Lost and Found: A Pastoral Message from Bishop Russell

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Each month, our diocesan clergy gather on Zoom—to share resources, discuss topics relevant to our work, and support one another in ministry. Last week, on the anniversary of 9/11, I began our meeting with a prayer for victims of violence. In the prayer, I named the most recent victims whose stories were in the most recent news just last week: Charlie Kirk, Iryana Zarutska, Dr. Julie Schnuelle, Frank and Maureen Olton. I also included the children injured in the shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado.

Afterwards, one of our clergy emailed to thank me for the prayer and confessed he hadn’t heard about the school shooting because of the other headlines in the news.

That’s what it has come to. There is so much violence in the news, we are lost in it.

In last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus shared two parables about being lost and being found. I preached on the idea that acknowledging our lostness is, in itself, a sacred act.

Being lost, according to Jesus’ parables, is not due to being eternally cursed or divinely punished. It’s about being separated from where we were meant to be, forgetting who we are. It's about knowing and naming our lostness and a deep faithful cry to be found.

The writer Douglas Coupland, the man who gave us the word "Generation X," ends his book "Life After God" with a faithful cry:

"Now—here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again. My secret is that I need God—that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love."

Coupland names something deep and honest about being lost. That sense that life is not working on its own, and we cannot fix ourselves. But it is in this knowing and naming of our lostness that leads us to the hope that these parables hold. That in Jesus, being lost is not the final word.

The shepherd does not wait for the sheep to wander home. The woman does not wait for the coin to roll out from under the table. They go searching—because what was lost still matters.

Perhaps being lost is a holy place—because it forces us to stop pretending we are in control, and to cry out for help. It opens us to the possibility of being found again.

I wonder if God is inviting us to be honest about our fears….our weariness…..our confusion…our lostness….so that we might let ourselves be found again by grace…the grace that heals us…. restores us….renews us…..and inspires us onward. The grace that searches for us—urgently, relentlessly, eternally---the grace of God that never gives up…and loses no one God has made.

What then do we do? First and foremost, to borrow from Paul Tillich, “simply accept the fact that you are accepted.” Your life matters. In Christ Jesus, you are found, marked as Christ’s own forever, known & named, found and held by the love of God. Because of that, you are never truly lost.

What do we do? Might we allow ourselves to be found and found again, so that we might also take our place with the Good Shepherd in the holy work of finding, healing, and restoring?

Being found can take time and practice. I ask that we open ourselves to be people who pray and practice God’s will. We already pray for this every Sunday---"thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Let's practice our prayer by being people who go searching for the lost. People who dare to name what is broken, and who build bridges of care and civility where they are most needed. People who listen for ways to create and recreate relationships of deep human connection. People who cultivate empathy and compassion. This is the work of God’s will for us.

Your life matters. Your relationships matter. This Church—and the people we serve—matter. And God’s grace is already out there, looking for us, and calling us to the holy work of finding, healing, and recreating relationships----calling us to our mission---"to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”