I just finished reading a most delightful novel titled The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan. In it, two stories exist as separate narratives until they collide at the end in both expected and unexpected ways. Each story traces its own arc of love and loss, and ultimately redemption. One story draws the reader into the pain of a love lost too soon; and the other follows a lifelong friendship that yearns for more.
Woven alongside these two love stories is yet another story of lost things that are finally reunited with their owners after years and years of separation. Each item was cherished when possessed and never forgotten while lost. When owner and item are brought together again, joy and relief share space with a sense that all is right with the world again.
The parables in Luke, chapter 15 share the themes of loss (sheep, coin, son) and reunification. In each parable, something of value has been lost, and Jesus challenges his followers to see themselves and God in the tales. We are the sheep. We are the coin. We are the son. As followers of Christ and children of God, we know that God will seek after us unceasingly. God may not literally walk the fields or turn over the house. But I believe that God will prod our hearts. God will incline our thoughts. God will give us holy work to do. God will put angels on our path, and sometimes in our way. And at each of these turns, God is calling to us and inviting us back, no matter how far we may have strayed or how lost we feel.
During the season of Lent, we are invited on a journey with Jesus, to walk as he walked, to the everlasting life of the cross. Jesus’ path was hard. He was no doubt lonely. He no doubt felt desperate. He no doubt felt lost. Friends, the paths that we trod today are hard, too. We all have felt a range of emotions during this past year. We have experienced a range of losses, both collective and individual. Our faith doesn’t shield us from the pain, but it does remind us that we are cherished. And as cherished children of God, we know that God will seek us until God finds us.
