The Value of One

September 14, 2025 Luke 15:1-10 14th Sunday after Pentecost The Value of One Year C Prelude Greeting Call to worship (based on Luke 15:1-10) Have you come here to grumble? No! We are here to rejoice! Oh. Are you lost? No! We are found! Okay, I see. Do you seek a welcome at this table? Yes! We are here to let go of the past and begin fresh. We are here to celebrate the joy of heaven. We are here to feast with Christ, our Lord! Wonderful! You are in the righ place. You are welcome here. Let’s worship God together! (Presbyterian Outlook, Walter Canter) Invocation Maker of Heaven and Earth, we rejoice in your presence. In you, we find joy and strength, comfort and courage, truth and insight. Speak to us again. Reveal your power in and through us. Show us your glory and be glorified in our worship. May your glorious light shine through hidden spaces. May your blessed darkness make space for rest. Fortify us for this journey and make us instruments of your kingdom. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay) Song Come Thou Font of Every Blessing UMH 400 A Sermon for all Ages "'Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?' " Theme: Separation from God; children of God. Visual Aid: A cardboard box containing lost and found items (perhaps a sweater or cap, a pencil, a comb, and so forth). "How many of you have ever heard of a lost and found box, at your school or daycare center?" Several children raise their hands. "Have any of you ever lost anything and then found it again?" Again, several children raise their hands. One of the more outspoken ones says, "I lost my blanket once; it took two days to find it!" I suspect there is an interesting story here, but rather than get into unknown territory I just tell him I'm glad he found it after it was lost. "It's difficult to lose something you really care about, isn't it -- especially if you don't ever find it again. When I was your age, the whole idea of a 'lost and found' box just didn't make any sense to me. Obviously if something was lost, it was lost; if something was found, it was found. How could something be both lost and found? "Finally it dawned on me one day that in order to be found and get taken to the 'lost and found' box, an item first had to be lost by someone else. And since the person who lost it didn't know it had been found, it was still lost. Then the combination of 'lost and found' at last began to make sense. "Have any of you ever gotten lost in a department store or a grocery store?" Once again, several hands go up. Acknowledging their responses with a nod, I continue. "It's a frightening experience, isn't it? I used to be afraid that I might get lost like that when I was your age. I knew if I did, someone would eventually take me to the store's office. Then the store manager would use a microphone to ask in a loud voice, throughout the store, 'Would Kathleen's parents please come to the office. We have your child.' I did NOT want that to happen, so I was careful not to let my parents get away from me whenever we went shopping. Besides, if I did get lost and taken to the manager's office, what guarantee did I have that my parents would even know how to find the office? And if they couldn't find it, I'd really be stuck! It was better not to get lost in the first place. "You know, sometimes people get lost from God, just like in the store. At first I thought, 'God doesn't have a lost and found box to look in. And God doesn't have a store manager either.' Can't you just hear the announcement? 'Would God please come to the office? We have your child.' "However, I was talking with a friend the other day about these ideas and she said, 'But God DOES have store managers, lots of them!' She pointed out that every time any one of us knows of a friend who is hurting and feeling alone and we ask God in our prayers to be with that person, we are, in effect, doing the same thing the store manager would have done. We are saying, 'God, my friend is feeling lost and needing you right now. Won't you please come be with my friend?' "Well, eventually I did get lost in a store -- but it was only a couple of years ago." The children greet this confession with looks of surprise. "That's right!" I assure them. "I was an adult! I had been shopping with my husband and we had gotten separated. I really didn't want to go to the manager and hear the announcement: 'Would Mr. Fannin please come to the office. We have your wife!' "While I was looking for my husband, it occurred to me that he was probably looking for me too. Therefore, it would make more sense if I just stopped where I was and waited for him to find me. I did; he did. "I think sometimes our relationship with God is like my experience in the store. Something catches our attention and we wander away; often we don't know how to find our way back. But we are all children of God, and we need to remember that God is searching for us just as we are searching for God. Sometimes all we have to do is stand still and stop looking long enough to be found." CSS Publishing Company, Inc, Cows In Church, by B. Kathleen Fannin Unison Prayer for Forgiveness Although we believe we are experts at faithfulness, Holy God, we must confess we are unskilled workers at doing good for others. Too often, we turn a deaf ear to the cries of people we have judged to be fools. We easily scoff at those we believe have nothing to teach us or share with us. How foolish, Searching God, how foolish we are! Forgive us, and restore us to your goodness. Then, send us forth to search for all who sit in the shadowed corners of our world, yearning for someone to come and find them, even as Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, came to find us. Amen. Silence is kept Assurance of Pardon Our actions sometimes show we do not know God. Our words and lives show we do not understand God's hopes for us. But with utmost patience, God sets aside our foolishness, and fills us with mercy. Mingled with faith and love, grace is poured into our sin-parched souls, giving us new life, restoring us as God's children. Thanks be to God. Amen. ( Lectionary Liturgies, Thom Shuman) Scripture Luke 15:1 – 10 Sermon The Value of One Many years ago a friend of mine who was a high school teacher went to the nearby city for a Saturday shopping trip. She and her young son, who was about 4, were in Woolco and they became separated. By the time she discovered that he was not where he was supposed to be an announcement came over the loud speaker - it was his voice - he gave his name and where he was from (though not exactly as an adult would pronounce the names) My name is ............. and I’m from ............. (adult translation My name is ............ and I’m from .................) for privacy reasons the names have been removed from the internet version and then said, “My mother is lost”. Well, by the time she arrived at customer service to collect him, every colleague from her school was there waiting for her and laughing. Seems that everyone from ............... went to Woolco to shop on Saturdays (I shopped there too, except I went on Mondays!) “My mother is lost” - as far as the little boy was concerned, that was the truth. His mother had wandered off and left him all alone in the aisle with the cars and trucks. All of us are familiar with the feeling of losing something or someone in our lives. All of us are familiar with the feeling of finding something or someone in our lives. I think losing something is one of the hardest things for me to do. Whenever I lose something, there is this urge to replace it, I don’t want to feel the emptiness of doing with it. I am learning to deal with it, sometimes you cant replace every single thing that you lose. I really do hate to lose things. I have a system of making sure that whenever I get home, I check to make sure that I have the important things that I left with – my keys, my cell phone and my wallet. Lately that system has been failing me. Two weeks ago, I left my cell phone in the basket while putting my groceries in the car. Luckily, when I got home I was able to go online and use my find my phone app and see that it was still in the cart at Jewel. It was certainly a celebration when I found the phone. Interestingly when I found my phone, I discovered someone else had lost their wallet in the same way. Just last week, I discovered that I lost my credit card in the same way, and I have not had the same luck in tracking it down. Until I find it, nothing else in life matters, all of my attention goes to searching for my credit card. The good news for us – is that in God’s eyes, we are far more valuable than a cell phone or a credit card. When we are lost, God will do everything in God’s power to find us. God will not rest until we all are found – that is why God sent Jesus in the world to show us how important we are. Luke is actually the only person who reports these three stories of lost things. I think Mark or Matthew reports two of these stories. But Luke 15 is a story of a shepherd losing a sheep, a woman losing a coin, and a father losing a son. Apparently God hates to lose things also, because Jesus uses these stories to tell about God’s love for us. God always loves us, sometimes some of us, as a matter of fact, all of us get lost in the store by ourselves and we lose our way. Jesus wants us to know that is the whole purpose of Jesus mission here on earth. God feels a sense of emptiness when we are not close to him in relationship, and Jesus came to bring us closer to God. Life is a story of being lost and getting found. It is a story of grumbling in emptiness and celebrating when found, it is a story of feeling empty and then rejoicing. We all have a place in that story. But I think just like to little boy in the first story, sometimes, especially in the church we may be a little confused about where we fit in in the story. Are we the one who is lost, or are we the one who lost something. I wasn’t going to use this story, but it makes a wonderful point. What the World Expects of the Church On a cold, dreary December evening, several hundred people gathered at a large downtown church in Winston-Salem to celebrate the Christmas season. I had gone down a long hallway to help a small boy who was pushing against massive oak doors trying to get outside. The boy appeared to be about 2 years old. He was crying as if his heart would break. I picked him up, thinking he belonged to someone at one of the Christmas parties. Investigation, however, revealed nothing. I rushed outside and spotted an old-model car speeding away in the darkness. Gradually, it began to dawn on me that the child had been abandoned. I made a few calls, and soon the church was filled with people wanting to help in any way they could. Within moments, the local TV stations interrupted their usual programs to ask if anyone knew the identity of the little boy. The next morning, one of the city's newspapers had the child's picture on the front page. Under the picture there was an article describing the events of the evening before. The reporter began his story with this striking line: "Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through!" It will be a long, long time before I can forget that newspaper headline. So much of the world's future depends on the faithfulness of the "People of God" to the "Great Commission." There is a deep hunger across our land as countless people grope for answers to the deepest questions of the human spirit. The message of Christ speaks to these questions, bringing hope and light to people who now stumble in the dark and live in despair. Our world will be changed as the hearts of people are changed. Evangelism is no longer an option for the church. It is essential to the survival of our world. The line in that Winston-Salem newspaper is a haunting reminder of what the world expects of the church. "Someone trusted the church last night, and the church came through!" May that always be true! Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald, "Someone Trusted the Church," Michigan ChristianAdvocate, May 5, 1997, p. 8. Unfortunately, sometimes in the church, we get convinced that we are the ones who find everyone, and that everyone else in the world that is lost. We know everything about Christ and it is our job to find everyone else. We become like the pharisees that Jesus would have been telling this story to. Even we in the church get lost sometimes. Jesus wants us to rethink what it means to be lost and found. Jesus is telling these parables of lost and found to the pharisees and religious authorities who were convinced that they were the ones found, and that everyone else was lost. Jesus wanted them to know – that all are valuable in the eyes of God. Which Color Would You Be? Ralph Milton tells of the teacher who, for reasons of her own, asked the kids one day, "If all the bad children were painted red and all the good children were painted green, which color would you be?" Think about it. What color would you be? Red or Green? It is a tough question isn't it when you pose only two options. One very wise child answered the teacher: "Striped" The reason I am going on about this point is simple. It seems to me that in the frame of the story - everyone but Jesus is striped. It is the same in the world today. We are a curious combination of the lost and the found. We are striped. We are, in some sense, not completely complete. It is hard language, this language of lost and found, especially for folks in the middle, as most of us are most of the time. It seems too absolute. Rarely are we completely lost. And rarely are we completely found. There is always a part of us that needs to be dragged and cajoled into the light, and there is always a part of us that is already there in the light. For some it is more and for some it is less, but always some part. The wonderful thing is - that God wants us to enter fully into the light. The wonderful thing is that God wants to bless us all richly to keep us safe, to make us strong, to help us be like a Shepherd who really cares for his sheep, or like a poor widow who really values all her coins. Richard Fairchild, Seeking the Lost I know that I have told this story before. As a matter of fact, I preached a similar sermon in 2019. Not everyone was here at that time. But I also think that sometimes it is a good idea for us to hear the same sermon again. Afterall, we can’t think about God’s grace in our lives too many times. When I went to visit the Vatican, I took a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica. Even though it is the center of the Catholic Church, there is also a worshipping congregation in the building. The sanctuary as you can imagine is huge and has a lot of history. I don’t remember all of the technical terms of the parts of the sanctuary. I think it is over the altar, there are these four huge post in a square with a dome over it. I want to say there is a fence the connects the post, and there is a opening in the front for one person to come and kneel and pray. As each of us kneeled in that open space, the tour guide encouraged us to look at the fence and to notice that there were 99 candles on the fence surrounding us. The 99 candles represented the sheep in this story who were found, and as we kneeled next to the candles, we were the hundredth sheep that the shepherd has found – welcome home. At some point in each of our lives – Jesus says to each of us – welcome home. I have been looking for you all of this time, I am so glad that you returned to the fold. We are all sinners, Jesus welcomes us all home. Create Him Not The love of God is indescribable but a old Jewish legend does a pretty good job. It describes what happened when God created man. The legend says God took into counsel the Angels that stood about his throne. The Angel of Justice said; 'Create him not … for if you do he will commit all kinds of wickedness against his fellow man; he will be hard and cruel and dishonest and unrighteous.' The Angel of Truth said, 'Create him not … for he will be false and deceitful to his brother and even to Thee.' The Angel of Holiness stood and said; 'Create him not … he will follow that which is impure in your sight, and dishonor you to your face.' Then stepped forward the Angel of Mercy, God's most beloved, angel, and said; 'Create him, our Heavenly Father, for when he sins and turns from the path of right and truth and holiness I will take him tenderly by the hand, and speak loving words to him, and then lead him back to you.' Brett Blair, Sermons.com There is just one more thing that I want to point out about this story of being lost and being found. First of all the first two stories, of the sheep and the coin, neither intentionally ran away, and neither of them did anything to get found. Jesus did all of the work. But the other thing in common in all of these stories is that these were not lone items. The shepherd had 99 other sheep, he could have done without the 100th one. The woman has 11 other coins, if she lost one she would not have been totally broke. Even the father has two sons, one who was very faithful. But they could not deal with the emptiness of losing something. The Paradox of Christian Life There's a strange paradox about the Christian life. Often, it's more about being lost than found. It's more about feeling incomplete than whole. It's more about feeling excluded than included, because many of us live in those places most of the time. • These stories are about sin and repentance, righteous and sinner, and grumbling and rejoicing. Who is the one that needs to be found? It seems as if the tax collectors and sinners have already found Jesus. They have done so, and are still considered on the outside. It seems as if it is the ‘righteous’ that actually need to be found. Is it possible to be righteous and still need to be found? David Lose asks: o Might the parents who want their children to succeed so much that they wrap their whole lives around hockey games and dance recitals be lost? o Might the career minded man or woman who has made moving up the ladder the one and only priority be lost? o Might the folks who work jobs they hate just to give their family things they never had be lost? o Might the senior who has a great pension plan but little sense of meaning since retirement be lost? o Might the teen who works so hard to be perfect and who is willing to do just about anything to fit in be lost? o Might the earnest Christian who is constantly asking whether people have accepted Jesus into their hearts be lost? But that's why we need redemption. That's why conversion is at the heart of who we are, because we all get lost in the desert, even when we're part of the fold. And we all need someone out there, willing to go looking for us. We're always in the process of trying to turn back, to find our way home again. And it's a struggle. But it's a joyful struggle, because repentance is a joyous activity. It's the endless way that we turn back toward the truth and wholeness. How great is that? And life becomes this process of shouldering one another, of walking each other home. And sometimes we're the carrier, and sometimes we're being carried. But all the time, it's a movement toward wholeness, toward being included again, toward being under one roof again. A sheep. A coin. Two sons. Us. And what joy at being found. Edward Beck, The Joy of Being Lost and Found Finding that one, made the situation whole and complete. That missing son coming home meant that they could be family again. We are found in the spirit of God – God is happy, but we are whole and complete. And that is ultimately all that God wants for us – is wholeness in mind, body and spirit and even in the community of the church. Jesus has given us a lesson of what it means to be lost and what it means to be found, a lesson of being sinful and finding repentance, of celebrating and of grumbling. After each instance of finding what was lost, there was a celebration. The owner called everyone they knew and had a big party. I am probably not going to call you all if I find my credit card, but we all should celebrate when a new person finds salvation. Whenever someone seeks God, or wants to get closer to God – we should rejoice. These stories encourage us to see others as God sees them, join in the search for new people, and to celebrate grace every time that we can. Conclusion Luke 15 reminds us: God doesn’t settle for ninety-nine. God doesn’t shrug at one missing coin. God’s love is personal, persistent, and joyful. And here’s the good news: you are that sheep. You are that coin. And so is your neighbor. So is the person you’re tempted to give up on. Heaven rejoices when the lost are found. May we rejoice, too. Amen. Song Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling 348 Prayers of the People (Don’t Print) Holy One who creates, liberates and loves, we are your creation. You have set us free, and you have sought us out with love. Trusting in your character, hoping in your memory, and believing in the movement of your Spirit, we ask that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Open your ears to your creation, to your people, to your children, who you have called, who you have rescued, who you love and who now bow p2before you and open the contents of our hearts to you in prayer. (Depending on the culture of the congregation, either hold an extend- ed period for silent prayer or offer a time for the congregation to share prayers aloud.) God, who seeks us, who offers us grace, and who celebrates our pres- ence, hear us as we join together in prayer using the words Jesus taught his disciples, “Our Father…”. Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment In Luke’s gospel, we hear Jesus tell two parables of finding what’s lost: the lost sheep and the lost coin. In both, people rejoice when the lost is found. A found sheep and a recovered/found coin call for sharing JOY! About 14 years ago, an 11-year-old Southern California girl, Jessie Rees, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Instead of focusing on her own struggles, Jessie began to share toys with other children with cancer. Jessie’s middle name, Joy, gave her the idea of naming this effort “JOY JARS,” which she personally packed and delivered while she was able. Since that time, her family has created a foundation which continues to pack and share JOY Jars to honor Jessie’s life and her vigorous desire to care for other children by challenging them to “Never Ever Give Up (NEGU).” Jessie discovered her own short life took on greater meaning when she was able to help others by sharing her joy. Her family now has continued that with over 500,000 jars sent around the world. Sounds like that shepherd with 100 sheep! Sounds like that woman with 10 coins! Sounds like what Jesus continues to teach us. How will you share your joy today as we offer our morning gifts? (Is there someone in your congregation who can share their own “lost & found” story of joy? Invite them to offer that in a 2 minute form!) Prayer of Thanksgiving Giver of all good gifts, we offer these symbols of our daily living to the glory of your name: gifts of our hands, our hearts, our hope! Use them. Use us as true disciples of Christ, Christians who are known by our love. AMEN. (Disciple of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Sending for Prayer Sending Prayer foe Face We have been found by our God, so now we will go to search for those forgotten by the world. We have been welcomed by Jesus, so now we will go to embrace the ones people look down their noses at. We have been gathered as a community by the Spirit, so now we will go to be a family to the people who long to draw near to hope. (c) Thom M. Shuman Community Time Benediction May God bless you with the clarity to recognize the world as it is, the hope to dream God’s dream together, and the power to make God’s dream a reality here and now. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, April 2025. Additional Illustrations