September 11, 2022 St. Andrew Church Rev. Anne McAnelly
First Lesson: 1 Timothy 1:12-17
12 I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Second Lesson: Luke 15:1-10
15Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “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? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
This week I have misplaced two things. First, I could not find a file I needed for a time sensitive project. I looked in my office for the file, came home and scoured the house. I even called Janet to see if she had picked it up when we were working on a project together. Finally, I drove back to the office to find it exactly where it was supposed to be, but it was tucked away, hidden. I am still looking for a book I am supposed to read for my trip. It came in the mail, so I know it is in my house, but I can’t find it. I hope it will turn up just like the file did. Those are just the things I lost in a 24-hour period. I hope you are better organized than I am and never lose anything!
If that is not the case, I want to tell you about the innovation of Tiles, small little tags with microchips that you can place on your keys or your glasses case so that you can locate them with GPS on your phone. The very existence of these Tiles lets me know I am in good company when I lose things. Can I hear an AMEN!
Today Jesus tells two parables about lost things being found: the shepherd who loses a sheep and a woman who loses a coin. Remember these stories precede the telling of the prodigal son, the child who was lost and then found. The context of this story is Jesus meeting with tax collectors and sinners while the religious leaders grumble saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and tax collectors and eats with them” (2). This gets at the heart of us good church going folks that sometimes like to think we do not need to be found, because we are not lost. We live a good life and we come to church so why would we need saving, need to be found? However, Jesus is disavowing the religious folk, and us, of such a notion. Jesus came to save the lost and we get to count ourselves in that number.
Admitting that can be hard. But realizing our lost parts, the lost times in our lives, our lost ways means we get to be reunited with God and celebrated and loved when we return. God already knows about those parts of us, but we can only be found when we admit it to ourselves and seek God. In other words, we repent.
Paul writes to Timothy about being lost and found. He was a “blasphemer, a persecutor and a man of violence” but he writes, “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with faith and love that is in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the foremost” (13-15). Comfort and power are in Paul’s words. No matter what we have done, no matter who we are, no matter how lost we feel, Jesus came to save us, and God loves us unconditionally! That is something to celebrate!
One commentator writes, “When Jesus wants to get an important point across, he usually tells one, maybe two stories. Luke 15 is unique in that Jesus tells three stories on the same theme: God loves us unconditionally. Full stop. And not just us inside these church walls. God loves those of us who will never walk in the doors of a church. God loves us who have wandered away from Him. God loves us who aren’t even looking for Him. God loves us unconditionally. And if God loves us unconditionally, can’t we learn to love ourselves and others unconditionally too?” (sermons.com, King Duncan)
So the next time someone makes a mistake and you are trying to forgive them, remember how loved you are by God. Loved even when you do not deserve it. It might help you forgive and love them more; the same way God loves us more than we deserve.
“There is a wonderful story about Maya Angelou. She was an active member of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco. She wrote that years earlier 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.’
There are many people who are just like that. They think it is unbelievable that God would know me, that God would love me, that God would know my name. Just the grandness of it, as Maya Angelou says, that God would really love me. But that is the gospel. God seeks you until he finds you. She found that God found her, in San Francisco” (Sermons.com, Mark Trotter).
Maya Angelou was not lost in a major way; she had simply wandered away from God. Forgot how much God loved her. Yet there was joy in heaven when she returned. God rejoiced when their love connection was rekindled. And we have all benefited from that connection through her insightful writing and honesty. There will be more joy in heaven when one sinner repents, when one person is found, than over the ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. So rather than hiding from the parts of ourselves we don’t want anyone, especially God, to see, let us honor our lost parts and rejoice because God is persistent in looking for you. God is persistent in looking for each of us! God rejoices in heaven when you are found!
Richard Fairchild writes,
“Rejoice in your value.
Let the shepherd gather you in.
Rejoice in your worth.
Let the widow find you.
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.
The wonderful thing is that the lost part of us is as valuable to God as the found part, that God does not want any one of us or any part of one of us – to be ignored, neglected, or lost. God wants to bless us, all of us. God rejoices when one of us, or a part of us, is found!
God loves you.
God looks for you.
God wants to ease your pains.
God wants to make you whole.
Allow God to find you” (Sermons.com).
Rejoice! Rejoice with me, because the angels in heaven are rejoicing that you are found! Amen.
