Wednesday, March 18, would have been our fourth midweek Lenten service and it was my turn to preach. As it turned out, this was the first of a great many church events forced by the pandemic to move online. So, this is my first pandemic online worship service! Here’s the video, and the text is below.
Good evening, I’m Pastor Daniel Flucke, serving at St. Peter Lutheran Church here in Greene, Iowa.
Well, as you know, all of our worship services are suspended right now. I’m sorry to not be with you for Lent service tonight, but I trust all of you are doing a good job practicing “social distancing” and staying home to avoid infecting others with this COVID-19 virus.
Obviously, without a worship service, we didn’t have a dinner tonight either, but I do want to thank Pastor Cathy and the Presbyterians for having ham and egg bakes ready to go. We met this morning and divided them up into individual servings to go to the food pantry for distribution this weekend, and I got to deliver servings to some folks around town today.
In these coming days and weeks, I hope we have lots of opportunities to be creative as we figure out how to love our neighbors and take care of each other when we can’t gather together in person. If you have ideas for how we as church can support each other and the community, I’d love to hear them!
For our Lenten series this year, we’re looking at Jill Duffield’s book, “Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects.” This week, the object is coins.
Listen to a reading from Luke 15.
Jesus told them this parable: “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? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And 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.’ Just 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.
“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? When 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.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God.
If someone asked you to describe what God is like, what would you tell them?
You could start at the beginning, in Genesis, with the story of God creating the world out of nothing, molding people out of the dust of the earth, as we were reminded a few weeks ago on Ash Wednesday. Or, to describe God, you could start with the church, the body of Christ, and how we worship God.
I suppose you could start with a philosophical argument about God as the spark of the universe, or the supreme moral being.
Or, you could describe God the way Jesus does, with parables. In these parables of Jesus, we learn that God is a God who seeks the lost, who cares for individuals.
God is the shepherd who has a hundred sheep, but one has wandered away. Instead of abandoning this missing sheep, he leaves the other 99 and goes to look for it. When he finds it, he has a party to celebrate.
If that describes God, as Jesus says it does, then it’s good news for us, because we all wander away.
We’re the sheep in this story. Sometimes we’re the 99 who are faithful, but incomplete because one is missing. At some point, each of us is the one who wanders away.
No matter how far you’ve strayed away from God, God still searches for you. Not to punish you, or to trap you, but to put you on his shoulders and carry you back where you belong.
The interesting thing about these parables is the question Jesus asks at the beginning. Which of you, if you were missing a sheep or a coin, would leave everything else behind to find it?
Well, most of us probably wouldn’t. 99 sheep is still a pretty good flock, after all, and you wouldn’t want to risk them.
I would probably spend a few minutes searching for a missing coin, especially if it’s 10% of what I have. But when I find it, I’m hardly going to have a party. The woman here probably spends as much on entertaining her friends and neighbors as she saved by finding the coin!
So what does this tell us about God? It tells us that God rejoices over each one of us. God’s love is extravagant and irrational.
These parables say that you matter to God. It’s really easy, sometimes, to get so overwhelmed by everything going on in life that we think we have no significance, that our individual needs and struggles don’t matter in the face of things like national emergencies.
And yet, this story declares that you matter to God. God rejoices over you. Whether you’re going to work, or traveling, or loving your neighbors by staying at home, God is with you, and you are not alone.
As you’re spending lots of time at home, I suspect you might start looking in some nooks and crannies of your house where you don’t usually spend time. Maybe you’re more ambitious that I am, and you’ll do some cleaning, and vacuum out the couch cushions. And you might even find a coin.
True story: After deciding this morning that I wanted to talk about the lost coin story tonight, I actually did find a coin on my couch cushion this afternoon!
If you are so lucky as to find a lost coin, may you recognize that coin as a reminder of God’s care for you and God’s presence with you.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, in this time of chaos and fear, help us to remember the promise that you are present with us, searching for us, seeking us out. Be with those who are sick, whether with the coronavirus, or with the flu or other ailments. Send your Holy Spirit to bring comfort, peace, and healing, in Jesus’ name. Amen
Beloved of God, be kind to one another during this time. Remember that people react differently to stress. Love your neighbors. Wash your hands.
Hope you can join me on Sunday morning at 9:30 for another time of online worship. May God bless you today and always.