The Prodigal Son
by Mark Beckwith
Here is an outstanding new resource
from The Rev. Mark Beckwith, whose booklet From Scarcity to Abundance
has been widely used in a multitude of ways for the past two years. A twelve-page
booklet produced in a user-friendly, easy-to-mail format, Stewardship:
The Challenge of the Prodigal Son lends itself well as a tract,
take-home handout for conference or workshop participants, or an enclosure with
a gift or parish mailing. It is also a matchless resource for an Adult Church
School Class, Forum or Study Group, or for the foundation of stewardship Leadership
Team formation or training.
Stewardship: The Challenge
of the Prodigal Son uses Jesus’ wellknown parable to illustrate
the stewardship journey as a path that leads from lust to compassion. As Beckwith
describes the familiar characters of the father and his two sons, we cannot
help but connect their story to the reality of our own lives as stewards:
Each of us has elements of all
three characters. Each of us is lustful and compassionate and self-righteous.
These qualities are part of the compost heap of our souls, and they mix in with
each other, competing for attention and nurture, creating a mix of good, bad
and indifferent in the center of who we are. We need to claim their presence,
and figure out how each of them is acted out in our lives.
The personal challenge is played out globally in the author's timely
metaphor, as the story is expanded beyond the family of the Prodigal
Son himself and into the world:
...father, the one who tells all his children, “All I have is already yours,”
leaves it to those same children to figure out the best way to repent and thus
provide a fairer distribution of the world's resources. There is a lot to figure
out, and a growing urgency to get going on this simple but difficult process.
You will want to read and share Stewardship: The Challenge of the
Prodigal Son with your friends, family and congregation.
This conveniently-sized resource (3-3/4" x 8-1/2") can be easily
mailed to all parish households in standard #10 envelopes.
for merchandise (donations & memberships excepted) 