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It’s true that last month I managed to lose my belongings all over the country. (Indeed, I’m planning a return trip to St. Louis in November to recover my shoes.) But, that’s not really why I decided to focus on the theme of “lostness” in this month’s reflection on The Word. No, it has come more from eighteen months now of the pandemic’s ongoing impact on the health and well-being of friends and family members. There’s a lot that we’ve experienced that we still don’t know our own way out of. Kind of like the lost sheep or the lost coin in Luke 15 there’s not much we can do about some of the confusing and frightening circumstances we find ourselves in. But I find hope in Jesus’ message that God is searching for us in our lostness and won’t give up until he finds us (Luke 15:4 )… until she finds us (Luke 15:8). It’s what I preach about here (see Nov. 4), and maybe it could be a sort of four-word mantra in these still difficult times, resting in the conviction that no matter how much we want to be found by God, God even more wants to find us and isn’t giving up.
Happy to share that my talk on lay preaching for the 2021 Dominican Preaching Network is now available. Thank you to those of you who “visited” (again virtually) Sparkill, NY with me this past week to think about the relationship of truth and justice. That event was also recorded and I should be able to share the link with you next time I write!
Image is an engraving by John Everett Millais from Wikimedia Commons