Lost and Being Found
Pentecost 8b 15 (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56) (b.g. II Samuel 7:1-17) July 19, 2015
Focus verse – Mark 6:34 –"As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them (in his gut), because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
Beginning this past Monday I was privileged to visit my parents in Prince Albert Saskatchewan. While I was there I stayed in a hotel. This was one of the hotels that temporarily housed some of the First Nations people who had been displaced by the many raging forest fires in Northern Saskatchewan. They were people of all ages – men, women and children. The children were cruising on mini scooters in the hotel lobby. They sometimes were speaking their native Cree language which I hadn't heard for years. Yet in the midst of their activity and love, there was pain, ongoing angst, uncertainty. What will "there be to go back to?"
I keep thinking of them as I read this verse in the middle of today's gospel. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. "Those" people were uncertain of what would happen next. And if everything – as in homes and way of life, fishing and trapping are gone, what will they do next? How will they live?
You may ask, "But what does this have to do with us?
Are we ever "lost"? If we have lost our "way" don't we have our GPS's, or other expertise to guide us, help us? And, we don't directly depend on fishing or trapping. Our home, apartment, condo will still be there when we return today.
But I wonder. There is more than one way of being lost, unsure of which way to turn. As this Gospel lesson begins the disciples have just returned from the first "job" Jesus has entrusted them with. They are exhausted. It is exhausting caring for, about and with others. Listening to others – entering into their joy and pain brings about joy and pain within us. Facing our mortality- the consequences of our action and inaction – can literally be gut wrenching.
In all such "living" it is so easy to become lost, even to become ill. Consciously, unconsciously we so easily pick up on our cultural clues. When I was a kid there was a pop singer named Cat Stevens. One of his songs has lyrics that go this way, "Work hard boy, someday you'll have a job like mine, job like mine." Most of us have enfleshed that clue, that directive, so well. We have worked HARD. Some of that is so good. We need jobs, purpose, things to do to contribute to the well being of others and the world beyond our immediate family, clan, faith community. However, that which is good can also contribute to our becoming lost. When work becomes the defining part of our identity, that which begins to consume our thoughts our passion and our reason for being, then we are on dangerous ground. When we give so much time to such work that our time with and for others, including our own most beloved ones, even ourselves is severely slashed, then we are in quick sand. And when we no longer allow ourselves or wish to take strolls to marvel at the wonder of God's creation and each other, then we have lost our way. Then very soon if not already we are sick both individually and collectively.
When we become sick or lost in these ways, we begin to be dominated by a hunger – a hunger that at first we may not even be consciously aware of, but which nevertheless still "drives us". There is an emptiness within that begs to be fed and ultimately to be filled. Even if we are unaware of this driving "emptiness/hunger" we will look for, seek after things that might possibly fill the gap. Then we grasp after whatever is handy, whatever may be found in our individual and collective "fridges" or "pantries" (to employ a metaphor) to fill that emptiness. Junk food, alcohol, all kinds of stuff – clothes, cars, vacations – whatever appeals to us at the moment, may be "used" in the hopes of finding direction, feeling satisfied, experiencing a moment's rest or peace. Having, consuming that stuff, we think or feel will make us feel "OK"
But in such moments, being "driven" or "compelled" at such times we, individually and collectively, are so similar to those people Jesus saw on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. We too then are "like sheep without a shepherd"...
But, (hallelujah!) there is also good news here! As with those people we are seen. The risen, suffering, living Jesus SEES US. Yes, He sees us. He sees others too – others who are sick and lost, lacking direction, being driven. Just as He did on that day long ago, He has compassion, now on us. This compassion arises from deep within his being. His compassion upon us and all who have lost their way and are therefore ill, leads him beyond any pity, to action. He teaches. He gives us words, even the WORD, Himself. He breathes upon us, giving us His Spirit. He wills to feed our deepest needs, bringing both satisfaction, but more importantly hope. He feeds us at the altar, through his word, in a community that is called to care for each other and worship, but most certainly also and at the same time to serve others who are hungry, sometimes lost, in need of His embrace. He sees us and others. He actively cares to the very point of His dying – for us and the world.
As the psalmist writes – the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want! What a statement for today – when so often we are told that we must buy, we just gotta have and then spend so much of our time and energy working to have and buy. This occurs because we lose sight of or do not know the One who wills to give us each day what we actually need.
Sometimes we don't trust Him. Instead we limp frantically and frenetically trying to do it all, get it all, as if things or acclaim will satisfy our deepest needs to be loved and love, to live beyond ourselves, our wants, our fears, to be at peace with and joyfully respond to God's direction.
Our present circumstances individually and collectively are anything but simple or easy. A person attacks police officers in South Surrey and is subsequently shot and killed. There is an incident in tiny Dawson Creek where a person wielding a knife is shot and killed. Even here with the lowest amount of rainfall in years smoke has recently blanketed what has been a rain forest. Yet in these very moments people across our church actively seek to help others near and far through the auspices of Canadian Lutheran World Relief. Many of us do listen to our neighbors, care about our families and this community and others that God has placed us in.
In all of this, may we be opened to the One who has compassion, the One who is the Shepherd, the One who promises to love that are kept with the life, death and resurrection of His/Her Son.
May we experience God's compassion by resting regularly in God. In doing so, God's Spirit will enable us to trust our risen Lord. In doing so, we will be reminded and know deep within our beings that we are not alone. Although we are frequently tried and tired we can rest, because God is God. We are not.
Finally, although the needs of many and even ourselves are sometimes great, God equips us to minister here and now. Even when we don't immediately see or feel the results of such ministry, God's influence, God's good and gracious rule is at work now and someday will fully come to fruition.
Sometimes it's enough to just touch any part of Jesus - the bread and the wine – or to be embraced by the Word of his life and love proclaimed directly or funnelled to us through others, including our less than perfect community of faith. In such touches are healing and wholeness, pointing us beyond ourselves to the One in whom hope does not disappoint. Amen.