Like many others, I have been quite taken with Timothy Keller’s new book The Prodigal God, which I considered briefly here a few weeks ago. I am ever impressed at the ability of this story to challenge us in so many different ways.
So it was only fitting that we downloaded two of Greg Boyd’s sermons from Woodland Hills preached earlier in November which deal with the same topic. As Greg points out, if the father in the story had simply pursued justice, no one would remember this story today. (I would have added that no gospel writer would have included it then either.)
One thing I like about Greg’s preaching is that he doesn’t tell you all he knows. This is a guy with such intellectual depth that I recently gave up trying to follow a particular discussion at his Christus Victor Ministries blog. To adapt a term from television production, he leaves enough “intellectual headroom” that you know he’s done his homework, but doesn’t lose the common touch. (The second part of the series includes a hilarious summer job story from Greg’s student days that is such a perfect fit to the parable under discussion.)
Anyway, all this to say, read Timothy’s book, and listen to Greg’s sermon. To do the latter go to the Woodland Hills download page, and select the sermons for November 9 and November 16, 2008. You can either listen to on streaming audio (allow 40 minutes of uninterrupted listening per sermon) or copy it to a disc as we did for those long car trips. You’re bound to read or hear things about this so-familiar Bible passage that you haven’t heard or read before.
Pictures: left: Greg Boyd; right: Timothy Keller book
