All of You, Each of You, and God's Love for the Lost | A Children's Homily on Luke 15: 1-10
A children’s homily given on the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (C) at Christ Church, Georgetown.
Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51:1-11; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10
Good morning!
It is a particularly good morning for me, because I get to see all of you. When I first came to Christ Church, I knew you as the children of Christ Church. I looked forward to seeing all of you together. You are a vibrant and engaged and sometimes very funny crowd, and it made me happy to see you in church with your adults.
But now that I’ve been here a little while, I look forward to seeing each of you. I look forward to greeting Ryan, and Smith, and Fifi. I know names and details that I didn’t know before. I can pick you out of a crowd. In some ways, you feel like mine. Even the older children who would never dare come to the front and who I won’t call out now, but they know who they are - I know them too.
Of course, I know some of you still better than others, just as some of you know me better than others know me. But, we’re getting there, aren’t we?
So, it is a good morning, because I get to see each of you. And, each of you is a different thing than all of you. Isn’t it?
Each of you means each one of you. I see each one of you. All of you is more of a group thing. All of you is “the children of Christ Church,” which is important and lovely but different than if I were to say “Ryan and Smith and Fifi.”
God loves all of us. We’ve heard that right? That’s something we say. And, it’s something that’s true. God loves all of us.
And, God loves each one of us.
Just a minute ago, I read the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. Do you remember the story?
Jesus says, "Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and you lost one of them. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine who were safe, and go and search for the lost sheep? And when you found the lost sheep, wouldn't you joyfully put it on your shoulders and carry it back home? Wouldn't you be so happy that you would tell all of your friends about finding the lost sheep?"
Will you imagine with me for a minute 100 sheep in a field? Maybe they are eating grass. Maybe they are lying in the sun. But, there are a lot of them. And, they are doing sheep-y things.
The shepherd is in charge of them and is watching them. And something seems not quite right. He begins to count them. 1, 2, 3, all the way to 100. Except, wait. There are not 100 sheep. There are only 99. One of them is gone.
Now, with 100 sheep, you might think that the shepherd would go, “Oh no! One of these sheep is missing!” But, that’s not what happens. The shepherd would go instead, “Oh No! The little one with the black spot over its eye is missing!” The shepherd knows the exact sheep that is missing. Because, the shepherd doesn’t just love all the sheep. He loves each of the sheep.
A sheep that he loves is lost. It does not matter that he has 99 more sheep, because this one sheep that he knows and that he loves is lost. And so, of course he goes looking for it. And, of course he is desperate to find it. And, of course, he can think of nothing else until he does. And, of course, when he does, he is happy. And rejoices. And tells all of his friends.
Jesus came for all of us. All of us! And, that is exciting. But, for Jesus, all of us means each of us.
God loves the children of Christ Church. God loves the grownups too. But, it doesn’t stop there. God loves each of us. God loves you. And you. And you. And me too. God knows you completely. Loves you completely. Never forget that you are so loved by God.
Each and every one of you.
