Lost?
September 15/13 17th after Pentecost Exodus 32:7-14 and Luke 15:1-10
Lost! There is a lot of emotion in that word. You probably all know what it is like to lose
something. You know that sinking feeling
in your stomach when you realize that something you value has just gone missing
– a lost purse, a lost key, a lost child – that is the worse – I had a very
scary half an hour once when my four year old son decided to wander out of the
fenced back yard – all my children love to climb –so the fence was mostly for
show– and he head down the street – we searched high and low for him – we went
up and down the street calling for him, we knocked on the neighbours doors – we
sent my older son out on his bicycle to the school yard and the play ground and
the arena. My then husband Rolly got in
the car and patrolled up and down calling and calling. we finally called the police when after what
seemed like forever we couldn’t find him- just as the police arrived we found
him a few houses away playing in a neighbours back yard sand box – he said he
didn’t hear us calling – when I found him – I was so relieved I cried, I hugged
and held him so close– and I was so angry I could have strangled him so I
hugged and held him even closer. The
relief that I felt was profound – such a contrast from the worry and the fear
that I felt when he was lost.
I’ve been
lost, in fact I have been lost many times – following directions is not my
strong suit. Most of the time I am able
to drive around and get my bearings and find where I need to go, and I am only
lost for a few minutes – but every once in a while I get myself totally turned
around. Once I was attending a workshop
in Waterloo – but I lived 7 hours north so the time I arrived in the KW area it
was after nine and quite dark out and I am driving around a city I am totally
unfamiliar with – I thought I knew where I was going – I stopped at a
university – drove around until I found a building with lights on – parked went
in found a person finally - only to
discover that I was in the wrong city –
I was in Guelph – so I got more directions to Waterloo and drove away – but
half way there I started to doubt where I was going, and I got myself turned
around and drove and drove – it is now after 10 and finally I pulled of the 401
and stopped at the police station in Cambridge – wrong city again. I am pretty freaked out by this point –
feeling lost – feeling afraid, feeling stupid that I can’t seem to get to where
I am suppose to get to at this point I just wanted to go home – but home was 7
hours away– I had to get out and use the phone on the door of the police
station where a kind a helpful police officer, was able to talk me down – give
me the directions I needed (which I actually followed this time) and within a
half an hour I was pulling into the residents of Conrad Grebel at the
University of Waterloo – it was such a relief to see my name on a check in
list. I was found!
It is a
whole other type of lost that the people of Moses time are experiencing. For their lostness is about losing a sense of
who they are and whose they are. They
lost themselves and allowed their fear and anxiety to rule. So as soon as Moses heads up the mountain –
chaos follows.
So the people of God – the chosen
people of God have come into the desert after they have been freed by God –
have come into the desert as a sanctuary as they have now are no longer slaves
but are free – they have all the food they need – although it is a bit
redundant – manna – but it is nutritious, and make bread and comes every
morning – enough so no one is going hungry – and they have water – and they
have leadership and they have friends and family surrounding them – and the big
deal is that they are no longer slaves – no one is working them to death – they
had been liberated from their bondage are free
- you think that they would be content, that they would be happy, that
life although difficult is easier and freer.
But no – because not long after Moses – their leader – goes on the
mountain to spend time with God – the people become restless – and anxious and
fearful and discontent – and pretty soon all these emotions start to play out
in a destructive manner – Where is God – they say – God is not here, how could
God do this to us – to leave us here in the middle of this barren lands – where
is God, there is no God – we need to make a god – we need to create a god a god
we can understand and a god we can see in front of us – a god that is not like
Moses god - we don’t like the ambiguous God of Moses – the one we can’t see that
is so big it is hard to get a handle on – who comes in wind and fire and
thunder – so let us make our own God – one we can control – one we can
understand one we can see and touch.
Let us build
us a god – let us gather up our jewelry – our valuable our gold and melt it all
down and create for ourselves a golden statue – of a calf – let it look like a
god of our past – the Apis bull, which will connect us to the pharaoh – the
self proclaimed god of Egypt – what better than to use Egyptian god to mold out
of the decorations of the former slaves – and create a statue that we can
worship and bow down to and make offerings to.
We have lost our way – so let us return to what we know even though it
enslaves us – even though it is ridiculous – paying homage to a gold cow so
that our fears will be assuaged – bizarre!
How lost the
people have become. The people are so lost
that it takes Moses quite a bit of effort to get God – the God – Yahweh - God
of Abraham and Isaac and Joseph and Moses – to not punish the people for their
faithlessness – to remember the covenant and to forgive them their lostness. Brian
Jones at Working Preacher writes:
“Humans cause God grief and suffering, but God does not withdraw or give
up. In costly love God embraces humanity, though pierced in the act. God
suffers none to be lost but pursues each wandering lamb, frantically searches
for each lost coin. And when the lost turn back, God’s heart is glad.”[1]
A shepherd
looses a sheep out of his flock of 100 – and he goes and searches until the one
lost sheep is found – and then he celebrates – this says Jesus is how God loves
the lost. A woman has lost one of her
precious 10 coins, and so she sweeps through every nook and cranny of her home
until the lost coin is discovered and then she celebrates the finding of the
coin – this says Jesus is how God loves the lost. A father’s youngest son get lost in the world
but eventually finds his way home again – and the father runs out to great him
and throws him a huge welcome home party – this says Jesus is how God loves the
lost.
It is easy to get lost – to lose our way - to
get turned around - to become confused about the direction we are going. Sometimes we become lost on our life journey’s – the reasons are many– and yet they
all can leave with a feeling of being disconnected, alone, sad, hurt, distanced
from others, a feeling of being lost –
it could be if you
·
Have
a chronic disease that is unrelenting
·
You
are in the midst of a financial crisis
·
A
child you love is making choices which are harmful to themselves or others
·
You
lost the love of your life to death or divorce
·
There
is a rift in your family and members have not spoken to each other for years or
·
Your
just plain sad – for no outward reasons but the spark of life has faded away
It is easy
to get lost – but it is gift and grace to be found. And God wants to find us – like the sheep
that has wandered away from the fold – like the shepherd God searches for us,
and like the coin that has gone missing from the purse – God sweeps though the
household looking, leaving no drawer unopened.
Like the son who returns home after
a long exile, God embraces the prodigal and celebrates his return.
Being found is
gift and grace.
God’s
community is not complete without everyone being accounted for – it’s about
God’s desire to bring everyone into community so that it will be complete.
A commentator
at Feasting on the Word writes: “When we
are lost, for any reason, be it foolishness, grief, sorrow, loss of faith,
ignorance, fatigue, anger, or obtuseness, God searches us out and never leaves
our side. Whether we know God’s presence or not, God is with us. We are wise
when we trust this reality and allow this truth to be our guide. God loves us
unconditionally and will never let us go.”[2]
God searches
for us until we are found – just like me searching for my son – you do not give
up no matter what and that is how God seeks us.
We are God’s beloved children, always welcomed home in God’s loving embrace.
Well said! And, wow, so glad you found your son...also, I was lost driving once....lost for hours in one city...it is so disorienting to be lost that way!
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