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For a man struggling with alcohol and AIDS

A Lost Soul Returns Home

Titus 2

Tommy had a hard life. He struggled with alcohol and contracted a terrible disease that made the last months of his life pretty miserable. But I am guessing that his biggest struggle was a spiritual struggle. It seems to me from what I have heard that Tommy was never really sure who he was. He never managed to discover the wonderful truth that God was, in fact, his Father; a Father who loved him. So like the young son in the parable Jesus told, he journeyed to a far country and spent, not so much all his wealth, I don't know a thing about his finances, but he did spend something, he spent himself. He wandered, lost, giving himself to drink, to drugs, and to a lifestyle that did nothing to help him get found. And he ended up a long way from his Father, living in a spiritual pigsty.

I don't mean that to put Tommy down. Many of us have been to that pigsty. I spent a lot of time there as a young man. It's not a condemnation, just a recognition, that he never really found what he was looking for. That is a real shame, because I have seen so many people whose lives have gone from lost to found; from pigsty to palace, when they returned to their Father, God. In fact, mine was one such life.

If all we had to go on was what we see in this life, we might well be left here tonight saying, "Poor Tommy. Poor, poor Tommy." He never knew the joy I have known of being unconditionally loved in spite of your sins, and foolish mistakes, and incredible ignorance. He never knew the peace that I have been lucky enough to know; the peace of being sure that God is in control even when things look bleak; even when the enemy is all around. Even in the worst of times the Lord is close by. He has even set up a table, a feast for us, in the presence of our enemies.

Tommy never knew. That would be a great shame if that's all there was. But our God is a great God, and his ways are higher than ours and his justice is beyond ours, and his love infinitely deeper than ours. So while appearances may leave us saying, "Poor Tommy," let's tonight, just for a moment, look beyond this life and what we can see here. Let's look into God's world where love and justice reign hand in hand; where forgiveness fills the air; where the blood of Jesus has banished death forever. Let's look behind the curtain of this life and see the journey Tommy took when AIDS ended his life in this world. Let's look.

I see him walking. He's going home. He really doesn't have any choice. Everybody goes home when this life ends, everybody meets the Father again, and Tommy is nervous. He's wondering what his Father is going to do with him. After all, Tommy did some things he's not proud of and he knows he turned his back on the Father for much of his life. He's wondering. He's anxious. He's even a bit afraid.

But maybe, I don't know, just maybe ... I think I can see it. I can see Tommy coming over the last hill before the Father's house. And I can see his Father, seeing him, and running to him and embracing him. And Tommy, he could push him away again, but that's not what I see. I see Tommy crumbling in his Father's arms and weeping with his whole heart. Partly from sorrow at the ways he had hurt the Father, and partly from joy at having been embraced by the loving arms of God.

And I think I can hear the Father say to the others gathered around, all who have huge smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes, "Get my son, Tommy, a beautiful robe, and one of my rings, and some new shoes. And make a feast for him; a feast for Tommy. For this son of mine was lost, but now he is found. He was dead, but now he is alive forever more." Amen.