Sermon Sunday 20th October: Pester Power

Jeremiah 31: 31-34
Luke 18: 1-8

If at first you don’t succeed – try, try again.... as I discovered with the children, generally when we are learning; and when we are preparing; and when something is really worth it – it takes time.

In our grown up world, this is a lesson we have learned – and one that advertisers and merchandisers know all too well: if you repeat it often enough, then eventually people will remember your slogan; your product; your promise.

 Pester power works – and today’s parable shows that pester power is timeless! Not a new invention at all.

There is Pester Power in both of today’s readings; similar but different:

In the Old Testament – it is God who persists, continuing to love, continuing to honour the covenant, even though many would say the people didn’t deserve it.

Yet God remains faithful.

God’s love is eternal, never-ending: Perfectly Persistent. 
What a contrast with the Grumpy Old Man in Jesus’ parable!
Here is a man of power and influence: the judge; who nevertheless is not a very nice man.
He’s not only grumpy; he isn’t fair either.
He respects no one; he has no regard for God, or God’s Law.
And, even in the face of a cut & dried case, he won’t act for this widow.

She however is made of strong stuff!

She doesn’t take no for an answer! She knows she is in the right, so she persists.
She understands the timeless truth of Pester Power!
I imagine she began in hope; returning every few weeks. But as time went by she became more resolute: so she stepped it up... to weekly perhaps.
By now I can also imagine those around her were beginning to tell her to give it up; to admit defeat.
But she is stronger than that. She has right on her side.
So she steps it up again – daily.
Waiting outside the court; following him to dinner; waking early so as to greet him leaving his house.

He may have been disrespectful and unfair and partial in his judgement; but he also knew when he was beat!

He gave in, just to get some peace.

Pester Power… not nagging but the persistence of Godly love, which nags at us, and enables us to grow, to move, to forgive, to speak the truth in love. Contrast that with the Grumpy-Old-Man judge, who gave in, not out of love, but exasperation.

When Jesus tells the parable of the widow persevering in her demands for justice in the face of the opposition of an uncaring judge, He is offering His listeners (including us!) a memorable image of what persevering in prayer means.

I am sure we all have times when we feel that prayer is getting us nowhere - that it is all a waste of time - and been tempted to lose heart and give up.

Jesus knew this would happen - in fact, He had probably met people who had felt their prayers weren’t answered - and many who had lost heart.

It is a fact of prayer that there will be times when we won’t get what we ask for - however fervently we pray.

Others may “reassure” us and say that we are not praying for the right thing. They are probably right - but it isn’t much of a consolation.

 

Sometimes, our prayer isn’t asking for anything - and we still feel that God isn’t listening - even to our words and prayers of praise and thanksgiving.

There is no easy explanation for this. It simply is the way it is!

It is our challenge; our task to continue, because when the time comes and we are able to look back – suddenly we can see answered prayers; we can see solutions and responses

The easiest option when facing any challenge - in all aspects of our life - may seem to be to give it all up as a bad job! In the short-term, this may even seem to have been the right thing to do.

 But somewhere inside, there usually remains a niggle - what if I had...?

We may see people who faced the same challenge as us and who did see it through - and we see their growth as people.

Witnessing that, we realise what might have been; what can be possible – if we just keep trying.

Jesus is trying to encourage His disciples to see beyond the short-term and the supposed non-response from God.

Because, if, in the end, even the unjust judge caves in and gives justice - how much more can we trust that the God of Justice will see justice done for us.

Jesus concludes - rather sadly it seems - by asking “Will He find any faith on earth?” 

Jeremiah reminds us that God’s perfect persistence in loving us is unending;

Jesus reminds us that persistence pays off

Pester Power doesn’t need to be a negative wearing down and giving in

It can be; it should be – a beautiful, powerful, relational conversation between us and the Creator: because God is not the Grumpy-Old-Man judge who gives in just to regain his peace

God is our loving parent: who forgives us; listens to us and Perfectly, Persistently Loves

If we can hold that – then the answer to Jesus’ question, “Will the Son of Man find faith on earth?” is yes!! Yes! Yes!

Amen

Misunderstandings, perceptions, gratitude and the Glory of God - Sermon Sunday 13th October

2 Kings 5: 1-15c

Luke 17: 11-19

(Note: this is a "skeleton sermon" - the lines in italics will /may be expanded on during the talk)

 

 

Dermatitis, eczema, prickly heat, psoriasis, vitiligo and Haines disease.... all different skin conditions.

All conditions that affect not only health, but general well being too. Some because they make you feel ill; but mostly because they look so bad – and that causes others to be fearful.

The stories we heard today in both the Old and New Testaments are about dreaded skin diseases... and in those days any skin break out was treated as worst case: leprosy, because there was no way to tell which was which. Thus, a nasty case of prickly heat could result in being ostracised for a while until you could show your skin was clear again.

Haines disease – what is colloquially called leprosy was not fully distinguished until the 19th century. So, we have no way of knowing exactly what conditions the characters in these bible stories really had – except that they were bad enough (in the case of the 10 men) to have them isolated and needing mutual support; and, desperate enough to try any cure (in the case of Naaman)

 These tales tell us lots of things about the nature of humanity; the Ten Lepers, and the curing of Naaman - Misunderstandings, perceptions, gratitude and the Glory of God.

And on first glance they are very simple; dreaded skin diseases being cured by simple means and (some of) those cured turning to praise God.

The title of my reflections is mostly about the story of Naaman and Elisha- though perhaps also about the kings in the story....

The little slave girl very definitely said “go to the prophet”; but when Naaman went to his king for permission to go, his king sent him to the Israelite king.

And his letter was terse: cure my man!!

And I wonder at this point:

Why didn’t Naaman say anything?
            (because he assumed it had to be the power seat perhaps)

What happens when pride gets in the way?

            (we want to be important; we don’t want it to be too simple)

Why didn’t the king immediately think to send him to Elisha?

            (because he thought in terms of nation and defence and strength – not in the old hermit prophet who was God’s messenger)

Why the wild panic?!

Why assume it was a trick – spoiling for a fight?!
            (cf. above; because let’s face it, if you were asked to do something miraculous what would your first thought be?!)

Once that particular difficulty is sorted out we have the next!!

Naaman – the big commander; used to being honoured and obeyed and feared.

His sense of outrage is excessive!! His pride gets in the way
This prophet sends a servant
And instead of some complex ritual; or mysterious ceremony – he is asked to go bathe in the river – SEVEN times!!
It seems so lame; so ordinary – he has wanted extraordinary – and at least some sort of contact with the great man himself.

But Elisha knows that it is not about him; it is about God. (And Elisha does not presume to be a great man; his pride is virtually nonexistent)

And mercifully Naaman’s servants are much more sensible than their master!

Pointing out the obvious
Persuading him to comply
And then... then of course it does become all about God

All about the Glory of God

All this got me thinking about what we do, how we live right now in our time.

How we too, can jump to conclusions; not listen properly; assume we know what is being asked, when actually, what is happening is something all together different.... how relationships can be damaged and broken because we do not pause to listen properly.

How sometimes, it takes the voice of someone else, to remind us who we are and where we fit, in the grand scheme of things
There are things that draw us together;
And there are things that keep us apart

I am pretty sure, that each one of us can think back, remember, and maybe cringe a little over a friendship or a situation, or a workplace incident where pride got in the way of progress; or thoughtlessness made things go far more badly than was necessary.

(Friends who are no longer in our lives?)

Sometimes those things are only with us for a season; sometimes longer.

But whatever it is: God is there; God who never misunderstands our intent; God who never assumes the worst, or the best.

God who knows us, and our friends, and every situation, far better that we can – thank goodness!!

Baby Love

Today’s Friday is about babies. and this week, I have an hour or so to kill, and therefore some time to contemplate and play!

Tell us about babies in your life, of all kinds, even ideas!
Tell us about the babies you’ve paid attention to in your life:

1. babies of family or friends:
my babies, my boys, especially relevant this wekend, as (hopefully) this time tomorrow I shall have all three of them together for the weekend. This is precipitated by middle son George about to depart to Canada for a whole year. (sigh) So we are going to have a fun-filled, food sharing, free-spirited, fabulous family gathering. Which makes me very, very happy



2. animal babies: when the boys were boys (as opposed to the young men they all are now) we filled the house with animal babies - well, that MAY be an exaggeration! We had numerous small rodents, mostly Russian Hamsters; and one lovely, beautiful puppy - who turned into a dear and faithful companion (for her story see blog from January 2011 "On death & dying"). It taught us all about caring for those who really need us: without us the hamsters would die: they needed food and water and fresh bedding. It was a good thing: it also helped them and me to learn about how we deal with life and death. Little hamsters only live for a couple of years and taking your children through rituals, and bereavement over  "Speedy" is as painful as it can be; yet is also a beautiful thing to do: that garden where they grew up has at least three little graves!!

3. babies you remember in movies or on tv: hmm... lol!! OK: this may come under the title of guilty pleasure!! I love, love to watch all those reality midwife/ birth/ hopsital documentaries. I cry at every birth; and I am totally gripped.

4. babies in the Bible: Isaac; Moses; John; Jesus: each story has a miraculous, wondrous quality, either because of how they were conceived or how they survived against all the odds. When my oldest boy Rick was about 9 or 10; he was asked at bible class what his favourite bible story was. And he chose the story of Isaac and Abraham's visit up the mountain to make a sacrifice. When asked why, he said it was because it shows that even in the very worst situation (your Dad's going to sacrifice you!) God is there, and God will sort it out.

5. anything that may be a “baby” arising in your own life: my current .... obsession.... yes, think it probably is an obsession, is "The Most Organised Wedding in the World Ever that Doesn't have a Date Yet" - mine!!! Ceremony; Music; Dresses, Invitations, Place settings; Menus; Party; Quizzes; Cake you name it, I have it, or have plans for it!! And some day... some day soon, I trust I will have a date too!!

Sermon 6th October: the Seeds of Faith, Trust & Love

Psalm 37: 3-9

Luke 17: 5-10  

Another week; another parable! And another enigmatic answer to a seemingly simple request.

And, it seemed to me as I read and prepared, question after question was raised

But before we get to that let’s just take a look at the Psalm… psalm 37, if you look at its ‘title’ in our church bible it says “The Destiny of the Wicked and of the Good”

Very forceful! It is also very important to remember that those titles, and the little paragraph headers in your bible are NOT part of the text; they have simply been put there by the compilers to aid understanding, or point you in a particular direction. And if you were to compare it with other translations you will find different headers and different places for the headers.

Now, if we had picked up that psalm without a header attached, what would we have thought it was about?

The few verses we read are all about what happens when we trust God; wait for God and keep the faith.
A simple premise
“Trust in him, and he will help you” (v.5b)

One of the reasons I wanted to point you to the psalm is as a reminder to us all that these were days of memory learning; of knowing scriptures; no access to a bible in your pocket, or nowadays on your phone or tablet (lol!!!) scripture was known and studied and loved. So that even the couthy Galileans who followed Jesus knew what scripture said on such things.

 The disciples have just heard Jesus say that they must forgive; over and over – seven times in one day if necessary. And this seems such a tall order; such a difficult task that they ask, “Give us greater faith”

As if having an endless supply of faith would mean that they could do everything and anything.

What do you think they were asking for? Do you think they really knew?

Forgiveness is difficult.

Mind you, admitting you’re wrong and saying sorry and asking for forgiveness isn’t exactly easy either!!

Jesus doesn’t answer the request (of course) nor does he suggest how they could make things better, instead he tells them that they could do astonishing things if they had as much faith as a mustard seed.
A tiny wee dot.
If they had a dot of faith they could uproot trees and move them by will.

But faith doesn’t come as a measurable thing; you can’t weight it; or measure it; or quantify it. Faith isn’t even a conscious thing necessarily. I think it can creep up on you when you are least expecting it; surprise you; influence the way you live and the way you behave.

And there’s the connection suddenly to the master/ servant relationship, which on first reading seems so incongruous. But is actually the nub of what Jesus was trying to get them to understand.

Make our faith greater

A tiny dot of faith will enable great things

A slave doesn’t need thanks for doing his duty
The slave/ servant expects to work all day and wait on the master before he gets his own food and rest. It is just as things are, his bounden duty.

We are servants of God; when we accept that then a whole series of other things come into play too.

We are duty bound to follow God’s commandments, to obey and therefore we are bound to live lives of faith.

Remember the psalm?

Trust in God; wait patiently for God and he will help you.

The commandments can be summed up in one simple phrase: Love God Love Others Love Yourself.

If we do that, we are living lives of faith
For as soon as we let love into our lives lots of other things follow
Love leads to
Forgiving
Accepting
Growing
Faith

3 Trust in the Lord and do good; live in the land and be safe.

4 Seek your happiness in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desire.
5 Give yourself to the Lord; trust in him, and he will help you; (Psalm 37)

And do you know what is even better than that?!

Each one of those really is like a seed: plant love in your life and it grows; nurture a forgiving spirit and it grows; and then more and more good things can creep in: acceptance and trust and kindness all growing out of that tiny seed of faith.

No!

I didn’t plant faith in that list
Because it is faith that enables all those things
It was there all the time; even before you knew it; even before you recognised it.
How much is enough faith?
It doesn’t really matter how you answer that.
Enough faith is enough
It doesn’t need to be measured or weighed – it simply is.

Love God, Love Others, Love Yourself: live a faithful life. 

The Fruits of our Labours

Here is the Sermon for Sunday 29th September - it may or may not be what I actually preach today! But the general theme is there!

 

A reflection on the Rich Fool (Luke 12: 13-21)

13 A man in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us." 14 Jesus answered him, "Friend, who gave me the right to judge or to divide the property between you two?" 15 And he went on to say to them all, "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be." 16 Then Jesus told them this parable: "There was once a rich man who had land which bore good crops. 17 He began to think to himself, "I don't have a place to keep all my crops. What can I do? 18 This is what I will do,' he told himself; "I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, where I will store the grain and all my other goods. 19 Then I will say to myself, Lucky man! You have all the good things you need for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself!' 20 But God said to him, "You fool! This very night you will have to give up your life; then who will get all these things you have kept for yourself?' " 21 And Jesus concluded, "This is how it is with those who pile up riches for themselves but are not rich in God's sight."

This time last year... do you remember this time last year?

We were lamenting the poor harvest; we had so much rain that crops were rotting in the fields; nothing was ripening; and everyone felt really down because the summer had been long and wet and cold.

Fast forward to this year!! What a difference!

A warm and wet spring gave way to a long hot summer, with just enough rain to keep everything growing, and now there is a bumper harvest – the beast season for all sorts of things for quite some time.

It’s been the same in the manse garden too; you’ve all received the courgettes; and some have also had tomatoes; and broccoli and caulis and tatties.... now as the season is changing the fruit trees are heavy laden; the tomatoes are falling over they are so heavy; we have apples and pears in abundance – for anyone who cares to come and collect them!

Today’s parable about the Rich Fool, is the one designated for Harvest celebrations in the lectionary; and to my mind it just seemed to fit in with the present glut our gardens are experiencing.

I could so easily fall into that category of let’s get another freezer so we can have apples and pears all through the winter, without considering sharing them with others; and the plenty I have isn’t necessarily just the fruits of our own labours on the land either.

Think of all the things we work hard for; our homes; our families; to have a little money set aside for a rainy day. We go out to work; we give or time our talents and our service – and we are rewarded accordingly. What we do with our wages – whether you work for the minimum or indeed you have more than you need – what we do with what we earn is up to us.

The other thing we were doing this time last year was celebrating our church family; our church community as we began our Stewardship Campaign.  Some of you will remember it well; others will remember the meal; the entertainment – and maybe that it was “just the Kirk asking for money again”.

 Stewardship is not about fundraising.

Let me say that again!!
Stewardship is not about fundraising.

Fundraising is the gathering together of funds for a specific purpose or project – but the church isn’t a project! The church isn’t something that just needs money to be thrown at it. The church is much, much more than that.

Another thing stewardship isn’t: it isn’t something that rears its head every few years and we just ignore meantime. Stewardship is about every aspect of our lives – day in day out. Stewardship is about prayerfully using the resources we have to hand. One year a rich full harvest; another year things may not be so good. Stewardship means we use our wealth: every aspect of wealth, carefully and considerately. No spare money? Use your time and talents! Not much spare time – ok then, what can you do? Be honest with yourself – because God knows the answer!! God asks us to be generous, not greedy; to be to be happy with what we have, not to yearn for what we want.

The Rich Fool missed the point about stewardship and about generosity.

Jesus began the parable with a statement: "Watch out and guard yourselves from every kind of greed; because your true life is not made up of the things you own, no matter how rich you may be."

In the same way that the Rich Fool, thought because he had so much he could kick back take an easy ride and not make any effort; we too can fall into that trap.

We are asked to be good stewards; all that we have is not ours to squander, we are trusted by God with what we have; trusted to use it well; to manage it; to grow it if we can. We can of course, use what we have for our own needs, but if we can share some of that bounty along the way then we are sharing God’s riches; sharing God’s blessing.

The end of the summer; the start of the autumn wind down into winter is a good time for taking stock; what do we have; what do we need; what can we spare?

We give thanks for the glorious spring and summer season; we store up supplies for winter and we share the excess with those who have not.

And. We give thanks for all the ways God blesses us; for the challenges we face and conquer; for the difficulties that arise and the blessings that come from trusting in God.

We can choose to be a Rich Fool, who holds it all back ‘just in case’ but never really enjoys the fruits of his labours

Or we can be a Fool for Jesus – willing to trust and share from what we have – the fruits of all our different labours – a rich, rich harvest of plenty.

 

Sermon 22 September: Eternal Hope and Unending Grace

Amos 8: 4-7
Luke 16: 1-13

 

At the General Assembly this year, I had a proud mother moment watching online as Jamie stood up to address the Assembly on a subject he feels very strongly about – the corporate abuse of tax rules – namely tax avoidance – and the impact this can have on the poorest in the world. He spoke strongly and passionately, and, even though he stammered a bit, this did not detract from the eloquence of what he said.

My niece, Joanna, is at Durham University, studying accountancy, she is in her final year and her dissertation is entitled, “Tax Avoidance: immoral or sound business?”

Jamie and Joanna are of the generation that is not afraid to tackle big issues; not embarrassed to state their opinion and speak their mind.

When they see injustice they stand up and speak out.
Some people may think that tax avoidance or tax evasion (in theory different... but in reality, one may be legal, but it isn’t any less immoral) is a new problem; a 21^st Century issue, but look at the reading from the Prophet Amos: written almost three thousand years ago, it could just as easily have been written for us right now. It is a cry against injustice; a plea for the poor and marginalized; it is a warning against disobedience and the breaking of the covenant with God.

The scorn Amos throws on the people who follow the letter of the law, waiting until the Sabbath is over before they go back to their regular sharp practice, without ever really embracing the heart of what God asks, no, demands, of them as his chosen people.

The Old Testament prophets wrote during times of plenty and times of famine – both physically and spiritually – and each had their place. There is a cyclical motif that runs all through the Old Testament history of the People of Israel – as a nation they were proud of their heritage; but they were also easily distracted; easily bored. If something new or different or attractive came along they very easily drifted off; introducing a bit of this and bit of that, until almost without realising it, they had drifted so far that they were no longer following or honouring God at all – they drifted into Baal and other gods with astonishing regularity.

In the whole of this book of Amos we hear of the times God has declared he is going to punish his people; each time Amos pleads on their behalf to spare them; to give them another chance; in chapter 7 Amos begs God to forgive them; and God relents, but draws a line – the plumb-line. The time has come.

The verses that immediately precede today’s reading say it all:

“The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer”

The injustice and exploitation and abuse of the poor and the ignoring and dishonouring of God cannot continue.

And God will not forget anything they have done.

It is an apocalyptic prophesy; they are to be uprooted; overtaken by a pagan nation and their time will come to an end... if you read on – the final chapter does bring reassurance for the remnant; those who truly repent, truly turn back to God will be restored, and from the ruins will come a new king from David’s line.

Fast forward 750 years to 1^st C Galilee and that new king is making his presence felt. Not as some might have expected or wanted; but nevertheless, a new king he is.

Much of Jesus’ teaching is about justice, freedom and righteousness; and this teaching about the shrewd manager seems to fly in the face of what we know and understand.

And as you may guess there has been much debate around what exactly is being done here. Certainly the dishonest man is making sure he will have places to turn to when the inevitable happens.

But whose money is he using? Whose money is he giving away? Is it real money? Or is he actually undoing the wrong?
One theory is that this extra discount he gives was actually the illegal tax levy he’d made to line his own pocket – it was giving his master a bad name; and the master hadn’t profited from it at all.
So by writing off these so called bad debts, he wasn’t depriving his master but restoring his good name; and enhancing his own reputation in the process.
He undid his dishonest transactions, not for any altruistic reasons but simply to protect his own skin; but in the meantime other people did benefit.

He was still serving mammon not God

He may have been shrewd, but he wasn’t very wise.

Counter to this is the next theory, that the shrewd steward is a metaphor for Jesus... I can hear the cries! But the Steward is bad! Wouldn’t that make Jesus bad too??!!

And then answer is yes, and yes! This I found only late on Saturday – and in so many ways it answered the thing that was rumbling away in my head all week – where is the positive in the really difficult, not very appealing parable?

I found the answer in a book called Parables of Grace, by Robert Capon – a book I hadn’t known until Saturday afternoon; a book I previewed, then immediately downloaded to my kindle. A book that has totally inspired me!

There are parts of this parable that flow, and parts that seem to be much more disjointed.

The shrewd steward is losing his job, his livelihood, his life; he dies to that life and so he makes reparation for all that has gone before. His old life is gone; he restores his master’s reputation, and renews his relationship with those he does business with; he puts right old wrongs; and gives those without hope – the debtors – new hope and a clean slate to start from.

Can you hear the similarities now?

It gets better! Capon suggests our Unjust Steward is a crook – just like Jesus!

Jesus wasn’t respectable; he didn’t spend time with the in crowd; he spent time with sinners and tax collectors; he broke the Sabbath; and he died as a criminal.

Jesus’ life was not to conform; to cow-tow; Jesus life was to bring grace into the world – “grace cannot come into the world through respectability. Respectability regards only life, success, winning; it will have no truck with the grace that works by death and losing – which is the only kind of grace there is” (Capon; Parables of Grace. Ch.14)

Jesus wanted, needed to catch the world. He needed to grab our attention and make us understand.

He became sin for us sinners

Weak for us weaklings
Lost for us losers
And dead for us who are spiritually dead
He was friend to us sinners – the crooks

Because he knows us – through and through
He is the only mediator we want, or need, and trust. He was, is, like us; and in the same way that the steward was able to set those bad debtors on the right way again – settling their debts with the Master, Jesus sets us on the right way; settles our debts; and makes things right again.

We began with Amos’ apocalyptic prophesy of death, and devastation – God punishing and refusing to forgive the recalcitrant people of Israel

And we end with the Son of God – willing to become a crook so that all our debts will be wiped away forever. 

And bringing us eternal hope and unending grace

Lost Sheep - sermon for 15th September

Luke 15: 1-10

Who can forget that heart lurching moment when you realise you have lost something?

If it is something small an inconsequential, it is just a minor inconvenience; but if it’s valuable, or important, or has a sentimental attachment, then it’s really important.

I remember, many, many years ago in Aberdeen, on a shopping trip – with small boys in tow; Jamie was a baby and in the stroller, and the two older boys were walking between me and their Dad.

I needed to go pick up something or other, so went with the buggy into a shop, while the boys continued on with their Dad. We were to meet up in another store some five minutes or so later. When we met up, George (age 5) was missing; each of us thought he was with the other.

A fraught ten minutes followed, with the shopping centre security team ‘on the case’ he was found, on another level at the opposite end of the mall!! And when he was found I was torn between being so angry with him; and so afraid of what might have been; and so overjoyed that he was ok; he was safe; he wasn’t hurt....

That’s the rub with lost things – often they carry mixed feelings

When we think about these parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin; it can be both comforting – God looks for us when we’re lost. And discomforting – left to our own devices while God seeks out the others....

In our wider church community there is a huge emphasis on mission and outreach. Church attendance, church membership is dwindling at an alarming rate and we are exhorted to discover new ways of being church to attract new people; to share the news of the gospel and to reach out to those who currently have no active relationship with the church.

We are told “the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents” (v.10)  -

which is all well and good, but what about us?

How often we think of ourselves as the sheep that did not wander off, as one of the coins that was not lost, and can’t this lead to a certain level of resentment?

Of some slight disgruntlement? And yet, if we think about it, we all find ourselves lost at some point.

Our community: the small village we live in; the church family here that we belong to; the wider Borders area; the whole Church of Scotland... all circles within circle; wheels within wheels. Whichever level of community you consider has its ups and downs; and we all have our days when we feel we are part of it, and others when we do not – when we feel pretty well lost.

On these days, what a blessing and comfort it is to have those parables to remind us of God’s intent: that no one will remain lost for too long!

God’s community is not complete without everyone (sheep and coin) and it is not about the ones left behind, but about God’s desire to bring everyone into community so that it will be complete.

On days when we feel included, in our place, at peace, we do not need to resent that God’s seeking lost souls – that is as it should be. And on days when we feel totally lost; no idea where to go; what to do; how we fit in – we have the reassurance that God is there, seeking us, willing us to turn back, to be found again.

And we, as Christians first, and church members second, have our place, our part to play too. Encouraging those who have strayed away; inviting them back in to the fold, showing them a warm welcome when they are brave enough to cross the threshold.

When we see new people; or well known folks we haven’t seen for a while, it is our task to make them feel wanted, comfortable, at ease so that they will want to stay.

Today’s passage begins with a conversation between Jesus and some Pharisees – they are outraged because Jesus is choosing to spend time with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus in fact actively seeks them out.

He uses the analogy to impress upon these teachers that God wants to seek out everyone – not just an elite list, the chosen few; but everyone and anyone.

The unloved

The unwelcome

The untrustworthy

The criminals and low-lifes

People we would cross the street to avoid... these are the people Jesus met with, ate with, spent time with

And the Pharisees were horrified by it

It was beyond their comprehension that God would choose any but the righteous – sinners were to be left on the outside and utterly abandoned to their fate.

They couldn’t understand that sinners could be forgiven, given a clean start, and a new chance. It seemed utterly absurd.

We listen to those words again: the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents” 

The word repent indicates not just saying sorry or making amends; but turning over a new leaf; a fresh start; a willingness to turn around and change

It is dynamic and active – it is a life changing event to be found by God

Our challenge:

We may be in the fold, but we also have times when we are lost – at those times God seeks us, calls us back

We may also feel disturbed by the different ways the church seeks to invite and renew its connections with the community

God doesn’t fit into any single idea- God is bigger and better and more wondrous than that!

God seeks the lost. Period.

The lost are not always those we would choose; those we like; those we would seek out but that’s ok too!

Because a God that would only seek the people we like would be a very small God indeed... thank goodness, it’s God who does the work, does the choosing – because that’s what causes heaven to rejoice!!