Date: September 8th & 11th
Preacher: Pastor Ashley Rosa-Ruggieri
First Reading: Exodus 32:7-14
Psalmody: Psalm 51:1-10
Second Reading: 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Gospel: Luke 15:1-10
Today in our Gospel we find two short stories from Jesus that are fairly well known for the church. For anyone who has grown up in a church community, the parable of the lost sheep is a common scripture passage that is quoted in Sunday School or at Vacation Bible School programs and camps. And when we have stories like the ones today that are repeated often to kids and adults and those in between, I am always cautious when I begin to form a sermon or lesson. Because when we have a familiar story, it can be easy to fall back on the interpretation and meaning that have been told to me in the past, rather than reading the passage in light of this specific day, in this specific place, in this specific time. Our scripture may have been written thousands of years ago, but as Christians we also claim that the word of God is living and active. This means that the Holy Spirit works in and through the words and stories of scripture in new and relevant ways even now. Stories can be familiar, but we must always consider what new thing those stories are telling us today, rather than only what they have taught us in the past.
With this in mind, I thought about what this passage means for us now in 2022 at Trinity Lutheran Church. I thought about the context of this week, and that helped me to see something new to focus on. This week we celebrate God’s Work Our Hands, which is celebrated by churches in the ELCA all over the United States. Different projects are chosen push people out of the idea that the church is a building, and instead remind people that the church is the people, it is a community. One of the opportunities for this year is to help set up for the Salsa Celebration in the afternoon. This event came out of a collaboration with other congregations that have community garden programs in our synod. There is an opportunity to gather together in community, to celebrate something together, that I think we also find in our reading for today. So, I want to focus on the importance of being in community and sharing in community celebration that we find in this passage.
Focusing on the first story of Jesus, the shepherd has lost one of the sheep, and so must go and find it. In order to do so, the shepherd leaves all the other sheep to go search for the lost one. Not only are the ninety-nine left, it says they are left in the wilderness. A place that can be uncomfortable and dangerous. But they are not left alone. They are left together, to care for one another until the shepherd returns. And once the lost sheep has been found, what does the shepherd do? He brings the sheep home, and he throws a party—celebrating the joy of being reunited. Friends and neighbors are invited and there is celebration for the one who had been stuck away from the community, but was now back and ready to be embraced. This created a reunion of sorts. All the while, the other sheep, both in the wilderness and then when they return home with the shepherd, have always been in that community. There is safety, joy, and comfort in being in a group rather than alone, even in the midst of the wilderness as the ninety-nine sheep were while the shepherd was away.
Then in the story of the woman with the lost coin, it is the woman who seeks community in her rejoicing. The search for her lost coin takes time and patience, but once it is found she calls upon her friends and neighbors, just as the shepherd did, to celebrate in community. After she found her lost coin, she could have celebrated with just herself, or not have celebrated at all, it was only one coin after all. Instead, she was filled with so much joy that she knew she must celebrate, and that the celebration could not be done alone. Sometimes our greatest joys bring too much happiness to be handled in solitude. And so, she joined with those close to her and rejoiced with them in community.
Our Salsa Celebration on Sunday afternoon could have easily been an event where we only invited or announced it to our congregation. But instead, organizers have gone out into the wider area to make sure that the invitation is extended to the whole community. Flyers and information have been emailed to other congregations with community gardens, sent to families of our child center, posted on bulletin boards around Wauseon, written on our garden stand chalkboard, shared on our Facebook page, and discussed by word of mouth through conversations with neighbors and friends.
We may not be celebrating a specific thing that was lost, but we are still following a pattern of this passage—to celebrate and rejoice in community. Even if we consider what was lost in these parables, the importance was placed on the thing being separated from the others. We could easily say that the one lost thing does not matter in the grand scheme of things. We still have ninety-nine sheep, we still have nine coins, but that is not what Jesus is teaching us today. The reading shows us that even one thing that may seem small, is worth celebrating when it has been reunited with its own community. All reunions are worth rejoicing over.
In our case, maybe there are things that seem small, but are worth celebrating together at this Salsa Celebration. Through this event we have found a way to share the abundance of gardening, to rejoice in the coming Autumn, to gather with friends, neighbors, and strangers around a table, to pass on the joy of cooking to many generations, and to learn something new together. All these are possible ways that we have FOUND something to celebrate in community through this event, and these are just some things I thought of, I am sure there are plenty more. The small things that we can rejoice about together are worth celebrating in community.
Sometimes Bible stories are familiar to us, but it can always be good to consider what other parts of the story can teach us when it is one that we recognize. For me, on this day, this passage reminds me to rejoice with the community we have formed by gathering together to worship. As we continue our service, I offer you a small opportunity to reflect on that reminder today. Maybe you even share with a friend or a neighbor as your day continues. The reflection question is this: What have you found on this day, or in this week, that has brought you joy and makes you want to rejoice and celebrate in community?