Sermon - 15 09 19

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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