02/07/2024 0 Comments
Sermon - 15 09 19
Sermon - 15 09 19
# Sermons
Sermon - 15 09 19
This weeks Sermon... Lost
Now…
Being a vicar is mostly a joy and such a blessing
until it comes to keys..
Can you see why?
And my problem is because there are so many
And because I need them often
I’m forever thinking I have lost them..
On Thursday night..
I went one better
I thought I had put my office keys on the table
Down stairs in the parish office
I Slammed my office
The Yale gave a satisfying clunk as the door shut..
yes it was most definitely locked
But..
as I gathered everything to leave
I realised I had slammed the door
with the keys in the office…
So this time I lost my keys with a difference
I was locked in..
Not locked out.
Usually when I loose my keys
there is a hunt through my handbag
The central control in the car
My office ….
My study
And then I retrace my steps..
they are somehow never where I think they will be
But after intense looking
I always find them..
It’s the intense looking
The determination which enables them to be found
This time Neil was the determined one
As I rang him
and rather embarrassingly said “could you bring your key to the parish office round please?
He laughed…
And then turned upwith the spare key
to open the parish office door and let me out
then at a later stage he “broke into my office”
to recover my lost keys
I was so very relieved when he did
That a little dance of joy ensued..
It’s a pain when we loose things that matter
Be that work on the lap top
Or a person we love
And we have felt that pain this week
As we have lost Myles from among us this week…
The parable Jesus tells today
Mirrors that pain we feel when we loose someone
Because just as we all love Myles
Jesus loves him and us too..
And this is what Jesus was attempting to have the
Sadducees and the Pharisees understand
When Jesus was sat with the tax collectors
The sadducees and the Pharisees
Were all moaning at Jesus
They thought he was sitting with
“the wrong sort of people”
Yet what Jesus pointed out
to those who did not like the company he kept
Was that those people were being hypocritical
Not living out their faith as the faith meant them to
And all Jesus wanted…
and wants ….
is for each of us
Every single one of us
To know how loved all people are to God
So to do this he set about telling them the story
of the lost sheep
And the party..
Who does the sadducees and Pharisees
Reaction remind you of?
Well they remind me of the second son
n the story of the prodigal son
He sulked
because his dad looked for the son who was lost
And because dad threw a party when the lost son
The prodigal was found..
If that wasn’t enough
Jesus tells them the story of the lost coin
And how the woman searched high and low
putting on the lights and looking for the coin
And then as she found it.. rejoicing…
she too threw a party..
I can feel that joy
Each time I remember finding my keys
The joy of finding the special thing that mattered..
Yesterday afternoon I went one better and lost
all that I had prepared for today..
Sitting around the table with Andy and Jan
We were all looking in the different drives
on my Mac
After about an hour of looking
I decided to turn off the Mac and pray
And as soon as I stopped and prayed
I remembered that I was in the family drive
Not the parish drive..
And hey presto
There was everything found
And up went my arms with the words
Allelulia… Allelulia..
So..
waiting to be guided
and asking for guidance
Letting Jesus find me in the every day
Was what I needed to do..
Sometimes we forget
that we don’t have to keep on doing things our way
We don’t have to do as we always have done
Sometimes we forget
that Jesus wants to meet us and save us
Because even those of us who know and love him
Don’t always give the time
To be found by Jesus in the present..
Remember
Jesus wants us to be in his presence always..
And just as Adam and Eve
When they were lost and hiding in the garden
God searched for them
Called them in the garden..
God calls us too..
Seeks us … always..
And when we turn again
When we listen again
When we are found again
We have joy
And all in heaven rejoice..
The missing sheep
And the missing coin
The missing son
My missing keys
Are important vitally important to each person
Who sought them out..
Just as we are important to God..
And when we separate our selves from God
By our behaviours
God does all he can to peruse us
He never leaves us
He continues to call for us
He continues to love us
And call us back to him..
In fact he pursues us..
Just as last week when we discussed
Giving our all
And not having a cut price Jesus
Jesus wants to save us and restore us
From the world and from ourselves
And what is implicit in these stories
Is that each person loved by God
Is the same person you can look into the eyes of
When ever you talk to another person
When ever you think of another person
God loves them equally
Jesus pursues and forgives them equally.
And that pursuing is intentional
Its not about letting us just go
And get on living with our free will
Its about caring and guiding us in our free will
Shepherds don’t just leave lone sheep
Or watch them as they wander off
They pursue them
These days on quads with dogs
The shepherd leave the safe gathered sheep
And pursues the single sheep
The woman lights her house and looks every where
For her coin
The father waits and waits
Constantly watching for his son
He allowed him to leave
And take all of the Father’s respect
from the community with him
Yet the father
The shepherd
The woman
They all delight
when they find what they have lost ..
When you loose something you search for it..
God loves us so much that he came to look among us
For the lost and the weak
Luke 19 verse 10 tells us that Jesus came to earth
to save the lost
And John 13:17 tells us
that God did not sent Jesus to condemn and harm us
But to save each of us
Through all he did for us on the cross..
The last thing we are recognising today
Is a party
A celebration
Rejoicing
A party
The shepherd threw a party
The father threw a party
And the woman who found her coin threw a party
The biggest party I think is in heaven
Because Jesus tells us
that when one lost person is found the angels rejoice
Now I bet that is ONE PARTY..
I imagine every time someone turns to Jesus
Someone remembers his presence with us
Someone says sorry
Someone accepts Christ into their lives
There is a heck of a celebration
I can almost imagine balloons and banners
Being waved
The most amazing party ever to be held
The feast of the lamb.
I am re-imagining heaven just about every day
At the moment..
And this week I had cause to re-imaine heaven again
For another soul made it home
I imagine the arms of Jesus were opened wide
The party began
And the music rocked
The celebration will have been amazing
As Myles was taken home
To be with his Father God
Amen…
.
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