Below the video is the script for the sermon “Lost or Found?” The Gospel passage (Luke 2:41-51) has set me thinking about this dynamic of being “lost or found” and what exacerbates or lessens the anguish of this dynamic. To quote those London “bobbies” I mention at the end of the sermon, we need constant reaffirmation that we “are not lost, but we are found”.

What a great text for a New Year and for each new day of 2021!

Luke 2
41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years,and in divine and human favor.

“Lost or Found?” Sermon Preached at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC. Sunday January 3, 2021. The Reverend Alan Neale
In 1990 a movie was released that was going to spawn four more movies in similar vein; the movie? “Home Alone”. There are a few interesting parallels between this story and our Gospel for today (Luke 2:41-51).

In both stories, an extended family goes to a faraway place to celebrate a holiday.
In both stories, because of wretched miscommunication and unconscionable ignorance, a boy is lost, misplaced, missing.
In both stories, both families begin a worrisome and wearisome frantic search for the missing lad.
And, in both stories, each child seems more than capable of taking care of themselves; for as Kevin goes “toe-to-toe” with cat burglars and wins, so Jesus goes “head-to-head” with Biblical scholars and dazzles them all.When the parents (well, parent and step-parent) eventually find Jesus, they discover he is (to quote Luke 2:46) “sitting… listening… and asking questions” of the pillars of ecclesiastical tradition and Scriptural exposition. Just an aside… note that pattern “sitting… listening… asking questions”; this is the model for good Episcopal evangelism… we sit where people are, we listen with care and we ask questions with respect!

Joseph as wise step-parent seems to take a “step” back and allows Mary to enter into the fray of familial discord and rancor.
Unlike many others I do not see Jesus’ response as rude, discourteous backtalk; but rather I see his response as a gentle reminder that, though respectful of Joseph, there is one whom he addresses as “My Father”. What a lot for dear Joseph to swallow! I remember how I felt when Wendy’ children, my step-children, talked of their father – I tried to be mature and understanding but it was a process of assimilation and integration. But anyway…

The family is re-united in person, even if not on the same page of understanding and they return home (probably each of them changed profoundly; you see, it’s not only wise men who return home “a different way” from encountering Jesus and neither should it be!).

The glimpse into the shadowy land of Jesus’ boyhood, teenage years and beyond – this, to our frustration, remains the most brief of glipses, though the reader is assured that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (what a challenge for us, for this New Year, both as individual followers of Jesus and as a church.
Of course, the careful reader of Luke will reach the conclusion that it is not Jesus who is lost but rather Mary and Joseph, and so it is whenever Christian or Church wander from the Lord Jesus because of indolent indifference, wanton carelessness or vain assumption.

It has been argued that Luke is the Gospel of “Lost and Found” – one perfect example is chapter 15 where an errant sheep is found with rejoicing, a misplaced coin is discovered with relief, the rake of the younger son is welcomed with warm embrace, whereas the elder son (alas, alack) remains “lost” in resentment and anger. Again in chapter 24 two disciples “slouching slowly” on the road to Emmaus bemoan and bewail that they have lost Jesus back in Jerusalem, back on the Cross and then… they are found as Jesus walks beside them, expounds Scripture and stays with them a night or two.

In fact, this Lost and Found theme begins in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve feign they are lost and in this primal story of “hide and seek”, the Lord walks and stalks them in the Garden asking plaintively, poignantly, “Where are you?”

I believe that many a Christian has felt herself, himself to be lost in 2020 as she/he have felt beset, besieged, blitzed by forces and factors of proportions and magnitude previously unknown and, therefore, for which there has been barely sufficient preparation.

I believe that many a Church community has felt itself to be lost in 2020 as the experience of community, fellowship, and connection has been stretched so thinly; when the safe and secure haven of church has been threatened.

But (and here’s the message to shout, affirm, proclaim) we are not lost for our Shepherd Lord has been seeking each one of us during this year; we are not lost for our Shepherd Lord has been guarding St. Stephen’s sustaining its missions and preparing it for growth in 2021.

When the man in this pulpit was about 12 he was taken to Trafalgar Square by his uncle. He lost me. A London bobby found me and took me to Scotland Yard; even now I remember the parade of police officers who would look in to visit – they asked consistently “Sonny, why are you here?”. I answered, “I’m lost”. And their constant response, “No, you’re not… YOU’RE FOUND!” Sometimes we need the comforting repetition of that profound truth… “No, you’re not lost… you are found.”

Whether we are the ones who feel lost, or the ones engaged in search… we are found, safe in “our Father’s house.”

Thanks be to God, AMEN