Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-10ff

He lost the document he had been working on all morning. The laptop seized up and restarting meant his morning work plus all the prior study and preparation would be lost. He could search his files afterward, but it would be unlikely to find an unsaved document. What joy to discover after a "restart" that the document is found intact!

The young pup took off chasing another dog, thinking it all a game. A panicked young couple walks and drives the streets calling, whistling, searching, to no avail. Put a lost notice in the newspaper immediately! Worried tears as night settles in, only to be awakened by a soft whimper as the back door. Tears of joy shed over a dog which found his way home unharmed.

She knew the woods fairly well, but even that did not keep her from getting lost on a cloudy day in an attempt to take a short cut off the path. Wandering, where everything look unfamiliar from a different angle and no shadows cast from the light of the sun, she stopped to listen. She could hear the waves crashing and motor boats out on the lake. Relief. That was not the direct route home, but was a clear direction to find one’s way to the familiar, to find a road that led home. Tired but rejoicing.

Which way to go here in the crossroads of life? No going back. Unsure of the future. Which way? Lost in direction, in place, in purpose, in perspective, or in where the heart’s home lies. Joy, when body and soul find grounding.

Finding lost keys, recovering lost thoughts, renewing lost friendships, unearthing buried treasures found in dust laden storage, finding way in the lost places of life, all require effort, some persistence which upon repossession is cause for great joy. Finding and being found are gracious gifts.

The stories of holy scripture teach of God, "The Hound of Heaven" according to Francis Thompson (1893), who’s never ending care-filled, persistent, unrushed, pursuit is sacred search in order to love and be united with all - all things, creature and creation. God is the seeker. The God of scripture, time and time again, comes searching for a lost people, a lost community, lost individuals who have lost their way in desert places, or wandered aimlessly, or even like Jonah, who took off in the opposite direction to avoid God’s quest, who could not deal with God’s mercy. "How can I give you up?" says God whose compassion grows warm and tender (Hosea 11:8).

The gospel writer, Dr. Luke, records stories of God’s relentless pursuit of God’s beloved, to include all in that beloved-ness. Luke sends his gospel truth to "most excellent Theophilus" (Luke 1:3-4), perhaps an individual by that name but more likely a name for the whole community of God’s people. Theophilus combines two greek words, Theo=God, and philio=love, more precisely the mutual love of friendship. Theophilus may mean 'lover of God' or 'one who loves God' or 'loved of God' or 'God’s beloved'. Whether an individual or the whole community of the faithful, Luke directs his gospel stories to those learning and living in the gracious diversity of God’s embrace. Luke’s stories of ‘lost and found’ in chapter 15 is further evidence of the seeker God looking for the beloved who need to be found.

According to the text in chapter 15, Jesus directs his stories and teaching to the exclusionists among the religiously fervent who disapproved of those to whom Jesus gave himself. Luke makes clear through Jesus that God’s pursuit of the lost ones is what it means to be God, and, likewise what God would have each one of us do. God is like a shepherd who leaves the 99 found sheep to search for the one that is lost. God is like a woman who cleans and hunts and sorts and rummages around her home until she finds that precious small lost coin. God is like that father who loses his sons as they wander far from his love, who waits and pleads for each to come home and into his embrace. God steps out searching for the lost; each one and everyone both individually and corporately. It is God’s great joy, it is heaven’s joy, it is the joy of the host’s of heaven when the lost is found and is brought home into God’s embrace.

What is lost? Who is lost? What does it mean to be lost? How does one become lost? Is one ever 'A lost cause'? Is this about heaven and hell? about being saved and safe like long worked upon document found and 'saved' on a hard drive? about 'salvation'? Yes if we understand and recognize that the biblical notion of 'salvation' is about restoration, wholeness, completeness, wellness, filled-fullment, being found in grace.

Consider all the things, possessions you have once upon a time lost.
Consider all the lost hopes and dreams, lost opportunities you once held, that are no longer in your possession.
Consider lost relationships; lost friends, colleagues, even family members.

How were they lost? If they were found, how were they found. What effort was extended to find them? How did you respond in heart and mind? Did you give up on the pursuit or keep on until finding and restoring the lost made for celebrative joy?

Ever feel lost? in thought? in perspective? in direction of vocation? in love? in purposeful living? Ever feel lost in the midst of community, isolated and lonely like an island in a sea of humanity? Ever choose to be lost? unseen and unknown and unclaimed? Ever long to be found? pray to be found? Ever wonder, ‘what if there is no one interested in finding me, or noticing that I am lost?’

What about those stories of scripture; who are the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost children? What does this God of lost and found have to do with me? Are we the lost or are we to be like God and search for the lost ones? or do we leave it up to God to do the searching and finding of lost hearts, souls and lives? If God is the seeker, who are the sought for? If one is lost and found, for what purpose is the finding?

Could it be that this hound of heaven, the Good Shepherd, the relentless searching woman, the loving father, is seeking simply and profoundly to be mutually present and in love with us? According to the Westminster Catechism, the chief purpose of humanity is to love and be loved, to know and be known, to glorify and enjoy God forever, to live into being "theolphilus". According to the Heidelberg Catechism, the greatest comfort in life is to belong to God; body and soul, in life and in death always to be found in God’s presence and care. John Newton, previous slave ship captain writes, "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost but now am found". Even the Apostle Paul who had been absorbed in religious fervor in his earlier days tells of his being lost in ignorance only to be found through grace (I Tim 1:12-17). Saving grace of God is being found by and in God. Am I lost? or found?

And what of the lost ones who we don’t know? who we forget about? who are lost through disregard, lost because they are set aside as 'other', lost because they don’t fit the system’s 'norm', lost because no one gives them a second thought for they are 'not my responsibility', lost in war, oppression, or discrimination, orphaned from community care. How does the pursuing God of love search and find these lost ones? How does it feel to be seen and found and embraced and welcomed home in joy? Is there to be joy in the community of heaven when the lost are found? Could we be participants in the community of heaven? in being seekers as well as being sought? And what if we want to find our life in God? is there something about losing in order to find?

Perhaps like the TV series, LOST, life is a mystery in which we are all lost in time and space and purpose, until we are found in grace. Thank goodness for God’s persistence that we may be found. May we become more and more like this God even as we receive God’s grace. "O Love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee" (hymn writer, George Matheson).