Rev. Zach

Luke 15:1-32 Today we’ve been presented with three stories about being lost, being sought after, and being found. While I imagine that we all can relate in some way to feeling lost and perhaps even the joy of being found, I doubt that many of us like to think too much about being sought after. The thing is, we live pretty public lives, so we don’t usually talk about being “pursued” unless it’s some kind of stalker situation, or a horror film, or maybe a traffic violation. However you frame it, we don’t often talk about being pursued in a good way. Today we’re going to talk about being pursued in a good way. We’re also going to talk about the fact that the only thing worse than being lost is believing that you are not lost and yet feeling like you may as well be. Beyond all of that, we’re going to talk about what it means to be found. First, I want to talk a little about Mr. York. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, I’ll give it some context – Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and York. A bust of...

Luke 13:1-9; 31-35 The cell phone video opens on a beautiful evening in an open air pavilion at a resort. There’s an older couple sitting on the edge of a sculptured fountain enjoying the night air, and a young woman with long blonde hair – wearing what must be her “smart black dress” – asks them to move. Our videographer is shocked and keeps filming as the young woman takes command of the fountain as her personal stage for the perfect vacation selfie. Her photographer appears to be her boyfriend, who endures her constant dissatisfaction as she directs him – up until the moment when she slips and falls into the fountain to her embarrassment and to the joy of the small crowd that has been watching the show from tables nearby. Our scene ends with the videographer looking in the camera and observing, “Now, that’s karma! Apart from the ethical issues of taking videos of people and posting them online without their permission, I have to say that it’s kind of hard to disagree with her assess...