By late December of 1940,World War II was in full swing across Europe.  The night of December 29, marked nearly six months of almost nightly bombing raids by the Nazis on London.  This particular night would be a watershed moment in the history of the war.  Hitler, along with his top generals, had plotted a bombing raid that would trump all previous campaigns.  The target was St. Paul’s Cathedral.  St. Paul’s was the symbolic center of London and was near to the heart of every Londoner.  The destruction of St. Paul’s would mean the breaking of London’s spirit and as Hitler hoped the end of England’s involvement in the war in mainland Europe.  Hitler’s plan hinged on the use of thousands of incendiary bombs meant to start a firestorm in and around St. Paul’s Cathedral.  The resulting firestorm, Hitler hoped, would destroy St. Paul’s, the surrounding area, spread through the remainder of London, and eventually destroy the English spirit.  Within minutes of the first wave of attacks it was clear to the Londoners that the target was St. Paul’s.  Firemen throughout the city raced to the Old London area that served as the center for publishing and textiles.  The firemen there gallantly fought against the flames, but as the more than twenty-four thousand incendiary bombs fell on a few square miles surrounding St. Paul’s, the extraordinary decision was made to save St. Paul’s at all cost, even if that meant the loss of the surrounding buildings.  After hours of fighting the fire, St. Paul’s was saved.  One building, one cathedral saved.

          Our passage finds a shepherd and a woman making a similar decision.  Focusing their efforts on finding the individual sheep that is lost or the one silver coin.  In both cases and with St. Paul’s the fate of the one, the fate of the minority is greater than majority.  This is Luke’s particular focus in his whole gospel.  The parable of the lost sheep appears in Matthew, as well, but the context is changed.  In Matthew, the story of the lost sheep is told in the context of valuing children.  Matthew uses the parable to show that children deserve extra attention because, like the one lost sheep, every single child is valuable to God.  The parable begins differently in Luke though.  The tax collectors and sinners, that are featured so prominently throughout the gospel of Luke, are once again the stars of this passage.  It is only when the Pharisees and the scribes try to marginalize these would be followers of Jesus Christ that Luke has Jesus embark on this story.  The lost sheep, the tax collectors and sinners of the world, are a joy to God as they repent. Instead of marginalizing the lost sheep, we are instructed to go out after them.  Seek them out wherever they maybe, particularly if they are lost in the wilderness and carry them home to much rejoicing.

One of the reasons I enjoy the bible so much is because it undercuts our expectation.  Many of you upon hearing these stories may ask: “Why leave the ninety-nine to save the one?”  “Why search so diligently for the one lost coin, no matter the value?” “Why save St. Paul’s Cathedral while you let the rest of London burn?”  The bible draws into question the very values that inform the answers we would give to these question. We might generally stay with the ninety-nine because there are so many more of them than the one that is lost, especially if leaving the ninety-nine meant leaving them to fend for themselves in wilderness.  Yet the bible shows us here in Luke, the greater value of this one that is lost.  Look at the way the shepherd rejoices after finding the one lost sheep, not only rejoicing alone but also with his friends and neighbors. 

But more strikingly for me is the unquestioning devotion that the shepherd shows for this one lost sheep or the women for the one lost coin.  Jesus poses the parable as if it were self evident.  “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?”  Now many of us might go after that one lost sheep or search for that coin, they both after all are valuable, but we might have to think about it for a minute or complain about how that silly sheep keeps wondering off, but for the shepherd and woman in our story the action is done without second thought.  It is second nature. 

Imagine a church where such action was second nature.  Most churches have those kind of activities: the coffee time after worship, the fall festival, the vacation bible school, the communion the first Sunday of every month, the mission trip to Mexico, activities which are undertaken without even thinking.   They are habitual and repetitive actions that are at the core of who we and the church are.  They are self-evident, of course their will be coffee and cookies ready after the Sunday worship service, as if these things not existing would mean the end of the world.  And perhaps they would.  But are there other activities that should be just as habitual as making that coffee?

For years the chapel of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where I recently graduated, was marked by differently colored glass in windows along the sides.  As if these windows were of different colors.  The reason this had occurred was because years earlier a distraught man had thrown stones at the windows of the church and broken several of them out.  The glass that replaced the broken panes did not match the original.  I have always wonder that if perhaps somebody had sought this man out prior to the stone throwing incident, if the broken glass and more importantly the anger at the church could have been prevented.  I wonder if it is possible to make seeking the lost, like this man was, as habitual and second nature as drinking that first cup of coffee in the morning or turning on the news or going to work.  I wonder if it is possible for us to people so concerned with the welfare of others that even we will leave the comfort of our security among the ninety-nine sheep that are not lost to save the one that is.

Bill Hybel, the senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, recently wrote a book entitled Just Walk Across the Room. It is a simple concept really.  Saving the lost is not about brilliant campaigns or snappy programs, it is about making connections.  Be open about your faith life.  If there is an opportunity to talk to somebody about the difference that Jesus Christ has made in your life, then just walk across the room.  It is not the confrontational statement that if you do not accept what I am saying right now you will go to hell.  It is simply caring for the other, the one lost sheep enough  to go after them.  Just walking across the room is the sort of second nature, habitual activity that Jesus’ parable is pointing us towards.   

As I have said since I got here.  Greystone Presbyterian Church is in a unique position to minister to the lost, unchurched, or the underchurched in our community.  There are few small churches who have seen the community around them grow, age, decline, and then revitalize.  Drive through these neighborhoods and see the new construction and the remodeling that is taking place.  This is a changing community. And frankly, if that had not been the case here, if it had been like the countless other small churches throughout our denomination, I doubt whether I would have accepted the call or been so excited about it.  But I did accept the call and I am excite about being here because of the future I and many others of you see for this church.  This church has been a blessing to the community for generations and will continue to be a blessing in the future.  As we plan and live into that future, we need to identify, both individually and corporately, the lost sheep among us.  These lost sheep are not just the easily visible sinners in our community, but the affluent members of our community as well whose faith life suffers just as much because they feel they can live without the church.  We are a church in the midst of the community and we should leave the safety of the ninety-nine to find the one that may need us.