Date: Text: Luke 15:1-10

According the news,[i] an American couple recently became lost in Northern Manitoba while canoeing from The Pas to Churchill. When they were found, they were living on plants and insects, and gladly accepted a helicopter ride to their destination. A more recent story on the CBC website[ii] reported that the couple said that they weren’t lost, and, although their energy was getting low, they were in no real danger. They don’t regard themselves as being rescued.

This makes me think: what does it mean to be lost?

For my answer, I turn to some observations made by the Rev. Harold Percy[iii] to a church gathering I attended some years ago. He told us that there are three ways of being lost.

1The first way of being lost: Not knowing where you are.

We can be like that one sheep in the flock, which nibbled its way into the wilderness. Sheep do this kind of thing quite easily, because they tend to be focused mainly on the next blade of succulent grass. They keep their heads down to feed, and don’t take a lot of notice of what’s going around them. And this lone sheep suddenly looks up at its surroundings, and doesn’t recognize a thing. “Where’s the pasture? Where’s the flock? What is this place anyway?”

People (and congregations too!) can and do unexpectedly find themselves in places that they just don’t recognize. Once we understand where we are, we can begin to do something about it.

I often meet people who have become lost in this way. Life situations can slowly crept up on them, until one day they realize that things have changed. They don’t know quite what has happened, or how they got here, but they know for sure that they’re not where they thought they were. This is very typical of individuals and families dealing with conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or alcoholism.

This kind of “lostness” can also afflict us spiritually. It’s easy to put on a kind “spiritual cruise control,” assuming that everything will continue to be OK. And when one day something happens that shakes our understanding of God, we find ourselves unable to connect. Faith left to habit will get us lost. That’s why it’s important to take the time to rejuvenate our faith from time to time. Events such as Teens Encounter Christ are huge helps in this regard. I believe our parish anniversary celebrations can play a similar role in helping St. Matthew’s to keep from getting lost. Remembering the past and looking to the future helps us to know where we are, and how we got here.

The second way of being lost: Not knowing where you’re going.

I’ve never done it, but I know people who take vacations by getting in their cars and just starting to drive. That puts me in mind of a song by George Harrison, which has the refrain:

… if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there.[iv]

Just wandering around can be exciting, leading to all sorts of fascinating discoveries. But it can also lead to trouble, like finding yourself far from food and shelter late at night, or out of gas on a deserted highway.

… if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there.

It’s almost alarmingly easy for churches to get into this way of being lost. We can know where we are, we can have a wonderful sense of our history—how we got here—but if we have no idea where God is leading us, we’re just as lost as if we don’t know where we are. There are many churches going on doing their thing without a real sense of purpose other than “That’s what we do.”

The same issue afflicts many people, in many aspects of life. Permit me a personal note here. When I went to university, I enrolled in a program because I had excelled in that subject in high school. That was fine for a few years, until I realized it was taking me down a road I didn’t want to travel, and also that I really didn’t have any clear idea of my own goals. It took a few years for me to sort things out. This kind of story is not uncommon among young people—perhaps even more common today than when I was an undergraduate.

… if you don’t know where you’re going
Any road will take you there.

People will choose all sorts of roads, and many of those roads will lead nowhere.

The third way of being lost: Not knowing how to get there.

You know where you are. And you know where you want to go. But if you don’t know how to bridge the gap, you are again just as lost—stuck at a crossroads with no signposts. I am reminded of an acquaintance who traveled to Australia, among other things intending to look for a long-lost friend in a particular town. Once she got to the town, she realized that it was one of those places like Winnipeg where streets have only names. She had the address, and she knew exactly where she was, but she had no idea how to get to her friend’s house. She found a pay phone and called. “Where are you?” said the friend. She told her. “OK, just look down the street on the right to the third house.” She looked, and there was her friend—standing waving at her front door!

Sometimes finding the way to where we’re going is that simple. Sometimes it’s not. But without a road-map to life we may never make any progress towards our goals.

Churches can have a strong sense of what God wants them to be, and at the same time be lost, because they are unsure how to follow that call. I often hear people at St. Matthew’s talking about being a welcoming and inclusive congregation, and I strongly affirm that goal. That’s where we want to be, but maybe we’re not sure how to get there.

So there they are: three ways of being lost.

But there is good news: there is a way out, a way to be found. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, continues to seek out the lost, to bring us home, to give us sense of who and where we are, to give a sense of purpose in life, and to lead us on to the green pastures of God’s future.

Let us give thanks to the one who continues to seek out the lost, and dedicate ourselves anew to following him.