A Letter from Bishop Chris (October 2023B)

Friends,

I suspect we’ve all lost things from time to time. The more important and valuable the item is to us, the more concerned and determined we are to find it.

For instance, my entire family wears glasses and I can’t calculate the amount of time we’ve spent over the years searching for misplaced glasses. Or how about car keys? I don’t think anyone ever said, “Whatever,” to a lost set of keys.

Have you ever lost a pet? I doubt you shrugged, “Meh, I didn’t like that dog anyway.” A few years ago our 16-year-old, half-blind, and deaf dog Lulu decided to go on an adventure while we were vacationing on Kiawah Island, SC. One minute she was there and the next she was gone. Kiawah Island is full of alligators and Lulu was the perfect size for a snack. Catherine and I crashed through the woods frantically looking for her. What relief we felt - over an hour later - when a security guard drove up with our muddy/happy dog in his truck. 

Or, how about losing a child in a crowded public place? It’s a sick, panicky feeling as you try not to imagine all the things that could happen to them. I had three very inquisitive children and I’m sure their curiosity led to each one getting lost at one point or another. I can attest that it’s a terrible thing to lose your child!

Here’s what I’m getting at: why do you look for the things you've lost? You look for them because they’re yours and they have real value to you. The same is true for God. God is concerned about those who are lost.

The New Testament assumes that people outside of Christ and apart from God are lost and need a Savior. Jesus told vivid stories in Luke 15 about a coin, a sheep, and two sons. All were lost and all were sought. In those stories, to be lost is more about “awayness” than “badness.” The coin was away from the purse, the sheep from the sheepfold, and the sons from the father’s house. Leighton Ford writes that Jesus used these stories to teach the self-righteous Pharisees who condemned him for associating with “sinners” (Luke 15:1-2) that, though they went to the synagogue every Sabbath day, in their hearts they were just as much “lost” and away from God as the outcasts and morally suspicious failures.

The Good News is that the last word is not lost but found! Though people are away from God they can be brought back; though dead in sin, people can be made alive; though perishing, people can be saved. Despite our sin, we are infinitely valuable to God. You are infinitely valuable to God. Your neighbor or co-worker who is lost and away from the Father’s house is infinitely valuable to God. For our Father, finding lost people is worth any pain, any search, and any sacrifice on his part - the cross of Jesus Christ proves it.

I believe we are called by God to join him in his search for lost people. I will be writing more about this in the weeks to come in the lead up to our Annual Diocesan Synod.

And I want to encourage you to join me for our pre-synod workshop on November 17 called The Art of Neighboring. (Register here.) Author Dave Runyon will help us think about practical ways to engage with our neighbors - many of whom are lost - but all of whom are infinitely loved by God. Our Heavenly Father desires that his lost children be found and that they come back home.

Blessings,
+Chris