Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity 2019

Lectionary readings: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 and Luke 15:1-10

[a sermon that I wrote but did not deliver]

The other day, I was having a coffee with my friend Steve, who was visiting Durham from New Zealand. I wanted to ask him about some research he had been doing on craftivism. Craftivism is the act of making craft, that is traditional domestic manufacturing, with the purpose of making the world a better place. One example would be knitting circles making hats for premature babies. In particular, Steve had been looking at the impact of Christmas Angels. You might have heard of Christmas Angels, or even come across one. They are knitted angels, that are left around the neighbourhood to be found, in an act sometimes called ‘yarn bombing.’ They have a tag, with a little message of blessing, an invitation to participate in the process, and social media tag to allow people to share their experience. People have responded with messages like, “I found this angel on my street, and took it to a friend who is going through a hard time. Thank you!”

Analysing hundreds of messages, Steve had noted four themes: [1] the significance of finding and being found; [2] a joy associated with that, and the need to share that joy with others; [3] a precise sense of place, where this happened; and [4] layers of creative interaction between makers and finders.

There is something of this going on in our Gospel reading today. Tax-collectors and sinners were finding Jesus, were finding a welcome in Jesus. They couldn’t keep it to themselves. One would bring a friend, until they were all coming. All those trying to get by. All those who had been made to feel unworthy by their neighbours. All coming to the table for a joyful celebration.

When the respectable people expressed their disapproval, Jesus told them stories. Of a man who lost one sheep in a hundred. Of a woman who lost one coin, of ten. Of a person who had become acutely aware that, for all they had, something was missing, life was incomplete. And so, they went searching, until they found what they were looking for, and when they did, they threw a party.

The first thing we might note is the significance of finding and being found. As Paul writes to Timothy, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ But he came, for the most part, hiding in plain sight, out in the neighbourhood, waiting to be found. And when people found Jesus—the lost sheep, the lost coin—and called all their friends to join in their rejoicing, they came to discover that they were the ones who had been found; and in inviting Jesus to their table, they found themselves invited by Jesus to God’s table.

The next thing we might note is the joy associated with being found, and the need to share that joy with others. We hear that joy as we listen-in on Paul writing to his young friend Timothy. He can’t keep it to himself. Neither could the tax-collectors and the sinners, and the angels in heaven!

We might note, too, a precise sense of place. For Paul, it is about an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, an event in which he received mercy, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for him with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. For the tax-collectors and the sinners, Luke tells us that they were coming near to listen to Jesus. We can imagine one asking another, ‘Where were you when you first heard, when you first saw for yourself, when you first met Jesus?’ The irony is that Jesus also welcomed and ate with Pharisees and scribes, but instead of joy they responded with grumbling. You can be there, and miss it.

And, lastly, we might note the layers of creative interaction going on. Yes, as Paul puts it, ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ But, again and again, it is the people who find Jesus who call their friends and neighbours to be found. Jesus is the lost sheep…and the shepherd; the coin…and the woman. The tax-collectors and sinners—and, potentially, the Pharisees and scribes—are the searching shepherd who becomes a found sheep; the woman, frantic and relieved, who becomes a found coin. And round and round it goes, in an ever-expanding cycle. Paul receives mercy, and all that overflows to him overflows through him.

The day before yesterday was the eightieth anniversary of this church [St Nicholas’ Bishopwearmouth]. Today, we celebrate eighty years of men and women, girls and boys, who have found Jesus and found themselves found by Jesus, in this neighbourhood; caught up in a joy they can’t help but share. Perhaps you have never known that for yourself. Perhaps today is the day you do.