Ash Wednesday won't be here until early in February, but we have received a preview of this day that begins our season of Lent as Psalm 51 found its way into the Bible readings assigned for this Sunday. This psalm is one of penitence. "I know my offenses and my sin is ever before me." As we speak this psalm, we have the opportunity to say that we are sorry. Sorry for our rebellions. Sorry for all the ways we've missed the mark in following God's command and call for our lives. Sorry for our nature that makes it so easy for us to get lost. This psalm boldly asks God for a fresh start. "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
     As we sing this psalm, we call on God to enact God's work of forgiveness. We ask God to pull out all the stops and pour out upon us mercy, steadfast love and compassion. We ask God to scrub us clean and get us oriented on the right path. We ask God to seek us out until we are found. This psalm is a request for joy and rejoicing. As we pray this psalm, we demand joy. "Let me hear joy and gladness." We understand that joy and rejoicing will be the by-products of God's gifts, cleansing and renewal in our lives.
     During the first month of my first call at my church in Wisconsin, I was cleaning up after a Saturday morning meeting when a man in his 40's walked in. He asked to speak to the pastor, so I sat with him, waiting to hear what was on his mind. As he began to speak, he shared that his family had been members at that church many years ago. He went on to speak of a troubled past, full of a lot of mistakes. As he spoke, I could literally see the burden he carried as his shoulders sagged and his eyes were cast down.
     Finally, he got to the reason he had really come to the church that day and he reached into his pocket and pulled out this - a little container meant to hold communion wafers. You see, he had stolen it from the church when he was 15 years old and now needed to return it as part of his journey toward wholeness and renewal. He asked if the church could ever forgive him and I told him, "Yes."
     In my role as the pastor, I also offered God's forgiveness through Jesus Christ to him and I'm not exaggerating that I saw his burden lifted a bit as tears poured from his eyes and his shoulders became a little stronger. He left the church that day, thanking me, and I never saw him again. So, I wonder about him every now and then in his journey from being lost to being found. And I thank God for him and how he witnessed to me the power of penitence -- the power of saying "I'm sorry" -- the power of allowing God to work mercy and forgiveness in our lives -- the power of God to always find the lost.
     The Gospel lesson today could be entitled, "Lost and Found." One sheep out of 100 is lost, so the shepherd leaves the 99, finds the one lost sheep and brings it back safely to the fold where he calls on his friends and neighbors to rejoice. One coin out of 10 is lost, so the woman lights her lamp, sweeps the house and carefully looks until she finds it and then calls together her friends and neighbors to rejoice. 
     That's as far as we get in the verses prescribed for today, but do you know how Luke 15 continues? With the story of the prodigal son. One son out of two is lost, living in a distant country and spending his share of the inheritance on wild living. Still, as he makes his way home, ready to be his father's hired servant, his father sees him in the distance, runs out to find him and brings him home where he requests that the fatted calf be killed so he can throw a party of all parties to rejoice in his son's return. This "Lost and Found" Gospel describes the very nature of God. That is, it teaches us that God always finds the lost.
     Psalm 51 is a psalm written by King David. The words are attributed to being spoken when the prophet Nathan came to him in order to hold him accountable for the adultery that he had committed with Bathsheba. Despites his sin, despite his lostness, the words in this psalm tell us that David is sure of God's forgiveness. For David, God's mercy is bigger than his sin. God's steadfast and unconditional love is greater than all of his offenses. So, he speaks boldly, demanding God to forgive him -- to find him. The Gospel for today affirms David's and all of our confidence that God's mercy, grace and love is bigger than our sin, bigger than any mess we find ourselves in. And, not only does God always find us, but there is great celebration when it happens.
     I want to close with a story. It's a parable about an old man who used to meditate each day be the Ganges River in India. "One morning he saw a scorpion floating on the water. When the scorpion drifted near the old man he reached to rescue it but was stung by the scorpion. A bit later he tried again and was stung again, the bite swelling his hand painfully and giving him much pain. Another man passing by saw what was happening and yelled at the man, "Hey, stupid old man, what's wrong with you? Only a fool would risk his life for the sake of an ugly, evil creature. Don't you know you could kill yourself trying to save that ungrateful scorpion?" The old man calmly replied, "My friend, just because it is in the scorpion's nature to sting, that does not change my nature to save."
     Dear ones, gathered here this morning. It is part of our nature to become lost, to do things that require us to say we're sorry and ask for God's forgiveness. Thanks be to God, it is God's nature to find the lost. It is God's nature, through Jesus Christ, to save. Amen.





Have you ever been lost before? Where? How did you feel when you were lost? (sad, scared, angry) How did you feel when you were found? (happy, relieved) What did the person who found you do? (hugged me, cried out of joy, smiled) Sometimes we get lost in our spiritual lives, too. We think maybe God can't see us or find us. The Gospel story today tells us that God will always find us. God will never stop looking for us until we are back with Him. And when that happens, God will celebrate.