The Lost and Found Box

 

A Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 14, 2025

The Rev. Robin Teasley

 

 

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse-- a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.

"For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good."

I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.

I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.

I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled.

I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.

 

Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back.  Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

 

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All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

 

"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."  Luke 15:1-10

 

 

I can remember when my children were in school and would lose a jacket or sweater or one mitten. I would always check the lost and found box, just outside the school office. Sometimes I found the lost item and there was much rejoicing. Other times what I was looking for was not there, but I was always amazed at what I did find in the box - things I could not imagine anyone not coming to seek and to claim. In the box there would be a pair of glasses, a hair bow, a set of keys, a watch, a lovely bracelet. Did they not even realize they had lost these items? Because if they did, surely they would have come to look for them. Seeing these unclaimed treasures always made me sad for some reason. Maybe because I know what it feels like to be lost.  

 

Despite how we present ourselves to the world, there are times in our lives when we find ourselves in the lost and found box. There are times when we come to understand that inside of us there is a lost child, a lost sheep, that longs to be found and cared for and loved and cherished. 

 

Early Church father Augustine wisely observed that our hearts are restless until they rest in God.  We have come from God and long to return to God and we get lost, over and over, on that journey back to our Shepherd because all of us are like sheep who have gone astray. There can be great comfort, and even joy, when we finally understand that lostness happens to God’s people, that it is part and parcel of a life of faith.

 

What does it mean to be lost?  It might mean we lose our sense of belonging, we lose our capacity to trust, we lose our felt experience of God’s presence, or we lose our will to persevere.  Some of us get lost when our lives don’t stay on the path we want them to, or when death comes too soon and too suddenly for someone we love, and we experience a crisis of faith that leaves us reeling.  

 

Some of us get lost when our marriages die. Some of us get lost when our children break our hearts. Some of us get lost in anxiety, or lust, or unforgiveness, or hatred, or bitterness. 

 

Sometimes an entire nation of people finds itself lost – the prophet Jeremiah was speaking to God’s people this morning in the Hebrew scripture. Jeremiah may be speaking to us now in our lostness. 

 

Jesus was always hanging out with the wrong people, the lost people, at least this was the opinion of all the people who were certain they were not the lost ones. What if we could see ourselves and one another as sheep, all imperfect, lost sheep in need of a shepherd? The shepherd does not distinguish between sheep. Maybe we shouldn’t either.

 

Can we imagine God as a scraggly shepherd climbing over rocks and down into brambles and overgrown ditches to find us? Can we imagine God as an old woman furiously sweeping every square inch and every dark corner of our hearts to find the treasure within us?  Can we imagine God as a mother searching the lost and found box, and then searching out every child and returning to them what had been lost?

 

A church is a lot like a lost and found box. Just look at all of you out there, sitting in your boxes! Boxes filled with unclaimed treasures; and also filled with all sorts of people who are looking for something - for meaning in life, a community of support, and an experience of the holy.

 

Today is Homecoming Sunday, and if you have been here often or if you have not been here long, we are glad you are here. In a moment we will hear about the ways we can become a vital part of this community of faith at St. John’s, each of us offering the treasures we have been given to shepherd one another out of our lostness and into the grace of God’s love.

 

God invites the whole neighborhood over, shares the good news, throws a party, and the lost and found box becomes a church; a church that welcomes all by inviting all to match their gifts with the needs of the community. 

 

There’s going to be a party over in the parish hall after church. Join us!