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

A Place for you to be Found

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington September 15, 2019 Luke 15:1-10 Year C Children’s Time….. "'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 Luke 15:1-10 Common English Bible (CEB) Occasions for celebration 15 All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. 2 The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. 8 “Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it? 9 When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Stewardship moment We have the opportunity to join with God in providing for the poor and the oppressed. Our Gifts carry God’s mercy to people who don’t know God’s love in their life in any way. Because we have been blessed by you O God, We are delighted to share. Because there are many who do not enjoy your bounty, we search for ways to help them. Thank you for showing us how to give. As we give let us celebrate with you in helping others find their way. Sermon……… 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. 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. As a matter of fact we are like this little boy. 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 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. 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. May we all live in the wholeness and wellbeing of God! Let us pray. Amen. Additional illustrations…….. God Loves Me There is a wonderful story about Maya Angelou. She was an active member of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco before her death. She wrote that when she first came to San Francisco as a young woman she became sophisticated. She said that was what you were supposed to do when you go to San Francisco, you become sophisticated. And for that reason she said she became agnostic. She thought the two went together. She said that it wasn't that she stopped believing in God, just that God no longer frequented the neighborhoods that she frequented. She was taking voice lessons at the time. Her teacher gave her an exercise where she was to read out of some religious pamphlet. The reading ended with these words: "God loves me." She finished the reading, put the pamphlet down. The teacher said, "I want you to read that last sentence again." So she picked it up, read it again, this time somewhat sarcastically, then put it down again. The teacher said, "Read it again." She read it again. Then she described what happened. "After about the seventh repetition I began to sense there might be some truth in this statement. That there was a possibility that God really loves me, Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the grandness of it all. I knew if God loved me, I could do wonderful things. I could do great things. I could learn anything. I could achieve anything. For what could stand against me with God, since one person, any person, with God form a majority now." Mark Trotter, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com The Church Is No Place for Joy In church the other Sunday I was intent on a small child who was turning around smiling at everyone. He wasn't gurgling, spitting, humming, kicking, tearing the hymnals, or rummaging through his mother's handbag. He was just smiling. Finally, his mother jerked him about and in a stage whisper that could be heard in a little theater off Broadway said, "Stop grinning! You're in a church!" With that, she gave him a belt on his hind side and as the tears rolled down his cheeks added, "that's better," and returned to her prayers. I wanted to grab this child with the tear-stained face close to me and tell him about my God. The happy God. The smiling God, the God who had to have a sense of humor to have created the likes of us. Erma Bombeck 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 Unconditional Love What is your view of God? The scowling judge waiting to convict you? The disapproving parent whose love you have to earn? Your view of God affects every decision and relationship in your life. Kathleen Chesto wrote to Catholic Digest to tell them about an incident that occurred in her family. Her five-year-old child approached her one day in the kitchen and asked, "Mom, is God a grown-up or a parent?" Mom was a little puzzled by the question. "I'm not sure what you mean," she said. "Is there a difference between a grown-up and a parent?" "Oh yes," her five-year-old answered quickly. "Grown-ups love you when you are good and parents love you anyway." I know this sounds trite to some of you, but have you ever really come to appreciate the wonder of God's unconditional love? I dare say that there are some people in this room who don't really believe in unconditional love. You have never received it, and you have never given it. Some of you are still trying to earn your way to heaven. And you are expecting others to earn their way as well. Relax, my friend, and let God love you. Jesus is trying to tell us in this parable that God's love doesn't depend on our goodness; it depends on God's character. Here is this truth expressed in I John 4: 10, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." King Duncan, Collected Sermons,www.Sermons.com From Table Manners So if I were putting together a sinners table at the Huddle House, it might include an abortion doctor, a child molester, an arms dealer, a garbage collector, a young man with AIDS, a Laotian chicken plucker, a teenage crack addict, and an unmarried woman on welfare with five children by three different fathers. Did I miss anyone? Don’t forget to put Jesus at the head of the table, asking the young man to hand him a roll, please, and offering the doctor a second cup of coffee before she goes back to work. If that offends you even a little, then you are almost ready for what happens next. Because what happens next is that the local ministerial association comes into the restaurant and sits down at a large table across from the sinners. The religious authorities all have good teeth and there is no dirt under their fingernails. When their food comes, they hold hands to pray. They are all perfectly nice people, but they can hardly eat their hamburger steaks for staring at the strange crowd in the far booth. The chicken plucker is still wearing her white hair net, and the garbage collector smells like spoiled meat. The addict cannot seem to find his mouth with his spoon. But none of those is the heartbreaker. The heartbreaker is Jesus, sitting there as if everything were just fine. Doesn’t he know what kind of message he is sending? Who is going to believe he speaks for God if he does not keep better company than that? I saw them eating and I knew who they were. Barbara Brown Taylor, "Table Manners," article appearing in The Christian Century, March 11, 1998, page 257 In 1988, the poet Carol Wimmer, became concerned about the self-righteous, judgmental spirit she was seeing in some people because she felt strongly that being judgmental is a perversion of the Christian faith. So, she wrote a poem about this. It’s called “When I say I am a Christian” and it reads like this: “When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not shouting, ‘I’ve been saved!’ I’m whispering, ‘I get lost!’ That’s why I chose this way. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I don’t speak with human pride. I’m confessing that I stumble – needing God to be my guide. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not trying to be strong. I’m professing that I’m weak and pray for strength to carry on. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not bragging of success. I’m admitting that I’ve failed and cannot ever pay the debt. When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I don’t think I know it all. I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught. When I say ‘I am a Christian,’ I’m not claiming to be perfect. My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I’m worth it. When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name. When I say, ‘I am a Christian,’ I do not wish to judge. I have no authority – I only know I’m loved.” James W. Moore, quoting Carol Wimmer, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Looking for Me! There's an old, old story, that I think is still funny. The phone rings and a little boy answers in a whisper: "Hello?" The caller says: "Hi, is your Mommy there? "Yes!" "Can I talk to her?" "No!" "Why not?" "She's busy." "What about your Daddy, can I talk to him?" "No! He's busy." "Well, is there anyone else there?" "My little sister." "Is there anyone else there? Another adult?" "Uh, huh. The police." "Can I talk to one of them?" "No, they're busy." "Is there anyone else there?" "Yes, the firemen." "Can I talk to one of them?" "No, they're busy, too." Caller: "Good heavens, your whole family is busy, the police and fire departments are there and they're busy! What's everybody doing?" The little boy giggled and whispered: "They're looking for me." Today's passage of Scripture is about searching and finding. And that's an old story that illustrates the frantic nature of people who have lost something and are in search of it. Billy D. Strayhorn, Finders, Keepers

The Prodigal Mother

March 17, 2007 Joshua 5:9-12 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 repreached on 3-10-13 You don’t hear of me that story that was just read to you did you? I am Lydia, the mother of those two boys. Those two very different boys. Nathaniel, my oldest, and then there is Zachariah, he will always be my baby. And of course I am Simon’s wife. I am beginning to think that the whole world knows my story – some people seem to think that our last name must be prodigal. They refer to the prodigal son, the prodigal father, the prodigal sons. But I never get mentioned as the prodigal mother. Prodigal means either extremely wasteful, or extremely abundant. The funny thing is, I don’t think of my family as extreme at all. We are very normal, just like any other family. And the story told is not about the behavior of any one of us – it is about all of us, together as a family. It is a story of our families struggles with faith – faith in ourselves, faith in one another- faith in a God who goes out of the way to love us. But anyway, let me tell you a little more about my family. Do any of you have children? So you know that no matter how much you try to raise them the same- they come out so different. Each with their own personalities and their own stories. Take for instance, my baby, Zachariah. He was always so active and always asking questions. When he has younger, it was easy to keep up with him, and to keep up with his questions. Mommy, why did God make the sky blue? Why is it that we don’t eat the meat of pigs, like the people who live in the camp down the way? Why can’t I go play with the kids that I see in that camp – they seem to be having so much more fun. As he got older, his question got a little harder – why do I have to work in the fields with daddy- I would rather have time to dance and to learn to play my music. And then it just seemed that his questions got to hard for us to answer as parents- why do I have to stay here? Why do you want to find a wife, I am don’t want to settle down here. And then one day I think that Zach’s questions got to big, even for himself to answer. My gosh, I will never forget that day – the day that he asked my husband for his inheritance. My husband said that he felt like a knife had been struck through his heart. And it had, after all asking for his inheritance was the same as saying I wish you were dead- so that I could go on with my life. My hsband, simon, swallowed his pride, put aside his hurt. He did it – he gave Zach his inheritance and let him go- out into the world that he has always seemed to look to. We had to let him go- let him go to find what he was looking for. But I was greatful on that day that I have two sons- two very different sons. My oldest son Nathaniel never asked any of those questions. As a matter of fact, he never gave me any trouble at all. Whatever we told him – he accepted it, whatever we taught him he did it. He never wondered what was going on out there- he was always there to help his dad. We knew, from the moment that he was born that Nathaniel would be the one to take over the family business. And he has never not for one moment in his life, given us any reason to doubt that decision. Now that he and his new wife are expecting, we are looking forward to passing the business on to the next generation. And passing on our faith, which our family has held onto for many generations before. But of course, my mind always goes back to Zach, my baby. It’s like he needed to go on a journey to find himself. Those questions had to be answered. He is not a bad boy- and I know that I raised him to do the right thing. I don’t think that he will get too out of hand, when he goes onto town. And the faith that I taught him- he hasn’t come to temple with us in a very long time. But I know that God is in his heart- and God will take care of him. And Zach will return to the faith that we taught him in time. I just need to give him some time. God promised that anything that is lost will always been found. Anything that is lost will eventually be found- even family members that you don’t understand. Have you ever lost something? My family has a history of being lost, and being found. Lost to God and found by God. For years we wondered in the desert, trying to escape the oppression of Egypt. But I think the oppression of being lost in our own wilderness, is far worse than anything that someone else can do to you. To be lost somewhere between who you are and who God calls you to be – can be a horrible feeling. To be stuck between a past that you know doesn’t work – and a future that you don’t know or understand- that can be a hard thing. A friend of mine-her name was Virginia Daily, talks about a personal wilderness this way – she says that we look back with dismay upon our wrong decisions, poor choices, we dwell endlessly on our past mistakes until we make ourselves miserable and physically or emotionally ill, we are haunted by those the past, we keep dragging it out- continually rehashing of previous mistakes can cause us to lead gloomy lives. We don’t become free of that past, until we stop rehashing it in our spirits, and we are willing to give it up to God. There is a time to hold on to things, and there is a time to let go. There is a time to be lost, there is a time to be found. My family knows that well, being lost and being found. They wandered around in the desert for 40 years- trying to erase their past. It took a young man by the name of Joshua to lead the out of the wilderness, to the land that God had promised. They crossed the Jordan river, over into Gilgal – the place of a circle, the entryway into a new life that God had always promised them. A land of abundance, a land of freedom, a land of new ways, a land full of promise. And at that moment, you know a funny thing happened. In the wilderness, where they had no sense of direction, and no understanding of God’s promise. God provided a miracle for them. They ate that stuff there, on the tree. (see photo on the screen). Manna – a gift of sustenance from God. That was the miracle food that got them through the tough times. When the tough times were over, the miracle disappeared. But you know that funny thing is- that they didn’t need it anymore. Because the land that they entered-the promisedland- was full of food and many opportunities to create new ways of providing a new living. It is those times of transition in all of our lives, where we can realize that God has supported us, in ways that we couldn’t support ourselves. just as we realize that support as a gift of God- before we can become thankful enough to depend upon it- it disappears. And we are stuck in that moment of transition – when we ask ourselves the question – what do we do now. I bet you are in that transitional time right now- you are probably asking yourself what to do next? We all need resources to live- we’ve all experienced those times when those resources dry up and disappear. It’s funny, there is nothing in this world that last forever. Things that we think our very life depends upon can be taken away at a moments notice. I thank God for my faith during those times of transition. That story about Joshua helps me to realize that God had taken care of my in my past, and I may not know how, and I may not know why- but God will provide. In new and exciting ways- if I am open minded enough to listen and to learn. Everything that I need is growing right now, somewhere in the future that God has led me to. I just have to put aside old ways of thinking, leave old questions- and let God reveal a future that has always been promised to me. That happened to my family when they were finally willing to let the Egypt of the past go, and they entered into Canaan. I don’t know about your family- when good things happen my family celebrates with a feast. They had a Passover that people have been talking about for years. Anything that is lost will always be found. That is because God is always working – working to find us when we are lost, working to bring us back to the table, working to prepare us for the celebration. The celebration of life, the celebration of new life. I wouldn’t say even that God is a prodigal. God is not extravagant, or wasteful, or ridiculous. God know what god is doing. Bit I would say that God has a prodigal love for God’s family. An extravagant, ridiculous, abundant love for each and every one of us. God will do anything that I takes to find each and every one of us. God will go as far as sacrificing God’s own son for each of us. We are all gods children – and you know what- in those times when we are lost in our own personal wilderness- we can never find our true identity outside of God’s love for us. Speaking of personal wilderness, of searching for one’s true identity, asking questions that can’t be answered. He came home today! My baby Zach came home. I have never seen my husband run so fast for anything. But he welcomed him home. We are preparing for the feast now- to celebrate his being found. To celebrate being family. To celebrate God’s ridiculous, abundant love for our son, our all of us no matter who we are. I have two sons, one that had to leave to find himself, and one who has been here all of the time and just didn’t know. Maybe you can see yourself in their story. Maybe you can see your story somewhere in the story of my family? We are celebrating together, because God found all of us in the wilderness of our lives and bought us together to the promiseland. As you stand in the entryway of a life, what is is that you have to celebrate finding? Now that the manna has dried up, what are the new fruits of the land being offered to you? What preparations are you doing for the celebration? What have you found in the presence of God that you thought you had lost? And most importantly who is it that sits at the family table with you? And who in your family are you still praying for to come in from the wilderness and join the family meal?