Lost & Found

Mom loved to tell the story about one trip we made to Sea World when I was just a little kid. We had been seeing all the animals throughout the day and somehow I got separated from my family. I made my way to one of the stores and as I was walking around a worker noticed that I didn’t have any parents near me. So she walked up and asked me, “Are you lost?” I apparently replied, “I’m not lost, I know exactly where I am.” Despite that very honest and confident answer the worker felt that I needed more than just myself to know where I am, and fortunately for my parents it wasn’t too much longer before we were reunited. How many of you have ever had that experience as the person who was ‘lost’ or as the person who ‘lost someone’? Maybe it wasn’t someone but some thing. I know I have heard some people throughout the years share stories of things they’ve lost that have shown back up at an interestingly appropriate time.

As I reflect on that story that my mom loved to tell, I am always struck by the idea that in that particular instance I never considered myself lost. After all, I knew exactly where I was. And to be completely honest that’s not the only time I was somewhere and I knew where I was, but my family didn’t. Why I bring that up is that it really raises a quite profound question I believe. What does it mean to be considered lost when you don’t think you are or you know exactly where you are? And contrast that with an instance when you knew you were lost and you were hoping to be found.

I bring up these two kinds of lost because perhaps this idea of lost isn’t as straightforward or black and white as we might think. Perhaps there are moments or times in our lives when being ‘lost’ is a good thing. Perhaps the time of being lost allows us to reflect on our own lives and the things happening around us. perhaps it allows us to re-evaluate what is important and what things we can let go. On the other side there are times when we are lost and we want to be found. The hard part about being found is that we might not know what it is we are looking for or who we want to find us. In those cases the idea of being lost is a whole lot scarier than an intentional losing oneself.

We see this unintentional being lost when people are in forced transition, also known as liminal space. Perhaps someone is lost after the death of a loved one or maybe the loss of a job. Maybe there is a health concern that is looming over them. It could be that the things that you once held as core beliefs or morals come crashing down because of something that has happened in your life. There are so many ways in our world today that we can be thrust into a time of uncertainty and when that happens we tend to feel, lost. We don’t know where to turn or who to turn to. And the worst part is that so often it doesn’t feel like our fault.

Think about the sheep in the first parable Jesus tells. I’m sure the sheep was simply grazing on the hillside and was so focused on the delicious patch of grass that it didn’t even notice that the rest of the herd had moved on to a different hill or valley. In an instant the sheep goes from feeling secure in the abundance of the 100 under the protection of the shepherd to feeling lost and alone with only their wits to keep them safe from whatever may come their way. The same goes for the shepherd who was doing his best looking after the 100 sheep and then at the end of the day discover that there is one less than when he started. Panic not for being lost but for the one who lost something. And who wouldn’t be excited at finding the one thing that was lost.

The same goes for the coin. I view the coin parable like misplacing your car keys. You know you have your car keys. You know they are in the house somewhere, but you just can’t find them. Then when you finally find them that sense of relief and joy floods into your body. Often times you tell someone, not because they necessarily care as much as you do about them, but becuase the joy and relief you experience needs to be shared.

In the final parable we have the lost son, but this one is different. I don’t think the sheep meant to get lost and the coin could have only be misplaced by the owner, but in this parable, as I talked about earlier this son chooses to be lost. He chooses to remove himself from his family, to go and live his own life. Now he wouldn’t have described himself as lost, but as we hear this parable we can see that clearly this young man is lost. He needed to experience life differently than he had before. He chose to do it in a bad way, but he felt it was what was right for him at that time. What is so powerful about this story is that I’m sure the father knew the son was lost even before he left home. The father knew the son had to go and lose himself even more before he could find himself again. And I’m sure the father hoped that in finding himself he would come back home, but that wasn’t the only outcome that was possible. I think that is an important risk to take. To allow the ones we love to go and lose themselves, so that wherever they end up they can hopefully find themselves and discover what is most important.

Which is what I feel is the most important part of this idea of lost and found today. It’s less about avoiding the two sides as has seemed the case with the others, but more of embracing and accepting the idea that when it comes to being lost and found we are constantly moving from one side to the other and sometimes we are in transition between the two, we are in that liminal space between. Perhaps we need to be like the Father in the parable and be ok with the fact that some people need to spend some time being lost, and while that may hurt, its ok. It’s ok to let them go and pray for them as it happens. And with the other parables it is also important to go and seek out those things in our own lives that have been misplaced and lost. To bring them back and to help others find their way back, and when we find those people or aspects of our own lives that have been accidentally lost then we should rejoice. We should celebrate with them. And we should also absolutely celebrate those who have intentional lost themselves when we see them come back. To know ourselves and to remind them, if they haven’t already figured it out, that neither God nor we ever didn’t sit by the porch waiting for them to come home. And to knot ath for ourselves, that no matter how lost we feel that we are not alone and that God was with us every step of the way in our wandering and in our coming back. Rejoice and be glad for with God we are never truly lost for God will always love us and care for us. Amen.