Sunday Homily - September 15th, 2019 - Lost and Found

Christ Finds the Lost Sheep Icon

I.

I don't like to brag
 or toot my own horn about a lot of things.
  But there is something I'm particularly confident about:
   I am really really good
    at losing my keys.

I'm telling y'all, it is a daily struggle.
 You would think that the advent of pockets would solve that particular problem.
  But, oh no, I'm way to skilled to let pockets get in my way
   of losing my darn keys constantly!

And it isn't for a lack of attempted solutions
 that I still lose my keys on a weekly basis!

I've had multiple spots in the house where I tell myself,
 "Okay, if I'm done with my keys for the day,
  I will always put them right here on my dresser."
   Well, what do you think I do when the keys aren't on my dresser
    and neither are they in my pocket?
   
Thus ensues the weekly ritual of trying to retrace my steps
 rethink my day,
  revisit every last nook and cranny of my house, my car, my clothes
   in an attempt to find where those darn keys ran off to!

Sometimes, they are easy to remember where I left them.
 A couple weeks ago, I was getting to church in the morning
  and walked up the exterior stairs on the other building.
   And as I got to the top, I fumbled my keys right out of my hand,
    and they skipped off the metal steps
     and fell right into the bushes 1 story below where I was standing.
     
It was easy to remember where they went,
 but the bushes were still pokey!
  The things I go through for those keys!

Sometimes, the keys are really difficult to find.
 I sometimes go multiple days without knowing where a set of keys go,
  and then I get distraught because I come to the slow reality
   that I might have to get all my keys re-cut
    and I'll have to get new car keys with the REALLY expensive fobs on them
     that help you unlock and lock your car.
      And then, just when all hope is lost,
       those darn keys find their way back somehow
        and I become perhaps the happiest and most excited person in the world!

I'm such a clumsy and predictable person about my keys.
 But I can say this for sure:
  nothing in this world feels quite as good as when I find those keys that I lost.
   It doesn't matter how many times I do it,
    it doesn't really matter whose fault it is for losing them,
     but I can't get over the relief and the joy of finding those darn keys. 

I imagine that y'all have things in your life that you constantly lose as well, right?

The t.v. remote? That one's a good one.
 Your cell phone? And when you lose your cell phone, it's on silent, isn't it?
  Maybe sometimes your kids? I mean, I just left them right here a moment ago!

And I also imagine you know something of the relief and joy of finding those things again.
 Ah, the remote was between the chair cushions the whole time!
  Ah, I dropped my cell phone under the couch!
   Ah, the kids are just outside playing!

Losing things and finding things happens all the time.

And it is a theme that God uses to speak to us about the joy of seeking the lost,
 and rejoicing that they have been found again.

II.

Our Lord Jesus's parables this morning,
 the parable of the 1 lost sheep
  and the parable of the lost coin:
   it was all to get us to recognize what truly matters to God
    and what true joy is found in the kingdom of heaven
     when the lost are found.

Think about how powerful Jesus's words are!

"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? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' 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."

"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? 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.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
 [Luke 15:1-10 NRSV]

Jesus calls to mind the very mundane kind of "lost and found" that we experience in our lives.

"Which one of you, when you lose your keys, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until you find it? And when you find it, you call together your friend and neighbors and say, 'I finally found those dadgum keyes!'"
 Oh, is that just me? Alright then, I gotcha.

But, friends, its that child-like, warm, bubbly, sometimes goofy excitement
 of telling others that you found what you had lost
  that Jesus is really getting at here.

Because guess what?
 When just one person comes to know God and recognizes that they were lost,
   and when they repent, which means "change your mind" and "turn,"
    Jesus says there is more joy in heaven over just one sinner that repents.
     There is more joy in heaven over one who is broken who cries out to God
      to make them whole again
       than there is for anyone who needs no repentance.

And, guess what friends:
 everyone in this room, whether you have been Christians all your life
  or whether you have just come in the doors for the first time,
   every single one of us needs repentance.

Because in repentance,
 where we get to the end of our ropes,
  when we just throw up our arms and say,
   "God, I need you I need you, I just don't know what to do anymore,"
     THAT is where God will meet you most clearly.

In that broken, uncomfortable repentance where we say,
 "God, I've tried so hard to fix myself,
  I've tried everything, and I just can't get better.
   I can't do it alone!"
    And in that repentance, God runs to you to be with you,
     and God rejoices more that you have come home
      than over anything else in the universe!

But it isn't just God who rejoices over the repentant:
 notice what Jesus says in our Gospel:
  "there is joy in heaven"
   "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God."

The citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven also share in that child-like,
 bubbly, warm, sometimes goofy excitement
  that someone who was broken now has found the God who heals them,
   that someone who was homeless has now come home to the Kingdom of Heaven,
    that someone who was lost and alone has all of a sudden found
     that they have been found by brothers and sisters that they didn't know they had
      and by the very God who created them and loves them more than they can know.
   

III.

Friends in Christ,
 there is a word that we call this thing when God finds us and heals us:
  it is called "Salvation."

That first part of that word, "Salve"
 is all about healing.

And what better "Salve" can there be than to be found by the Triune God
 who loves you so much
  that God actually came down to be human like us in Jesus Christ
   and to live and die and rise again that you can live again
    and so that you may be healed of your sin and brokenness.

As the hymn would say,
 "What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
   to lay aside his crown for my soul, for my soul?
    To lay aside his crown for my soul?"
     ["What wondrous love is this," Wondrous Love, Hymn #439 in Hymnal 1982]

This is the Gospel message that we all here are called to carry into the world
 and to share with everyone we meet,
  whether that be in our words, in our actions, or in our interior life of faith with Jesus.

And this, friends, is why it is so important for us to invite people to come to church with us!
 This is why Church
  [which is us, the people, not the building]
   should be the place that rejoicing is palpable when just one person comes to faith in Jesus.

Because, friends, WE are the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven right now!
 We are that chorus that join in with the joyful singing and worship of God
   that break into rejoicing,
    that child-like, bubbly, warm, sometimes goofy excitement
     when just one person comes to join us in saying to God
      "I can't do it on my own!"
       And God and all of us respond,
        "You don't have to do it on your own any more!"

Our worship of God,
 whether it be on Sundays, or on Wednesdays, or in our personal prayers
  is always about this rejoicing over lost and found.

And in the words of the legendary hymn,
 we join in giving thanks to God for finding us:

"Amazing grace,
 how sweet the sound,
  that saved a wretch like me.
   I once was lost,
    but now am found.
     Was blind, but now I see."

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.