Formations, De-formations, Re-formations & Trans-formations 

~ Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 ~

Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church 

London, Ontario, March 14, 2010

(stage center: intro)

Frick and Frack were the stage names of two Swiss skaters who came to the U.S. in the 1930s and joined the Ice Follies as comedy ice skaters. They were famous for skating in Alpine Lederhosen and performing eccentric tricks on the ice, including one called the “cantilever”, in which they would twist and bend their legs around like rubber, while skating in a spread eagle position. Their characters on the ice were so strangely and humorously interrelated… that it was hard to tell who was who…. So hard that their stage names, “Fick and Frack”, became an English slang term to refer to two people whose characters are somehow so much alike that they are almost indistinguishable.

The famous parable of the so-called “Prodigal Son”, and his “elder brother”, on the other hand, is often told in a way that makes the characters of these two brothers seem like radical opposites. And, actually, the tendency to read the story in only that way, can make us miss one of story’s most important themes. And so, this morning, to help us to listen to this ancient text with a fresh mind, I want to retell it with a new name. So I invite you to just sit back and enjoy the story of "Frick and Frack and their Father."

Now Frick and Frack, although they were brothers, appeared to be very different characters. Almost like oil and water. And their Father, their Father was a very different character indeed. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

(stage left: Frick)

The story begins with Frick. Frick was the youngest of the two sons. And he had a very youthful disposition...

Life, for young Frick, had its ups and downs of course. Frick was no different than you and I when it came to that. Even in his young life, there were times of gain and times of loss. Times of praise and times of blame. There were periods of popularity when "everyone knew his name" and periods of obscurity when no one seemed to. Such was his life. And Frick was very frustrated with it, because it seemed that he didn't have much control over these ups and downs. If only he had more control, he surely would pick only life's 'ups', and not the 'downs'. But it seemed that there was no such option for Frick -- both the pleasant and the unpleasant seem to have been woven right into the very fabric of his young existence.

What Frick really wanted more than anything else in life was: a never-ending adventure... He wanted to always be seeing new sights, feeling new feelings, and just abandoning himself to having a very good time..... all while he was still young and passionate enough to enjoy it!!! Frick wanted to be pleased at all times. And who wouldn't?

But there was an obstacle, blocking the fulfillment of Frick's desire... And that obstacle, at least in the mind of Frick, was his Father. Frick believes that his Father plays the key role in how the pleasant and the unpleasant get distributed in his life. Maybe this is especially a predicament of children whose parents are wealthy. I'm not sure. But, in any case, Frick imagines that his Father surely had the power, if only he cared to use it, to set him up with a life that was all pleasure and no pain, all gain and no loss, and so on. But he is certain that his Father is unwilling to do so unless his hand is somehow forced. And so... this becomes quite a predicament....feeling convinced that your life is in the hands of one who does not have your best interest at heart? It is an awful place to be.

 
And so the real question for Frick in the story becomes: "How will I respond to this tension, this conflict between what I most desire in life, and the obstacle to that desire?

 
Frick reasons to himself, "If my Father truly loved me, he would freely give me the life that I want...... But he clearly doesn't care.... and so if I am to have the life I long for, I have to take it by force, I have to demand it, as my birthright... even if it costs me my relationship with him... for, after all, what does it matter anyway...? If he doesn't really care about my happiness in life, why not cut the chord? At least then I'll have some chance at a good life..."

Or so it seemed... to Frick... And there is a certain logic to it.

(stage right: Frack)

And then there was Frack, Frick's older brother... In Frack, we see what at first glance appears to be a very different set of character dynamics. Frack has a more somber and dutiful disposition. He was "the good son."

 
Life for Frack also had its ups and downs. Times of gain and times of loss. Times of pleasure and times of pain. And Frack, like Frick, was also frustrated, because he didn't have as much control over the ups and downs in his life as he wanted.

 
But Frack was more moderate, more sensible than young Frick was. He wasn't out for some outrageous adventure; All that Frack wanted was the occasional barbecue with his friends, nothing too extravagant. Certainly nothing that would endanger his showing up for work on time the following morning. Certainly not. He just wanted a little more pleasure to balance off the strain and difficulty of his work-life. Who wouldn't?

 
But even though Frack's desires were fairly modest and reasonable….. there was an obstacle, blocking their fulfillment. And, strangely enough, the key obstacle that Frack saw standing in the way of his happiness was his Father..... his Father's inexplicable and maddening reluctance to use his power for the wellbeing of his child.

 
Sounds like Frick, you might be thinking. And you’re right. The only difference is in how Frack responds to this inner tension between his desires and what he perceived as his Father's cold reluctance. His response is quite different. Because Frack knew how to "delay gratification," (which there is certainly something to be said for). And Frack also knew that "you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" . And so, even though Frack, like Frick, believed in his heart that his Father didn't care for him enough to give him the life he wanted, Frack did not allow that inner conviction to show in his outer behavior. Instead he was strategic:

 
He reasons to himself that, "Even though my Father doesn't care enough to give me the life that would please me... I will do things that give him pleasure... no matter how much I would rather not... so that I won't get on his bad side... I’ll cultivate the stingy old goat's favor... and, in the end... he will feel indebted to me, and he will give me what I want…” (Very clever this Frack... not very wise perhaps, but very clever.)

(stage center: Father)

And between these two interesting characters stands the Father.

 
The Father is really getting represented quite poorly by these two, isn’t he? And it's hard for the listener (or reader) to really know whether the father is actually blameworthy or not, because he doesn't say anything! The Father has no lines at all in the story until the very end! You would think it would have been a good idea for him to speak up and reveal his true nature. But, at this point in the story, all we know of the Father is what Frick and Frack imagine him to be. The Father may indeed be watching all of this unfold, but at this point in the story, who he really is remains a Mystery.

 
And within that silence.... what Frick and Frack imagine him to be...emerges…and becomes clear. We discover that, sadly, they don't really know their Father's true character. They don't know him well enough as a person to know how He would think and feel and act, across the different contexts that made up their lives. So, it is through the Father's silence that the character dynamics of Frick and Frack are revealed. And we begin to understand that we are looking at a real relationship problem in this family. Their relationships lacked that quality of mutual depth, respect and honesty, that allows human beings to really flourish.

 
The Father's silence is really quite important to the story. Because, what the Father wants is a full, real, transforming relationship with Frick and Frack. But the Father is also confronted with an obstacle to his desire. The obstacle in the Father’s way is his image within the minds of Frick and Frack. That inner image that they have of him very effectively prevents any healthy relationship from developing... Frick & Frack are each perceiving him to be some All Powerful Person who is controlling their lives... but doesn’t really care for them... doesn’t have their best interests at heart. And so, each in their own way feel betrayed. I mean, really ….that image of theirs doesn’t reflect the kind of Father one wants to get too close to. On the contrary…

 
Clearly these perceptions of who the Father was, which Frick and Frack were carrying around in their minds, were doing damage.... In fact, these Father Images that they had within them turn out to be the real enemies in this story – because they were very actively disturbing the formation of Frick and Frack's characters. Think about it -- How could anyone possibly flourish in a context where they felt dominated by an all-powerful person who was not at all concerned with their wellbeing? Sounds to me like the perfect recipe for suffering.

 
I remember once when I was very young, we had a wooden porch on the back of the house. I was playing one day out there, and I got a very sharp sliver of wood stuck deep within my finger, and it began to throb and hurt. And so I ran into the house, and my mother did the strangest thing. After looking at it very carefully, she got a bowl of water, and placed my hand in the water to soak. And somehow, mysteriously, that sliver, which was quite deeply embedded in the finger... came to the surface until part of it was visible, and then, she took a tweezers and very quickly pulled it out. To me it was a miracle, and I thought that mom was a genius. But, more importantly, I knew that she cared.

Well, in our story, the Father's silence produces a very similar kind of effect as the water did on the sliver. The Father’s silence draws out the toxins in the hearts and minds of Frick & Frack...... those toxic images of who they imagined the Father to be.... are exposed, so that they can be clearly recognized and dealt with.

(stage left: Frick)

Poor Frick... our hearts go out to him... because he really didn't know... how good he had it... he really didn't have a clue how much the Father really loved him.... He was just too convinced that he knew what the Father was all about.

 
Perhaps it was even his inability to perceive the Father's goodness... that made his fantasy that the good life was “out there” somewhere… so terribly irresistible... In any case, Frick clearly didn't have the understanding that he needed to make that big life decision... to give away the treasure of his birthright... for some temporal goods, some experiences that he probably fantasized would last forever...

 
But as wonderful as such fantasies can feel... in the end, it's always reality that wins. And as those temporal goods began to slip through his fingers, Frick was finally left alone... sitting in a big mess... empty handed... and depressed. It's tragic really... how our actions have consequences that so affect us and others….. even when we don't really understand what we're doing...

 
But we have to be careful here to not grieve for Frick more than we really should... Because there is something very paradoxical about his experience of failure and loss. It's not all bad. In fact, as it turns out, this mess that Frick has landed in turns out to be part of the solution to the deepest problem in his life. This pigsty that he landed in becomes for him that very holy place that we sometimes call "the bottom," -- that place where we are no longer capable of denying how vulnerable and in need of help we actually are. It is that place where we finally say "yes" and allow grace to break through and liberate our hearts and minds from the harmful illusions that oppress us.

 
And so right there in the pigsty, a light begins to shine on Frick's illusions about his Father.... and new insights begin to develop... he begins to understand something very significant about the relationship he has had with his Father -- it wasn't real... the Father that Frick imagined that he knew -- the one who didn't love him enough -- only existed in Frick's mind.

 
"But when he came to himself," the text says, "he realized 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger'." And his apathy and depression began to lift enough for him to pick himself up off the ground and start moving in a more sane direction.

 
But Notice: Frick is not out of the woods yet by any means... he is beginning to realize that he misunderstood who the Father really was, and those toxic misunderstandings are beginning to drop away... but he still does not understand who the Father really is in relation to him.

 
And in that less-deluded-but-still-not-fully-aware state of mind, Frick makes a plan: "I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me like one of your hired hands." Frick still cannot imagine a full, warm and loving reception at his return. He assumes a demotion will be required, from son to hired hand.

 
This is very significant... For all his progress, Frick still doesn't have the capacity to call up a truly loving image of his Father. We can only conclude that he has no real experience to draw on, to form such a healing image. His prior experiences with the Father must have been so tainted by that unloving Father image... that he wasn't able to take in the Goodness that was actually there for him... and so now, he lacks the inner resources to envision the Father as anything better than "a non-exploitive Employer." (Still that's way better than his previous image of the Father. At least it gives him enough hope to get his life up off of the ground and heading toward home). But to grow beyond that, Frick needs help. He’s smart, but on his own he still can't rightly identify the particular sliver that's doing the damage.... much less get it out...

(stage center: Father)

"But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran out and threw his arms around him and kissed him." Startled, Frick blurts out the confession that he had probably been rehearsing the whole way: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

 
But before Frick can propose that his Father grant him a second-class status as a hired hand, the Father interrupts, and speaks his first lines in the story:

 
He shouts to his servants, "Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead and is alive again; he was lost and now is found!"

 

Frick was clearly not expecting this kind of reception that expressed how profoundly he was missed and how deeply loved he still is. He is being disappointed, but in a very good way. He is discovering that his Father is radically better than he had always imagined. This kind of encounter is what Frick really needed for that false image of his Father to be dislodged from his heart. It’s a kind of corrective emotional experience… of the Father as He truly is… Now, Frick could finally let down his guard; it was safe to trust, and fully enter in to the relationship with his Father, and begin to recover within it. Now he could truly turn his life around.

(stage right: Frack)

Poor Frack... Our hearts go out to him as well. His younger brother's greatest joy... turns out to be Frack’s greatest despair. Because, well…. "This is just not how things are supposed to happen!!!"

Frack is green with envy, and becoming more and more disfigured by his disgust and rage. He reasons, "I was not the fool in this story; I was clever, and strategic, and compliant, and hard-working! I had a carefully developed plan, (the major details of which were approved by the Father), and I stuck to it!"

 
Sadly, Frack construed this very positive turn of events in such a way that it actually strengthed his conviction that the Father was an uncaring fool who could not be trusted. In the end, he is thoroughly convinced that he has been taken advantage of, and no one can persuade him otherwise.

 
His Father pleads with him to join in the family celebration, but Frack is so full of bile, that all he can say is: "Listen old man! After all I’ve done for you!” (and on, and on, and on…) He just can’t hold the venom in any more.

 
And in his rage he gives us a final portrayal of the uncaring fool of a Father, who still lived in his mind, who Frack's character was still being formed –or rather de-formed– in reaction to. At this point, the reader understands that it is this uncaring fool of a Father image that is causing Frack to suffer... not the Real Father. The Real Father is standing right there in front of him, but all that Frack can see and hear and feel is the presence of an uncaring fool. He is a prisoner of what he thinks he knows to be true. It’s quite a predicament...

(stage center: Father)

So what is the Father to do?

 Well, what he doesn't do is confirm Frack's fantasy about who he is. He says to him, "Son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, he was lost and has been found!"

And so, by the end of the story, we're not really sure what will become of Frack... The problems in his character seem to have become even more deeply entrenched rather than being released.

 
For Frick, on the other hand, things seem more hopeful at the story's end... Through the Father’s grace he has achieved some freedom from the known. Even though he has lost everything and become a fool in the eyes of the world... he seems to have gained a truer understanding of his Father and himself in the process.

So it's it's not a Hollywood ending; it’s an ending that shows us the wisdom of this Father's way of caring… shows us how even when we are not aware of what he's doing... he is always seeking to draw out and free us from all that ails us. …always seeking to embrace us and fill our hearts with his Spirit and his Truth.

 
Just imagine what an adventure life will become for us the more we really catch on to how, in reality, this Father is always graciously at work in every moment, every detail of our lives... even now… so that we too can let down our guards, and trust, and freely cooperate with this divine process in which Love keeps forming and transforming who we are.

==============

 
Before I conclude... the Rector has laid an obligation on me to make a coherent connection between this sermon and the 4th value in our community's Core Values, which has to do with our intentionally making God’s world around us a better place...

 
And, fortunately, before he gave me this obligation, Fr. Rae himself provided me with the means to meet it. So that all that I need to do is to remind you that, when you leave the church building this morning, notice the message outside on our sign... It makes the crucial point that personal formation & transformation (of the kind we’ve just been reflecting on) and social transformation...are actually two sides of the same Gospel coin. And best of all, even though our individual characters still have a few Fricken or Fracken shortcomings in them… there really is hope both for us and for our world... because our lives truly are in the hands of One Who Cares more than we can possibly imagine.
 

Amen.