Lost stories

We love stories. There seems to be something essentially human about stories. Reading them, listening to them, writing them . . . all of these actions help us understand why Jesus told stories to help people understand what he was teaching. We call these stories “parables” but really, that’s just a fancy name for a story that is making a point.

As you’ll hear in the sermon, I divert (sort of) from the Lectionary this week in that the Gospel lesson is from Luke 15 but leaves out one of the stories. So rather than talk about a lost sheep and a lost son, I decided to talk about all three losses by having us read the whole of chapter 15 of Luke.

I believe these three stories are linked so Jesus can say some things about three different kind of loss. The sheep is lost due to foolishness, the coin due to accident, and the son due to his own choice. Each type of loss tells us something about ourselves and also about God. I hope it as clear to you after you read it as it was to me when I spoke it (not a given 😊).

As always, please let me know what you think as you are inclined and able. I am especially interested in what people think of the application of the lost coin . . . is this a cop out?

“Lost stories” St. Mark’s Presbyterian (to download, right-click and select “Save Link As . . .”

Blessings,