"What no one else knew"

A mild-mannered, retired accountant with a pristine lawn in the south of England receives a letter one day which sparks an unusual desire to walk to a town in north England. So begins a novel called The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce. His walk becomes a journey of weeks. Along the way his character and his unusual quest invite the trust of strangers he meets. One day, while eating in a crowded city café, he shares his table and his teacake with a well-dressed man who opens up to him in a surprising way.

The silver-haired gentleman was in truth nothing like the man Harold had first imagined him to be. He was a chap like himself, with a unique pain; and yet there would be no way of knowing that if you passed him on the street, or sat opposite him in a café and did not share his teacake....  It must be the same all over England. People were buying milk, or filling their cars with petrol, or even posting letters. And what no one else knew was the appalling weight of the thing they were carrying inside. The inhuman effort it took sometimes to be normal, and a part of things that appeared both easy and everyday. The loneliness of that.   (pages 88-89)

I wonder, how life would be different if everyone wore a sign that told of the unique pain that each person carries, whether the pain is fresh or old, intense or almost forgotten. Might we be a bit more patient? More forgiving? More likely to show kindness?

When Jesus met a rich young man who was anxious about obtaining eternal life, there is a beautiful short line in the gospel: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him” (Mark 10:21). May God give us the vision to look at people in the same way.

Sermon - Lost and Found

Preached on September 15 2013 at First Congregational Church of Tallmadge, Ohio, UCC.

Scripture: Luke 15:1-10

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” ³So he told them this parable: ⁴“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 

⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Sermon

 

We're talking about sinners today. If you've been waiting for a sermon on sinners, this is it. We need to talk about sinners because they are...we are...sinners are the topic of these parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin and the parable that Jesus will tell next about the lost prodigal son. Sinners are the reason he told them. Or, more specifically, the grumbling of the religious leaders about Jesus welcoming sinners is the reason he told these parables.

Sinners. Jesus welcomed them; Jesus ate with them; and this upset the religious leaders of his day. Now, given that this is what Jesus does, you would think that the religion of Jesus, the religion of Christians would not have the reputation of being petty and judgmental about sins. And yet that's just what people think of the Christian church. You who are here know better. You know that the church is not petty and judgmental, not holier-than-thou or self-righteous. Well, maybe we are those things sometimes, but that's our sin, and I pray that God is saving us from that sin more and more. In general, I don't think that we deserve the reputation we have. But there it is. Polls of people who do not have a religious affiliation show that many of them perceive the Christian church as petty, judgmental, prejudiced, and unwelcoming. Just exactly the opposite of what Jesus was doing when he was criticized by the religious leaders.

They thought that he should be more judgmental - that he should have some higher standards. How will people known right from wrong if there are no consequences for sin?  Sinners must be held responsible.

But how do you hold someone responsible for being lost? And what good does it do to complain that the lost shouldn't be found?