CLERGY CORNER: Lost and Found

Posted on 23 January 2014 by LeslieM

Did you know you can be lost and found and not even know who you are?

This is exactly what happened to 200 French soldiers at the end of World War II. The soldiers were suffering from amnesia when they were released from POW camps.

Doctors thought determining their identity and reuniting them with families and friends would be vital to their recovery, so a massive effort to identify the unknown men was carried out.

The Red Cross was able to identity most of the men. To determine the identity of the remaining veterans, photographs of the few dozen remaining unknown men were published in newspapers throughout France. Then the public was invited to a gathering at the Paris Opera House.

On the evening of the gathering, each man whose identity remained unknown walked on stage, one at a time, and asked a simple question, “Does anyone know who I am?” Each man was then seated in hopes someone would know them.

Most people believe it was a miracle each man was eventually identified and reconnected with family and friends.

The prophet Ezekiel speaking for the Lord says, “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. … I will seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured and strengthen the weak…” (Ezekiel 34)

When God commits to seek after us then we can be found even if we think we don’t want to be, even if we don’t know we’re lost!

One example happened just a few weeks ago when record-setting cold temperatures inspired news coverage of the cold weather’s impact on the homeless. In the middle of the cold spell Jacqueline Martin, an Associated Press photographer, was dispatched into the heart of our nation’s capital to find and photograph the homeless.

She photographed a young homeless man on a park bench named Nick. Nick’s photo ran prominently nationwide and ironically this photo led to his reunion with his family near Rochester, New York.

The reunion is ironic because Nick declined to give the photographer his last name when asked to do so. He knew who he was. He just didn’t consider himself lost and he didn’t want to be found, but he was lost and he was found.

For many people, the despair in being lost is thinking no one cares, thinking no one is looking for them, but Christ seeking after the lost is a central part and promise of the Gospel.

Whether you’re lost mentally, physically, emotionally or spiritually, maybe you’ve forgotten who you really are even if you don’t know you’re lost or you don’t want to be found, you still have the assurance of knowing Jesus is always seeking after you …

Jesus says, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’” (Luke 15: 4 – 6)

Join us this Sunday morning for informal chapel worship at 8:30 or sanctuary worship at 11. The message “Lost and Found” is based on the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 15.

Dennis Andrews is a minister at Community Presbyterian Church of Deerfield Beach (Steeple on the Beach) located five blocks south of Hillsboro on A1A. See more at www.communitych.org or on Facebook.

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