Business as usual?

In our service this morning we will hear the story of the prodigal son. He famously demands half of his father’s wealth and leaves for the big city and a life of wild parties. Soon however he runs out of money, his friends desert him and he is left feeding pigs- just to survive.

One year on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, this cautionary tale of living beyond one’s means sounds familiar. As commentators have reminded us this week, a decade of cheap credit led governments, banks and individuals to all borrow far too much. And so, like the hard times faced by the prodigal son, we are now experiencing the biggest economic crisis for 100 years.

This week the debate has been whether we have learnt the lessons of our, ‘irrational exuberance’ or whether we are still pretending that it is business as usual? Are each of us saving more, have the banks changed their ways, might capitalism be renewed? Joining the debate, the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that there remains a lack of closure and a need for repentance.

Indeed, repentance is what the story of the prodigal son is really about. As it continues we see the son, coming to his senses, returning to his father and asking forgiveness. Seeing his son in the distance, the father runs to embrace him and welcomes him home.

Realising our mistakes, saying that we are sorry and mending our ways may not sound like much of a macro-economic strategy but, as this gospel story reminds us, repentance does have the power to liberate us from self pity, to enable us to take responsibility and to help us to move on.