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Prayer: Open our eyes that we may see glimpses of truth you have for us
Open our ears that we may hear whispers of love and grace and embrace
Open our heart that we may know our home is with you here and now always.

First—I am so grateful to be here facing all of you. It’s a big gift for me to be back—to be home again. I don’t feel like the prodigal daughter in that I’ve been away squandering the inheritance of friendships and spiritual treasures I received here—instead I feel like I needed more schooling/more heart work in order to be here with you again. It’s always been my dream to work at CCC—not as interim but as long as we both need to be with one another. So—I’ve just been extraordinarily grateful, joyful, at times weepy to know I’m home.

As the saying goes—we never stand alone—we always arrive on the shoulders of many people—those shoulders which have held me—many are right here in this sanctuary. This morning I want to acknowledge them—my parents—and their parents—I carry all of them with me; my husband and daughters who accompanied me today—they often carry me with their love, generosity and joy. My teachers/colleagues—Jim Todhunter who so dearly encourages me to believe in my own gifts—and boldly go where I need to go. John touchton—who always surprises me with his musical gifts and contagious laughter—we often get in trouble. My mindfulness teacher, also ordained by the venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, Mitchell Ratner, who tells me stories, accepts me fully and has modeled mindful living. And finally friends who have been with me through thick and thin. Most importantly this body of love--you. One member of this congregation once said, "If this god thing is an illusion, this church thing isn’t." So I thank you church!

What a great story this week’s lectionary provided for all us as a welcoming home ceremony. We know this parable—even most non-biblical readers have heard of it. And we’ve all probably been able to connect with one or more of the characters at different times of our lives. It’s a beautiful story which has been painted and written about down through the centuries. It’s actually called "the gospel within the gospel" because of its’ rich descriptions not only of God but of us. I chose to focus on the elder son for this morning.

The elder son has basically been the loyal son all along—as I’ve reflected on him—he is the one I relate to the most. He stayed home—he did all the right stuff—without any complaints. He really got shafted—the inheritance is supposed to go to the oldest son—and he decides how the money gets disseminated….instead ½ went to the younger son.

The older son stays in the kingdom so to speak. (Keep in mind Jesus is telling this parable more than likely to the scribes and Pharisees—those who are the keepers of the kingdom—the ministers/the rabbis.)

What struck me this time in reading (largely because I come with different lens –the lens of being involved with the practice of mindfulness for the last many years.) It dawned on me that this character is all of us—who are living somewhat ordinary clean lives—doing our duties—but are bored, depressed, angry. We are doing all the right things so why isn’t life better, richer/happier?

We are missing out on precisely what the father says to the older son—I’ve been with you always. Where have you been? Are you alive/awake in there? We haven’t been really mindfully at "home" with God. Yet I think we did leave—we leave all the time. And it’s just because we aren’t really aware of the gifts that are here. We are always looking there and yonder (without even outwardly rebelling) for our happiness. We are god’s children and god is right here…the greener pasture is here.

We are alive and found—and the prodigal son gets it because he really lost it. He went so far away he discovered how good it was—we never left so we haven’t discovered how the here and now in god’s presence is so good.

The father says to the son—you are always with me and all that is mine is yours. Wow. That is what god is saying to all of us NOW.

So how do we become aware of the treasures that are here right here

How do we live in each moment—alive/awakened enlightened—how do we do it especially when this moment seems very hard and who is this God we are supposed to be at home with—

1) How do we become awakened to each moment?

This is called the practice of mindfulness. My teacher, Mitchell Ratner, defines mindfulness in his manuscript-soon to be a book called "Smiling Like A Buddha: "Mindfulness is our capacity to be fully present in our own lives, to be more fully aware of what we are doing as we are doing it. He goes on to say…all of us are mindful sometimes. We are aware of the warm water as we step into the shower. The sparkle in the eyes of someone genuinely glad to see us. However, often it is a fleeting awareness…after a moment of recognition our mind turns away, perhaps to reconsider an event that has occurred in the past or to fantasize about something that has not happened. Our awareness is like our recognition of the yellow road lines as we travel down the highway. We are aware, but in a distant disconnected way."

Just like the elder son had been—until his younger brother came home and he awakened to something—his own anger/jealousy.

Most all of us aren’t inclined to be mindful—with the exception of children who live very much in the present moment. We aren’t taught how to be mindful—in actually we are trained to be unmindful—fast food, multitasking, using cars when we could walk, "we are a society that loves to multitask—to be doing one thing at a time mindfully can almost be characterized as lazy. Ever feel that way. When I first started meditating 10 years ago it was a struggle to sit still. I would almost laugh at myself and at the practice to think that it would actually help my life when what I really needed to be doing at that moment was to wash the dishes, clean the house—I could get a head of my list of things to do—instead of just sitting here.

My lack of calmness and just willing to be is what Thich Nhat Hahn calls, "Froglessness". Here’s a poem he wrote about that:

The first fruition of the practice
Is the attainment of froglessness.
When a frog is put on the center of a plate,
She will jump out of the plate
After a few seconds.
If you put the frog back again
On the center of the plate
She will again jump out.
You have so many plans.
There is something you want to become.
Therefore you always want to make a leap,
A leap forward.
It is difficult
To keep the frog still
On the center of the plate.
You and I both have Buddha Nature in us.
This is encouraging,
But you and I both have Frog Nature in us.
That is why the first attainment
Of the practice
Froglessness is its name.
So simple—so clear

The father in this parable is saying—I’m always here. So much of what mindfulness is about for me is simple trusting that what is here now is great even when it’s hard. Someone in this church last week wanted me to read a book she found in the children’s library. As a new person in this church, a person "still checking us out" she felt like if we had a book like this on our bookshelves then we must be O.K…. I read it and wanted to share the ending with you.

There are many ways to talk about God.
Does that mean that everything
That everybody ever says about god is right?
Does that mean that god is everything?
Yes! God is everything great and small!
God is everything far away and near.
God is everything bright and dark.
And god is everything in between.
If everything is God
God is the last leaf on a tree,
If everything is God,
God is an elephant crashing through the jungle.
If everything is God,
Then god is the hot wind in the desert,
And God is the freezing snow in the winter,
And God is the big yellow moon.
If everything is God,
Then I am God
You are God
All of us are God.
So when we pray to God
When people of all religions pray to God,
We are really praying for that feeling,
The feeling which connects all of us.
When we pray to god,
We are praying for that feeling of love
To come to us and to everybody we know,
Maybe even to all those people we don’t know,
So that we can all be happy together, or apart.
And if you really want to pray to God,
You can just close your eyes anywhere,
And think about that feeling of God
Than makes you part of everything and everybody.
If you can feel that feeling of God
And everybody else can feel that feeling of God,
Then we can all become friends together,
And we can really understand,
What is God?
The book ends this way and I would like, if you want to follow it’s instructions: (ring bell)
So, if you really want to feel god,
You can close your eyes now,
And listen to your breath go slowly in and out,
And think how you are connected to everything,
Even if you are not touching everything.
Try to feel how you are connected to your dad and how you are part of your mom.
Try to feel how are part of your whole family,
Like your brother or sister, your grandparents, your aunt or uncle, cousins even your friends.
And try to feel how all of those people,
Are part of a whole bigger family,
And how all the families of the world,
Even those we can’t see or touch
Are really a part of you and your family.
And if you start to feel God like that,
Then maybe you will soon feel the whole answer,
To that very, very big question that everyone asks,
"What is God".
Mindfulness is about trusting that presence of God in all of us and in all of the world.

Jesus leaves us hanging at the end of the story. We don’t know if the oldest son will enter the party or not. I believe he does for something awakened in him—we can be awakened with great losses with powerful feelings—god is calling us to be reconciled with ourselves, with the moment, as thay would call it the best two words ever are NOW WOW.

II Corinthians talks about our being reconciled—we already are—the moment already is here filled with God. And once we become mindful any moment—we acknowledge our at one ment with the earth, ourselves and each other. Welcome-you have arrived. Now. You are at home wow. Amen….

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