Never Lost

“…The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst.  No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher.  While from   behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: ‘This is the way; walk in it,’ when you would turn to the right or to the left…” (Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26).

No wonder in previous readings we’re told the deaf will hear and the blind will be.  With our own eyes we must see our teacher.  We must listen to the voice telling us, “This way.”  To follow Jesus’ way then, we need him to guide us – to speak to us, to sound in our ears.  Such sounds are: “The troubled and abandoned are like sheep without a shepherd…Go to the lost sheep” (Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5A, 6-8).
 
These sounds remind us of the baby Jesus in the manger surrounded by shepherds.   We are all supposed to be shepherds finding and healing the lost.  Who are they?   For many of us they are family members needing to be forgiven this Christmas.  For many of us we are the ones who seek forgiveness and who need to be forgiven.  We are the sheep.  We want to be found.

God already has found us.  Actually, we are the ones who must find God.   Advent is the best time of the year to seek God out and then realize we were never lost.

Deacon David Pierce