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Sermon Archive - September 13, 1998
Pastor Danielson
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Luke 15:1-10
I hope you didn't come here today expecting a sermon on the "goings on" in our
nation's capital. Not that I didn't give the possibility of just such a sermon
a moment's thought. After all, our Epistle Lesson from Paul's First Letter to
Timothy would seem to be the ideal text to lead us away from the sordid and
sad of the week past, toward a more promising and purposeful week ahead. The
Apostle Paul said:
The saying is sure and worthy of acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
---of whom I am the foremost.
But for that very reason I received mercy,
so that in me, as the foremost (of sinners),
Jesus Christ might display the utmost in patience,
making me an example to those
who would come to believe in him for eternal life.
(I Tim. 1:12-17)
Well, a moment's pause is all that idea got! It is, after all, "Rally Day"
and the beginning of a brand new program year ---complete with a classic
Gospel Lesson, tailor-made to launch us on our way!
Did you know that The Parable of the Lost Sheep and The Parable of the Lost
Coin are the first two of three parables of "lost and found joy?" ---the third
being "The Parable of the Lost (or Prodigal) Son?" The point of all three
parables being that, age to age, God celebrates the return of that which is
lost. And, less we get too "pumped up" as to who is "lost." All three are
directed at the "pious in the pews," as much as they are to "wilderness
wanderers." It's true! We can be so caught up with our own righteousness that
we can't even see how lost we are. We don't want to do that, do we!
Have you ever been lost? Really lost?(!) Driving our cars from here to there,
we often are ---even though we won't admit it. But, I mean lost in terrifying
ways; like a child lost in a forest. A long, long time ago I was lost in a
forest of tall, Iowa corn. I was about 8 years old and had been cutting down
giant sunflowers with my older cousins. You probably didn't know that
sunflowers are a menace to corn. They can take over an entire field unless
they are pulled out by the roots, or when full grown, cut low to the ground
with a machete.
The deeper into the field we walked and cut, and walked and cut, the closer I
tried to stay along side cousin Donald. And yet, before long we got separated
and, suddenly, I realized that none of my cousins were in sight. They were
probably within earshot, but I was too embarrassed to call out to them.
Instead, I walked straight ahead as fast as my legs would carry me. I thought:
"If I stay in the same row and hurry along, I'll soon catch up with them."
What I didn't realize was that I was walking along one of the "turning rows"
the farmer makes at each end of the field. The row I was in was just out of
sight of the road and, like running on an oval track, I was headed back in the
opposite direction, away from my cousins.
After 30 minutes of fast walking ---trying to catch-up ---me in one direction
and my cousins in the other ---we were soon acres apart. Finally I called out
but my voice, muffled by the dense corn, couldn't be heard above the sound of
trucks on the nearby highway. Again and again, I would head for the highway
sounds but, by staying in that oval shaped row I was gradually turning away
from the road.
There is no greater "lostness" than a small boy in a field of 8 foot stalks of
fully leafed Iowa corn; with no clear view ahead and just a glimpse of blue
sky above, stifling August heat, air so heavy it seems to pull you to the dark
earth below; ---to rest a while, just a little while. Exhausted, tear stained
cheeks caked with mud, I fell fast asleep.
I awakened to the pink sky of a setting sun and the sound of men's voices,
close by. I jumped up, turned in the direction of the voices, and there, just
a few rows away, walked uncle Ernest calling my name. "Towwww-ny! Towww-ny!" I
was too relieved and excited to call back! I just ran straight for his legs
and hugged them tightly. Ernest picked me up, called to the others that "the
lost had been found," and, within less than a minute, we were standing next to
the same road that, hard as I had tried, I could never quite get to.
Have you ever been that lost? Jesus tells us that, spiritually speaking, we
all have and that, like the Pharisees and scribes of our Gospel Lesson, his
teachings can touch us and help us find ourselves. For, having been convicted
of sin, and then owning up to it, we, like the scribes and Pharisees, can be
led to repentance and guided to a new start. Indeed, we can find our way home
again.
A week ago, ---Labor Day to be exact, Sally and I were invited aboard an 87
ft. yacht. It has four bedrooms and sleeps 10 to 12 people, depending on how
crowded you're willing to be during the day. What fascinated me the most
however, was its highly sophisticated GPS. (For the uninformed GPS is the
acronym for "global positioning system.")
Although we didn't leave our harbor berth, the captain gave me a demonstration
of how the GPS could get us from "here" to "there;" ---from Winthrop Harbor to
Mackinaw Island, or even to Portsmouth/England or, would you believe, to any
port on earth! It all begins with a tiny computer disk that, once inserted
into the navigation console, allows one to home-in on any given destination.
All that is left to do is set a speed and press a button ---off you go,
precisely on-course, to a pre-programmed place, without touching throttle or
helm.
Properly programmed, the GPS scans the skies for satellites, locks onto their
signals, and gives one's exact coordinates on earth. It not only tells you
where you are, and charts the direction you're going, but it can tell you
exactly where you are in relation to everything else on earth!
So it is, with FAITH in Jesus Christ! ---even if and when you become very
lost! We need to get excited about that! Not about being lost, but found!
---about being able to know precisely where you are in relation to everyone
and everything on the face of the earth and, the prospect of always being
guided home no matter how badly you've strayed off-course and how profoundly
separated from "goodness" you have become! We need to get excited about that!
Excited ---but, I guess not too excited.
A stranger, visiting a Lutheran church (so the story goes) heard something in
the sermon with which he really connected and cried out, "AMEN!" The Lutheran
folk turned and stared and then went back to listening to the sermon. A little
later the stranger cried out, "YES! AMEN!" and a few people hushed him.
A little later he cried out again, "AMEN! SAY IT, BROTHER!" Someone tapped him
on the shoulder and said, "Will you pulleeez be quiet!" (Lutherans do say
please.) The stranger replied, "But I've got the Spirit!" The Lutheran said,
"Fine, but you didn't get it here."
Maybe not. On the other hand, we Lutherans, day by day, season to season, year
to year, are becoming more and more comfortable with worship moments during
which the Spirit of God makes itself known . . .to lift us a little and take
us a little further along otherwise unfamiliar paths.
Don't be afraid to "go there." ---along unfamiliar paths. Your worship leaders
have been giving this whole business of "spirit filled worship" a lot of
thought and they are committed to making our services, contemporary and
traditional, more spiritual than ever before. So, don't be afraid to "go
there" with them. AMEN.
Can you say, "A-MEN?" ---"A-MEN!"
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