Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 Psalm 14 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-10

Many years ago, on a Saturday afternoon in WT Grant’s department store in Great Bridge, I was tottering along beside the camel colored coattail, just at my eye level, of a woman I thought to be my mother.  Perhaps the woman spoke; something caused me to strain to look up; and, it was at that moment that I realized I was following the wrong camel colored coattail.  This woman was not my mother.  I WAS LOST.

Surely, it was only mere moments before I heard my mother call my name and I was reunited with the correct coattail of the coat being worn by my mother.  But, I will never forget that frightening sensation.  The WT Grant store has long been replaced by other businesses, but I believe that, even today, I could find my way to the very same spot inside the existing building where I stood paralyzed by fear.  Even after so many years have passed, the intensity of the fear of being lost remains.

Being lost is an experience all of us have had, I assume. We teach our children that as soon as they realize they have been separated from us in a crowd, they and we should return to the location where we were last together.  The greatest comfort, sometimes the only comfort, to being lost is the knowledge that someone who loves and cares for us will be missing us and, eventually, will begin to search for us.

Every year as we commemorate 9/11 and listen to the broadcast of remembrances, I am struck boldly by the thought that the reason we know the total number and the names of each person who died that fatal day eighteen years ago is, in every case, someone knew that person by name, loved and cared for that person, missed that person, and came searching for that person – a person who, in too many cases, could not respond to the calls of rescuers. Yet, they are never truly lost because someone loves them and keeps each memory alive.

Loss seems to be the theme of our Gospel lesson.  Jesus is challenged by his adversaries, the Pharisees and the scribes, who are incensed that those beyond the fringes of their traditional circle would be considered redeemable through God’s mercy.  Our text tells us that the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling. We can hear them saying, “Imagine those lost sinners being worthy of redemption by God.  And tax collectors – they collude with the Roman authorities to extort money from our own Jewish community.  Surely, there is no redemption for those lost souls.  What does this Jesus mean to accomplish by this madness?”  

But, with these parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, Jesus shatters the elitist boundaries of the Pharisees and the scribes – who considered themselves the gate keepers – themselves the ones who determined who was in and who was out – who was lost and who was found.   Jesus is emphasizing God’s unrelenting drive to search out and redeem any who are lost – not just those within the boundaries prescribed by these religious leaders.

Two thousand years later, we, too, should take heed of the boundaries prescribed by religious institutions of all faith traditions.  We should be vigilant constantly of the many ways we set elitist boundaries that transmit unwelcoming messages to those who have lost their way and are in most need of being found.

You see, the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin are not about our searching, but about our being found – and, not just being found, but fully redeemed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Fully redeemed, even though, time and again, we stray from the path and follow the wrong coattail.  Fully redeemed, as our Lord beckons us to return to the place where we last were present with him.  Fully redeemed, by the Lord who came to earth for this purpose – a Lord who seeks each and every one of us, calling us by name, never relenting in his efforts to bring us home to him.

The Apostle Paul expresses this gift of grace in this portion of his first letter to Timothy that we read this morning.

Today, on Welcome Back Sunday, we focus on and celebrate the mission and ministry of our Lord through the Church of the Advent.  We gathered yesterday to trim shrubbery and clean the yard, and to pull weeds and grass from the memorial garden.  We gathered yesterday as we do today because this is our sheepfold where we are known by name and embraced by one another in the love of Jesus Christ.  When any one of us is hurting or lost, we should know that someone in the sheepfold is searching for us.  As the Body of Christ, our mission is to search out and bring back to the fold any who have wandered astray.

Our mission in this community is of vital importance – incredibly significant in the hundreds of lives we touch through our ministries – hundreds of lost sheep we bring into the fold one by one in the name of Jesus Christ.

The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin are not about our seeking, but our being sought by the Good Shepherd who never ceases to reach out to us when we lose our way.  He calls each of us by name, and when he hears our voice in reply – when He sees that we recognize that we have been found – He gathers His entire kingdom with great celebration.  “Rejoice with me.” Our Lord says.  “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”