Jesus offers two compelling parables this morning.
First, the parable of the lost sheep.
Then the parable of the lost coin.
And unlike last Sunday’s Bible reading, where it was very hard to understand Jesus’ teaching,
today’s Bible reading is quite clear.
The two parables point to the truth that God is gracious and that God pursues us even when we
turn away from him.
God is a loving father who wants to be in relationship with us.
God wants us to know him and to find joy in him.
God wants us to turn to him and to be found – to be found is to be, finally, at home with God.
To be at home with God happens in our death, yes, when we are raised from the dead to be
with Jesus and the whole company of God’s saints, but it can also happen in this life as we
come to know Christ and his grace and his peace.
We do not have a permanent place here on earth but that does not mean we cannot find a
place of belonging and a place that feels like home.
This past week in considering this text from Luke, I have been reflecting on the meaning of
home.
What does it mean to be at home?

To no longer be searching, to no longer be lost, to be found, to be at a place of rest, to be at a
place where you can be yourself, to be at home.
Home can refer to a house, it can refer to a place, it can refer to family but in the context of this
Scripture reading – home is being with Jesus.
This truth became very real to me as I was growing up.
By the time I reached eighteen I had already lived in five different towns, three different states,
and I had attended four different schools in four different communities.
To this day I still don’t know what school I should go to if I were to attend a school reunion.
Maybe some of you here have had a similar experience.
So, I realized as a child that being at home does not necessarily mean a place – it can mean that
to be sure but for Jesus – being at home means something else.
Being at home is something more spiritual, something we feel and know inside of us.
Being at home is an inner knowing and belief that Jesus is right there.
And that his peace and his grace is always there for us to receive.
Our weekly Eucharist meal both reminds us of this and our weekly Eucharist meal is a spiritual
means for us to receive his grace and his peace.
At the table we are at home.
We are at home with Jesus.

And then as we leave this place and go on – for the rest of the week Jesus goes with us and
ahead of us.
If you are like me, you may have some anxiety about the future.
The future is unknown, there is always uncertainty about the future.
And how comforting it is to know that Jesus is already there.
He goes ahead of us and then he meets us each step of our journey.
He does not let us to become lost on the way.
Suddenly then the mistakes that we make in life and the regrets that we hold to become
absolved in his presence.
And if we turn from him, Jesus is quick to help us to find the way back to him so that we can be
at home with him.
This is the hope that we share together as God’s people – it is an active kind of hope.
This means that our hope in God and in Jesus impacts us each day of our lives.
This coming week spend some time thinking about what home means to you.
We often have strong attachments to the places we call home.
My family and I recently visited a place that is very dear to us on our family vacation.
For me it is the place that feels most like home.
It’s Dubuque, Iowa.

Why you might ask?
Well, it’s the place where Kalen and I met and where we went to seminary together.
It is a life-giving place for me.
I still keep in touch with many of my professors, teachers, and classmates that I first me in
Dubuque.
One of whom you met and welcomed this past spring, in our guest organist, Dr. Roy Carrol who
was one of my worship professors and the seminary worship organist.
There are so many wonderful memories from that place and it always feels like home when I go
back to Dubuque even though I only lived there for short four years.
Places do that.
We associate a lot of meaning to a place and the people we meet there.
This is good and the places that we call home provide the foundation and the stability that we
need in life.
Now think about that and the places that are dear to you.
And then think about your relationship with God and how God calls us to himself to be found in
him and to be spiritually at home with him.
Even during the times that we feel distant from God and the times that we feel lost in our faith
God is there speaking to us and reaching out to us.

Like the man who looks for his lost sheep and the woman who searches for her lost coin – God
continues, always to pursue us until we are found in him.
When we are found there is rejoicing indeed – for we are home.
Amen.