"Sweep and Ye Shall Find"

 Sermon from Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

These stories of the “Losts” here in Luke – lost sheep, lost coin, lost son – especially the last one – are probably some of the most familiar in the entire Bible. A few years ago, Lutheran pastor Emmy Kegler wrote a book called “One Coin Found,” from her experience as of falling in love with the Bible, including these stories, and other passages that Christians have used against her and the queer community throughout her life. This may be familiar, because I believe many of you read this book not all that long ago.

Pastor Kegler was always deeply drawn to the story of all the “Losts,” and she rightly points out that people and sheep have agency. The sheep could wandered away elsewhere to find some food because she was hungry. The lost son (or sons, since both seem lost in their own way), choose to do what they do. But what is the coin’s excuse? It can’t move by itself. What’s the deal then? How did it get lost? Is God to blame for losing us, if we indeed are the lost coin in the story?

Emmy reminds us “God has never been careless with us, but those who claim to speak for God have.” Church leaders, not God, cause some of the most vulnerable sheet to be lost - to be disregarded and left to get dusty like the coin or starved for love like the sheep.

I really like Kegler’s description of God: hitching up her skirts to get down on the floor to search for her lost coins. Kegler writes of how “God has taken up a broom and cleared each corner, untucked and re-tucked each sheet and quilt, turned over pitcher after pitcher to see where we have landed.” 

Our own found stories probably look a little bit different from Pastor Kegler’s. But I think all of us have experience what it means to be hungry for something – for empathy, for acceptance, for someone to see our worth, for someone to love us for all of our flaws and brokenness, and the disappointment we feel when our deepest needs are not met by the very people that we believed cared about us. Most of us, I believe, HAVE felt the sting of rejection when those who seem to have everything – power, influence, comfort, privilege – sneer at you and judge you when you leave the “correct path” they have laid out for you, and judge you by using some misguided interpretation of God’s words.

Listen closely here to the words of Jesus, then. How then can we stand in the way of Jesus, when he very clearly stands in for the shepherd who abandoned the ninety-nine sheep to find the lost one, and the woman who stayed up late into the night to find her coin that had gone missing?

Perhaps we don’t have a lot of tax-collectors floating around anymore, but we all encounter people that we deem “undeserving,” and want to begrudge a seat at the table. The good news is that Jesus eats with everyone. …. all are given a spot next to Jesus.

The body of Christ is not complete until all of us are found in God and loved with dignity by those of us who call ourselves Christian. And yes, that might not just include feeding them…. But eating WITH them, at the same table, side by side, elbow to elbow… because that is where Jesus chooses to be found. With ALL of his flock.

At the end of our traditional funeral service, we hear these words: “Into your hands we commend your beloved servant. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive them into the arms of your mercy.” Nothing can separate us from the merciful arms of God. In life, and in death, we are loved, and we are known, and we are found. Because God will stop at nothing to gather those who are lost.

Some of us are feeling really lost right now. And there are a lot of lost people right now, in need some finding. Now it’s our turn, to tuck up our own skirts, find the lantern and broom, and join in the search, and also join in the rejoicing when one of us has been found. Thanks be to God. Amen.