September 11, 2022 + Lectionary 24 + Pr. Michelle Sevig
“Have you seen my…” I could get an award for the number of times I’ve started a sentence with that phrase. I seem to lose things all the time, just ask my family who gets pretty frustrated searching everywhere with me for my keys, phone, glasses; You name it. I’ve lost it.
But physical objects are not the only things one can lose. You can
lose direction- both figuratively and literally
lose your patience, perspective or temper
You can even lose your balance on a hike with the youth group, then lose the use of your dominant hand for a while.
I identify with the woman in today’s parable; searching high and low in her home for a lost coin. In fact I get a visceral feeling of anxiety in my stomach as I read it because I’ve been her so often. Shuffling through papers, opening drawers, sweeping the floors, lifting the rugs, turning on my modern lamp (the iphone flashlight) to look in nooks and crannies in case I missed something in the shadows. Frantically searching everywhere for whatever it is I’ve lost. Until it’s found. Or until I give up and say, “It’s got to be somewhere” and just wait for it to appear. To be honest though, I don’t really stop looking. I may go on and do the next thing, but the yearning to find my Airpod even though I have the other one, or my keys, even though there is a second set, still lingers and captures my attention until it’s found.
This parable from Jesus invites us to imagine that God searches for us when we are lost, that God experiences an authentic, realtime frenzy and fervor as she persistently searches and she won’t stop until we are found in her loving, rejoicing embrace again.
But what does it mean to be lost? I’m thankful to theologian Debi Thomas for asking and helping to answer that question.
Sometimes, we lose our sense of belonging.
We lose our capacity to trust.
We lose our felt experience of God’s presence.
We lose our will to persevere.
Some of us get lost when illness descends on our lives and God’s goodness starts to look not-so-good.
Some of us get lost when death comes to a loved one without warning, and we experience a crisis of faith that leaves us reeling.
Some of us get lost when our marriages fall apart.
Some of us get lost when our children break our hearts.
Some of us get lost in the throes of addiction, or anxiety, or lust, or unforgiveness, or hatred, or apathy, or bitterness.
However lost you may feel today, for whatever reasons, know that God has her skirt tucked up, and is busy sweeping and searching, seeking to restore you to joy in her full celebratory embrace.
But that’s not how we usually picture God, is it? Which is one reason I love this parable so much–imagining God as the divine femine in her ordinary house, doing ordinary tasks. Not sitting on a throne in the sky waiting for people to come to her in righteous obedience. Even more so, I love it because it shows those who are lost, for whatever reason, that they are worth the search effort. God doesn’t give up like I do when I lose some ‘thing’ and say “it’ll show up eventually.” No, the Holy One seeks and searches tirelessly for the lost ones.
Remember that the reading begins, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus tells three parables (two we read today) about the ones who are lost, the ones on the edges, the ones left out of the inner circle and he shows that these ones–the lost ones–are worth being in the presence of God too.
A man at a religious conference shared a riddle with the leader who was teaching about parables and he asked, “How does the lost sheep repent?” He was speaking about the first parable where one sheep had gone astray in a flock of 100. How did the lost sheep repent? After a full day of trying to figure it out, the leader finally was able to answer the question. Repentance happened when the sheep allowed itself to be found.
Sometimes it’s difficult for us to believe that we're worth looking for, that we’re good enough, or have done enough to deserve God’s welcome party. It’s hard to trust that God won’t give up on us. That God does God’s best work when we’re utterly lost and unable to find ourselves. But that is exactly how God-The seeking shepherd and the same God we know as The searching woman operates. God rejoices when the lost are connected again, when the lost find support through community in the trying times, when the lost discover again or maybe for the first time the true love from God that has no boundaries.
And that’s what is so amazing about grace, the grace we sing about in Amazing Grace…I once was lost, but now am found, there is rejoicing and celebration for the lost ones–for all of us. In both parables a party is thrown when the lost are found. Friends and neighbors are called together to celebrate and give thanks. Today we are invited to a lost and found party and everyone is welcome and celebrated–First time guests and those for whom this place is home, those open to being found and those still comfortable waiting it out a bit, no matter who you are or where you're from, Jesus invites you to this celebration. Bread is broken, wine is poured and Christ is present rejoicing with you and all the lost who have been found.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.