"Lost and Found: A Lost Son"

This week, after the service, we had our very first “working lunch Congregational Meeting,” and it went pretty well (especially considering that most of our Elders and Deacons ended up not being able to attend, for one reason or another).  For the year or so, we’ve been experimenting with having our Congregational Meetings immediately following the services on a Sunday instead of on the traditional Thursday night -- we’ve found that it is much easier for our older FCCers and our families with younger children to stick around for a half an hour or so than it is for them to try to bundle into a vehicle and get here on a weekday evening.  But we made this one a “working lunch” because Deacons were sharing their Annual Reports, and we had a number of other things on the docket, but we didn’t want anyone to pass out from hunger halfway through the meeting.

But we had some excellent discussions about how well the church family weathered 2018, and some equally good discussions about some of our vision for what we believe God is calling us to in 2019 -- and a large part of that was voting in three brand new Deacons:

Michael Uhler is taking over as Missions Deacon for Linda Irwin (who has been in the role since long before I arrived on the scene), putting his Missions degree from Moody to work.  Luckily, Linda will remain on his team to ensure a smooth transition.

Eric Diemer is taking on the role of Outreach/Evangelism Deacon (which I’ve been unofficially filling for several years).  It will be a blessing to have the opportunity to support his burden and enthusiasm, rather than to try to do all of that on my own.

Mark Andrews is taking on the newly-created Worship Deacon role.  We’ve been praying and talking for a while about how to structure a position like that, and Mark’s tender, servant’s heart will be an excellent fit for what the Lord’s laid on us all.

Please be praying for all of our Deacons, but especially these three, as they phase into their new ministry roles.

In our message this week, we discussed the third parable in Christ’s “Lost ________” Trilogy -- the “Lost Son” (not the “Prodigal Son,” since that focuses on his sin, when Jesus repeatedly focuses on his lost-ness and need to be found.  But then again, we kinda always tend to focus on having a “bad guy” in a story -- so if we don’t slam the younger brother, then we often find ourselves slamming the elder brother for his perceived unforgiveness.

But to be fair, everything that the elder brother said to their father was totally correct, and he arguably legally, logically, and even morally owed his little brother absolutely nothing.  It’s just that -- as we saw in the first two parables in the trilogy -- Christ’s point was that God loves and seeks and saves the lost over and above the law, human reason, or even cultural morality.  The shepherd, the woman, and now the father all obsess over finding and saving those lost sheep, coins, and people to a degree that arguably makes no sense to the rest of us... and that’s precisely the point that Jesus is making.  God loves you and me -- and them -- ridiculously, immediately, unrepentantly, and without reservation.... and He wants us to do the same to those around us.

So stop and think today about who around you might be lost, and desperately in need of being found (even if they can’t see that themselves).  Let’s run out to love, seek, and save them like Jesus taught us to do.  Let’s make that an act of worship today.