Sunday, September 15th, 2013
Trinity Anglican Church, Bradford, ON
The Rev. Daniel F. Graves
Text: Luke 15:1-10
“There is much joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.”
-Luke 15:10.
There are many ways in which we can become lost or feel
lost. In today’s gospel we hear of a God
who rejoices in the recovery of lost sinners.
It is like finding the one lost sheep, or the one lost silver coin –
even though you may still have ninety-nine more sheep, or nine more silver
coins, you still rejoice in the recovery of the one that was lost because it is
so precious. The passage that follows
this one, that beloved parable of the prodigal, speaks of the recovery of a
lost and found son – moving the analogy away from chattel and money, to a
person, a son, something even more precious.
Sin is but one way we can become or feel lost. When we sin we separate ourselves from the ones
we love, and from God. There is much emphasis in Scripture and in Christian
theology about how sin can destroy lives and break communities. What we sometimes forget to emphasize, though
is the restoring and healing power of the grace of God. I once heard of a pastor who preached
twenty-six week sermon series on sin. I
thought, “I sure hope he spends another twenty-six weeks (at least) on grace!” The
point is not that we should not talk about sin – it is a reality with which we
all struggle – but rather that we should talk abundantly about grace.
Every community and every individual will struggle with sin
and its effects. This is no different
for us as a parish, or for us as individuals.
But let us hold fast to our faith and hope that God’s grace is not only
the remedy but the answer to sin.
I do want to propose another idea, though, which much more
radical, and yet in some ways might seem like a “no-brainer”, namely, that God’s
grace is the remedy and answer to so much more than sin. Thus, when we hear of God rejoicing over the
recovery of lost sinners in the parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, or lost
son, I think we might open our ears and our hearts to hearing more about God’s
grace than his delight over the recovery of sinners, only, as wonderful a thing
as that is!
There are many times in life when we feel or find ourselves
lost. It may be the result of sin, to be
sure, but perhaps it was someone else’s sin that has hurt and isolated us. Or perhaps it was an inexplicable,
uncontrollable turn of events. Or
perhaps it is just the circumstances of life, of aging, or of illness that
makes us feel lost. Is there help for us
on these occasions? Is there grace for us in these moments?
I want to think for a moment about these last few years in
our parish. This week we begin our
fourth year together in shared ministry in this community. The events that brought us together were, to
be frank, as series of unhappy events.
This parish had known much
hardship and had felt betrayed. I think
it safe to say that amongst many of you there was a feeling of being lost as a
church. For my own part, I left for the
first time in my life my own home town where I was comfortable, accepted and at
home, to enter into a new ministry in a place where I was not sure I would be
accepted, and with an expectation that caused much fear and trembling. While I was excited, I have to admit to
feeling a little bit lost, and out of my depth.
And yet, something wonderful and remarkable happened that brought us,
together, from that feeling of being lost and from that place of fear: that
something was God’s grace.
In these three years together we have worked hard. In these
three years together we have accomplished much.
In these three years together we have found much healing. And what has been the cause of all of this?
We can speak of hard work, and we have worked hard together to be sure, but I
think what we must really speak about is the grace of God. People can work
hard, but without God’s grace can we really accomplish the goals of the
kingdom?
We are called to be faithful, and I believe that over the
years, in the midst of great adversity you have been faithful; this parish has
remained ever-faithful. As a priest, I
am called to be faithful and model faithfulness, but like you, I am human and
can easily falter and fail. We have come
through challenging times, but we celebrate accomplishments today because not a
single one of them has been achieved without faithfulness. And we celebrate the one who has been
faithful through it all, even when our faithfulness has seemed precarious. We
celebrate our Lord, and his faithfulness. We celebrate the faithfulness of
God. We celebrate that even though we
have felt lost, we have been found. We celebrate even more humbly and joyfully
because we realize from Scripture that God rejoices over the recovery of what
seemed lost.
I believe that healing, restoration, wholeness – these things
are the victory of God. Healing, restoration,
and wholeness is the journey we have been on together, with Christ as our
master and our guide. As darkness turns
to light in his presence the road is made easier and more navigable. Healing,
restoration and wholeness is the journey which is really only brought to
completion at the consummation of all things when Christ draws all unto himself
and is all in all, when the dead rise in perfect glory. Yet, the healing, restoration, and wholeness
we experience along the way is evidence and a signpost of that complete and
perfect healing we shall know in Christ at the last. I believe we can be confident that God
rejoices with us today as we find ourselves on this place along the road. And that is truly a gift for this present
moment, and so we should rejoice today as well.
Therefore, we praise and thank God for his faithfulness in
leading us from being lost. We thank God for finding us as we grope along the
way, taking questionable turns and following meandering paths. We thank God because in reality, although we
may feel lost at times, he has never really lost us, we just lose ourselves,
but in Christ, we are never, ever lost to God.
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