September 15, Luke

My question for you this morning is how many of you have ever lost something?  My bet is that each of you have lost at least one thing in your lifetime.  My family still talks about the time that I could not find my wristwatch and had my kids looking everywhere for it, only to find it on my wrist.  Yep, it happens to all of us! My next question is, how many of you have ever been lost and could not find your way.  I know I have, and just recently I saw a t-shirt that I loved.  It said, “I wonder what happened to all of the people I have given directions to!”

Our Gospel lesson today contains two of the most well-known of Jesus’ parables.  The story of the lost sheep and the woman and the lost coin.  You would think that these two parables were the easiest topics ever to write a sermon on, but think again.  We could, of course, always talk about sheep and their characteristics that made them such a great example for Jesus to use.  Just as people of Jesus’ time could easily identify with lost sheep, we too know that often in our lives we tend to stray away from what is best for us.  That is, from our loving shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ who loves and cares for us deeply.  We not only stray physically from our flock of Christian friends and our church home, but we also stray in spirit.  Afterall, there are so many things in our world that call us away from the close relationship we want to have with Christ.  As the ancient sailors would have said, “we hear the siren’s song calling us to follow into the deep.”

In today’s culture it may be just a little harder to relate to the woman and the lost coin.  Since our money system does not really have any coins that are worth a lot of money, gold pieces have long been retired, it might be harder to understand what the coin meant to the woman.  Yet, if we were really poor, even the coins that somehow make their way under our coach cushions would be of great value to us.

Jesus point in the two parables, however, is that each person is of extreme value to God.   We are the lost sheep and the lost coin so to speak.  Anyone who sins, and that is all of us, is lost.  Without what Jesus did for us on the cross, and the forgiveness He offers, we would all be lost forever.

It is the same in our church family.  Everyone is of extreme value, and worthy of our love and respect no matter what.  When friction happens, as it will in every family, Jesus calls us to “Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor, (Romans 12:10) and Ephesians 4:23 tells us to “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave us.”   There are always two perspectives to each story, as we each interpret what is happening through our own cultural lenses and our personality traits.  We are called to try to understand each other’s perspective, respect their understanding for what it is, and find ways to compromise and continue the work that God has set forth for us as a church.

Let me share this story about a wise old preacher who once told a couple visiting the congregation seeking the perfect church.  “If you ever find the perfect church, don’t go there.  Why, they asked.  He replied, “Why then it wouldn’t be perfect anymore if you did.  The church is made up of people and all people are imperfect.”  Yet, as we heard today, each and every person on this earth, no matter how imperfect, is of great importance to God.

Today, however, most of us feel lost at times in our lives, and to many it appears that the Church itself is lost and cannot find its’ way, lost in a constantly changing world.  There seems to be a strong backlash when it comes to organized religion.  The younger generation do not seem to enjoy the potluck dinners that we all grew up with. In fact, nearly every Christian denomination in the United States has seen their overall membership decline in the past five years.  This includes the Southern Baptist Churches that held steady through the 90’s. Yet, in other parts of the world, Christianity is growing.  In Africa alone, 904,500 this past year pushed the total membership in Lutheran churches there to 15 million.  Lutheranism is also growing in Asia and Latin American.

We need to trust that Jesus lets none of His sheep be lost for long, including His church.  Regardless of the climate today, even small churches like Christ Lutheran, that I think of as being small but sturdy, can thrive if they work together for the good of the community and God’s people.  Although we may feel lost at times and that we are wondering endlessly trying to find what God wants us to do, we also have the insurance that Jesus will not let us be lost for long.

I would like to leave you today with the words of this poem from J.R Tolkien. As a church we may think we are lost, yet we wonder, trying new things that might renew our Church today.  These poetic words express what is happening right now.  Just listen to the words, and know that Jesus is guiding us, the lost.

All that  is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

Let us resolve to find all the “gold that does not glitter,” those that are lost and need to find the healing love and forgiveness that only Jesus can bring, and let us not forget that “all who wonder, are not lost.”

Amen