The Rev. emmanuel Reinbold reads the story of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 14, verses 11-32, Friday at the Community Lenten services at Memorial United Methodist Church. (Dawn Cribbs/McCook Daily Gazette) [Click to enlarge]

The Rev. Emmanuel Reinbold, pastor at First Church of the Nazarene, began to plumb the depths of his father's love when he was 18, coming home from his first year of college for the Easter break.

Unable to keep the emotion from cracking his voice, he related the 1,200 mile journey home to a crowd of 126 Friday afternoon during the Community Lenten service at Memorial United Methodist Church.

"I was about 15 minutes from home," he said, with a mischevious grin, "when I decided to pull a prank on my dad."

He pulled off the highway and called home. "Dad," he said, "I'm lost."

His dad immediately asked him about street signs, highway numbers, anything that would provide a clue to his whereabouts. He complied, and then, just to keep the joke going, made up some highway numbers. His dad, growing a little frantic because the map he held didn't list any of those numbers, asked him again, "Son, where are you?"

Reinbold couldn't carry the joke any further, and quickly assured his dad that he was 15 minutes out and as soon as he grabbed an ice cream cone, he'd be home.

When he pulled onto the street where his family lived, he saw him.

"There was my dad. Standing there, at the end of the sidewalk, waiting for me."

Pausing to take a deep breath, Reinbold confessed, "Every time I tell this story, most recently at my dad's funeral, the emotions well up. He loved me. He wanted me home. He waited for me to come safely home."

It was this perspective that Reinbold focused on when looking at the parable of what is known as the "prodigal son."

"If you look at it just from the prodigal's viewpoint," Reinbold warned, "you may miss the point."

We all have been prodigals at one time or another in our lives, said Reinbold. We have all wandered away, we all have experienced the humility that the son did when "doing things our way" didn't work out as well as we thought it would. We all have taken the long road home, each step filled with trepidation, fearful of the reception that waits for us. And, because God is a loving Father to all of his children, we all know the joy of feeling our Father's arms around us.

And, according to Reinbold, we all have experienced the jealousy and resentment that mark the elder brother's reaction to the homecoming celebration. In fact we have to be on guard against that particular stumbling block when someone new comes to church, he warned.

"Though we cry out 'we have what you want,' when someone does come in and suddenly becomes the center attention jealousy is the natural reaction.

"Testimony meetings become bragging sessions. And sometimes, the church is actually rude to newcomers, treating them badly out of jealousy, and when they leave, we console ourselves with the thought, 'See, they weren't committed anyway,'" Reinbold explained.

It is easy to identify with the younger son, Reinbold said, and with the elder son, if we are brutally honest with ourselves.

But let's not miss another point of this parable, perhaps the principal point.

There at the gate stands the father, looking hard down the road, waiting for the son. The son who couldn't get out of there fast enough. The son who demanded his inheritance. The son who wanted his own way.

And still he waits. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Luke 15:20)

It is the love of the Father, when the lost come home, when the one who was dead is alive again, it is the incomprehensible love of the Father, that we are to celebrate.

Reinbold closed his message with a prayer that "believers in McCook would be aware of and guided to bring the lost ones back to you and back to your love."

The Rev. Allan Jackson, pastor at First Baptist Church, served as the worship leader. Merlin Brown sang "Healer of Broken Hearts." His wife, Virginia accompanied him on the piano. Evie Caldwell was the organist.

Free will offerings were accepted at the entrances to the sanctuary to support the work of the Red Willow County Ministerial Association. The women's ministry from First Church of the Nazarene provided an array of soups, sandwiches and desserts for the luncheon that followed the lesson. A free will offering was collected to help defray the cost of the meal.

The Community Lenten services continue Friday, 12:05 p.m., at Memorial United Methodist Church with the Rev. Gary Brethour, pastor at St. Patrick's Catholic Church presenting the homily on the parable of the dishonest steward.