Time after Pentecost—Lectionary 23 C



Time after Pentecost — Lectionary 23 C 2019September 15, 2019Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51:1-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10Spanaway LutheranLost and FoundOn occasion, over my years of pastoral ministry, I have heard interesting comments from people when they learn that I am a Lutheran pastor. E.g., a server at a wedding reception was taken aback when I came to the counter for a beer. Others have been surprised that I look and talk “normal”, like other people. Years ago, I rode with a tow-truck driver who was towing our old 1963 Chevy Nova, in need of a new water pump. Learning of my occupation, he said, “You think people are good and I don’t.” I said, “No, I know people are not good, but I trust that they can nonetheless be redeemed.” In other words, the “lost” can be “found”. Or as the classic hymn sings, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”Let’s face it. We’re sinners. We are cracked and broken, warped and off kilter. Fortunately, God loves sinners. We hear today that “Christ Jesus came to save sinners.” Jesus loves the last and least, the lost and little. It’s no surprise to us that the protectors of religion, the guardians of holiness, criticize Jesus for his attention to sinners. My goodness, he dines with them, parties with them. In response to his critics, Jesus tells some parables. He says that God throws parties for sinners who turn to God. “There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Do you know persons who need no repentance? Are you such a person? The lost can be found. Let’s be clear. I am not saying we can simply save ourselves, that we can decide to be good, and not sin. I suspect that we cannot just choose to change. What is possible, however, is that we can be changed. The lost can be found. Even though Paul “was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence,” the Lord selected him to become an apostle of reconciliation and peace. Paul was baptized. He was drowned. He died to his former self. Indeed, he says that in the waters of baptism he was crucified with Christ. From now on, Paul is robed in Christ as he walks wet in the waters of baptism. God is making a new creation, a new Paul. Yes, God loves sinners. Jesus parties with sinners. Why? In order to turn us sinners around, to change us, or, in the language of baptism, to drown us and then raise us to new life, to live now in Christ Jesus – made a new creation.Jesus came to save the lost. Those who think they are righteous have no need of a savior, no need for Jesus. They’ve already justified themselves. Do you know any such people? Are you prone to practice self-justification? We can get pretty good at it, can’t we? But God in Christ seeks the lost and forsaken, people in need of grace, mercy and forgiveness, people ashamed. Jesus came to find lost sheep, lost coins, lost sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, prostitutes and tax collectors. Church is the meeting place for sinners, home for the lost. When the lost are found, when sinners are saved, God throws a party. Jesus welcomes sinners and then dines with them, communes with them. Christ sets the table and invites us to the party. As the gospel hymn sings, “Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, calling ‘O sinner, come home.’” God in Christ is like a shepherd pursuing one lost sheep. God in Christ is like a woman frantically searching the house for a little lost coin. C.S. Lewis saw God as the hound of heaven hunting for folks afraid, who hide and turn away, folks such as himself, folks like us. God is anxious to find us, like a parent anxious to find a lost child. And when we are found, instead of spanking us, God throws a party! The lost are found!Luke 15:1-10September 15, 2019page 2I’d like to share with you a story I heard years ago at Holden Village. Later, it was published in Lutheran Woman. For a number of years, women from Chicago have come for a week-long retreat at Holden, in the Cascades, above Lake Chelan. It’s a big deal to these women, many of whom have never been outside of Chicago. Almost none have been on an airplane or seen mountain forests, streams and lakes. Almost all of them have grown up poor and abused. They are women recovering from prostitution, through the ministry of Genesis House of Chicago, a ministry of the ELCA. They are familiar with the streets of Chicago, crack houses, drug dealers, pimps and johns. Going for a week in the mountains of Washington State is strange and fearsome. Yes, they are afraid of the mountains. Their biggest fear is getting lost in the woods. They know streets and alleys, but are not familiar with hiking paths.While at Holden, these women, with other Holdenites, attended Bible study, participating, sharing their stories, acknowledging their past and placing hope in a future made new in Jesus. One woman says, “Sister, I wouldn’t still be here if Jesus didn’t love me.” They have a passion for God’s word of grace.One day, as Bishop Steve Ullestead, from Iowa, led the Bible study, he explained the various degrees of separation in the Jerusalem Temple. Gentiles could come only to the outer courtyard; Jewish women a bit closer, then Jewish men, then the priests, and finally, the High Priest, who once a year could go into the Holy of Holies, and dare to stand and breathe in the presence of the Living God. The women told their stories of how they were treated as outsiders, as unacceptable, kept away from places where only good and worthy people could go. In small group discussion, one of the women of the Genesis House began to sob, broken-hearted, crying that her sins were too great and God could never forgive her. An older woman, from the Dakotas, put her arm around her shoulders, saying softly but distinctly, “My sins are also great; I need to work on accepting God’s forgiveness. Could we go for a walk after class?” So, after Bible study, they went off, arm-in-arm, to continue their conversation and to comfort one another with the gracious Word of God.During the week, the women of Genesis House took short hikes near the village, getting ready for a bit longer hike near the end of the week, a hike to Hart Lake. Near halfway to Hart Lake, the path crosses a fast-flowing mountain stream. A narrow log bridge goes over the cold, deep stream. As they prepared to go across, a woman began to cry, saying she was afraid and she was going back to the village. What would these women do? They decided to sit in a circle, hold hands and pray. After their time in prayer, they decided they would all cross the bridge holding hands. If one falls, they all fall. They told her she wasn’t going back and they’d all go forward together.That night, after their 8- or 9-mile round-trip hike to Hart Lake, tired, they celebrated the group triumph. They stayed together. No one was allowed to feel unworthy or incapable. No one was allowed to let her fears defeat her. They did not get lost. They stayed on the path. They knew the joy of being included, heard, accepted, welcomed, loved—the joy of being found. They knew “joy in the presence of the angels of God.” It was time to party.This morning, as on every Lord’s Day, it is time to party. “Come to the table of mercy.” To God Alone Be Glory. Amen. ................
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