I preached last Sunday about vulnerability. I mentioned how we have to "vulnerably put ourselves out there" if we desire receiving God's radically transformational love. We may indeed reject picking up the cross that Jesus invites us to carry. However, avoiding to carry it means not encountering Jesus in life-giving, beautiful ways. As Brene' Brown suggests wholehearted people embrace vulnerability. Wholehearted Christians help Jesus Christ carry his cross as he helps carry theirs.

 I'm praying and thinking about how those words shape this week's lessons about the lost sheep and the lost coin.  Does a illogical quest require vulnerability? Think about it. Does a manager care about the needs of a single person more than the needs of the other 99 people, especially if the one person is a problem maker or an outcast. No. Does Jesus? Absolutely! Fr. Rick Morley writes: "Our God is the God of the lost, and the God who celebrates when the lost are found." That's awesome but it doesn't make a great deal of sense. Thank God that God is like that when we need God because we're lost.

Similarly, do you set aside everything you have to get done in order to find one coin that's not anymore valuable than the other ones you already have. Even still, when you surprisingly find that coin then spend it plus a bunch more to invite your friends over and have a party? Maybe, good for  you! Such decision making isn't the most sensible thing to do. Yet, Jesus calls us to wholeheartedly embrace such irrational decisions  when someone's life or well-being is at stake. Sometimes it's some aspect of our true selves we've lost and are seeking to find.

Chuck Kirchner - An Image of Gratitude

All of the readings urge me to recall how personal transformation begins at home. It happens there as well as through a courageous search for God's love out in the world. Life becomes renewed when we set aside what seems to be most important in order to discover what truly is most profound. It's a party when we share such discoveries with those around us.  Found any coins worth sharing recently? Has God found you out in the wilderness and returned you back into wholeness? These are stories definitely worth sharing with one another!


Blessings Along The Way, Jim+

Joyce Keeshin Joins Us on Sunday!

I'm old enough to remember when Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" was released. It's essentially the story of a lost relationship between a father and his son.

I hear this song through the lens of what we lose when we pay attention to what seems most important but really isn't.  I grew up without a dad. I know what's that like. I know of other sons and daughters who wrestle with lost or broken relationships with their parents or siblings. How may we catch ourselves in order to reclaim what truly is most valuable in such relationships. What connections are frazzled and need God's arms around them as well as ours?  Human relationships are usually messy and fragile. It takes a lot of courage to figure out how best to live in them. Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "God's dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion." Harry Chapin song tells us what we regrettably lose by forgetting God's dream.