Doerksen musical highlights God’s “wasteful extravagance”
ABBOTSFORD, B.C.—Eighteen years after getting the idea for a musical about God's extravagant love, internationally known singer-songwriter Brian Doerksen is finally seeing that dream come true with the release this month of a new CD called Prodigal God.
What inspired Doerksen to put to music a story based on Jesus' parable of the prodigal son was the birth of his first son, Benjamin, in September 1991. But completing the project proved to be difficult and painful, as a couple of attempts ended in costly failures.
Eight years ago, Doerksen decided to try again.
"It's like looking at the condition in the world, looking at the condition in the Church—all these places. The Father-wound is so palpable. It's all around us," he says. "So you go, 'Okay, there's something still for me to do in this. I think I have something to share.'"
The turning point came when Doerksen began collaborating with Boston worship pastor Christopher Greco. "We started really believing in what was emerging," he says.
Prodigal God recasts the familiar passage in Luke 15 by making the father—who represents God in the parable—as the true "prodigal," the one who acts with "wasteful extravagance" towards both his sons.
It also expands the parable by depicting events leading up to the younger brother's demand for his share of the inheritance and the elder brother's eventual redemption.
"We're going to take some risks that are probably going to offend some people," says Doerksen. "But I think the Christian leaders can rest assured that there's a theological foundation to what our art is built on that isn't heresy. It's actually part of the core of why Jesus told the story in the first place."
Doerksen had first planned to unveil Prodigal God as a musical production during the Winter Olympics in February, but backed off over the huge costs involved. Yet that freed him to spend more time on finishing the album. And instead of a stage production—at least not yet—work has now begun on a film version.
Doerksen credits a new financial backer, who he will not name, for making all this suddenly possible. "It's been incredible," he says. "I'm getting to be the recipient of this man's generosity and his belief in something I've carried for so long—and I'm not lifting a finger to make it happen."
But what makes Doerksen "super-excited" are plans to let people decide what they want to pay for the album based on the character they most closely identify with.
"They can choose to be like the younger son and demand to have the product for free. They can choose to be like the elder son and pay the full retail, because 'somebody's got to do the right thing.' Or they can choose to be the father and pay us a gift,'" he says.
"We want in every aspect of this project to live out what the story is about. And because it's an independent project, and because money's not an issue—the guy who's funded it doesn't need his money back—we're just offering it up."
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