “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.” He sees himself not as a son, but as a slave. That’s one step below the ‘hired hand’ that his younger brother had hoped to become, a dogsbody that is not even paid to work for his dad. He may not have squandered his dad’s money, or been disloyal to the family business, on the surface he looked like a good son, but the inner reality was, that he saw himself as a slave and his relationship with his dad not as a father to a son, but as a boss to an employee.
Finally, look at how he describes his brother to his dad, “This son of yours.” He recognises the family relationship of the dad to the younger son, but distances himself from them.
The older son, in his desire to be seen as the more righteous one, has lost touch with the heart of God. In so doing he denies his own status as his Father’s son and instead just sits in judgement on his brother and his father. He has forgotten who he is.
Who do you think you are?
Jesus tells this story, to show what he means when he calls God, “Our Father.” God is like the Father in this story. But he also tells it to help us ask who we think we are in relation to God.
So, who do you think you are in relation to God?
Maybe you relate to the younger son as one who has always rejected God as in any way important to you, but now you are realising this is no way to live. Now you are wondering whether there may be a way for God to help you, if only you could show you can work for him.
The good news is, that God still sees you as his child. Return to him and he will be absolutely delighted and fully reinstate you as his son or daughter in his family. No need to pay him back, the welcome is full and instant. Just start living as one of the family.
Or maybe you relate to the older son. You struggle with grace. You think life is about right and wrong. You see God as a taskmaster and not as a father. You cannot bring yourself to accept God’s gracious welcome to sinners.
If so, read again what the father says at the end of the story:
“But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'” (Luke 15:32)
Hear once more the father’s invitation to come and join the party, to return to the heart of the family, in tune with God’s love and compassion and welcoming sinners back as your brothers and sisters in Christ.
St. George's Church Ramsgate 
