The Lost Coin
Rejoice!
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were
coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling
and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
So he told them this parable: "Which one of
you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the
ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds
it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he
comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,
'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell
you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if
she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search
carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her
friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that
I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner who repents."
Luke 15:1-10
Lost Coin
FETTI,
Domenico
between
1618-1622
Gemäldegalerie
Dresden,
Germany
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.
We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
~
Stephen Covey
Too few rejoice
at a friend's good fortune.
~
Aeschylus
Joan
Evashevski, Carolyn Alexander, Eileen Sharkey, Sharron Leonard, Rebecca Martin
at
the Hideaway in Genesee to have a late celebration of my birthday!
Sherm
Wenger, Todd Bastian
We
said a fond farewell to Sherm at Rotary yesterday.
He
and Lynn are moving "down the hill" next week.
On
Thursday, September 12, 2013, the water below the dam
was
very high and was already covering part of the trail.
Friday,
September 13, 2013.
This
is where we normally walk on Saturday mornings.
Photo
by Kathleen Stevens Krum
My
home is on higher ground, but there are a lot of people in Evergreen and
elsewhere in
Colorado
who are not so fortunate. Many areas are much, much worse than these.
Here
is a view of Cactus Jack's, a popular eating place in downtown Evergreen:
Short VIDEO:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=577337148975429
Our Evergreen Water Treatment Facility is right next
door to Cactus Jack's
and
appears to be working well.
There is no such thing in anyone's life
as an unimportant day.
Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it
and whispers, "Grow, grow."
~
Alexander Woollcott
September 15, 2013 Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Previous OPQs may be
found at:
LUKE 15:1-10 *
The
Parable of the Ninety-Nine
(or why it's probably a good
thing that sheep don't talk)
by
Sarah Dylan Breuer
Once there was a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them went astray. The shepherd's colleagues figured this was probably due to some carelessness on the shepherd's part -- after all, when the shepherd had been a farmer, he had repeatedly been seen tossing seed in the middle of paved parking lots and pigeon hangouts without much thought as to whether anything would actually grow there, so he had acquired a reputation for being a little loopy.
The ninety-nine sheep, wanting to be helpful, immediately sprang into action ... or discussion, anyway. One loudly announced that the Historic Flock had never included more than ninety-nine sheep, and therefore that the stray was probably a goat, or perhaps a marmoset, and should not be bothered with. If a wolf got it, that's what it deserved for straying from the flock, or for being a marmoset, or whatever its problem was.
Factions gathered in response to that announcement, some suggesting that perhaps a message could be sent to the stray that if she were to stop being a marmoset and instead become a sheep, or at least learn to bleat like one, or perhaps if she stopped making...what noise is it that marmosets make? (cries immediately went up for a subcommittee to study that issue) she could rejoin the flock. A website and glossy magazine ads were put in place to further this effort, as were a series of dialogues, in which each member of a panel of three sheep would present its view of what species the strays were, followed by discussion and concluding with a very nice and moving liturgy.
Another faction formed to try to win over the first group. They poured their resources into a public relations campaign in the flock to celebrate the contributions of all sheep, even the ones reputed to be marmosets or goats. Since their raison d'etre was to convince the Historic Flockers, though, it was very important not to engage in any precipitous action that might offend them. So when rumors arose that the stray sheep was being attacked by wolves and a voice in the flock suggested that perhaps something ought to be done, another of the ninety-nine sheep produced a marvelous-looking PowerPoint presentation documenting the decline in wolf attacks by well over 30% over the last fifteen years. "And there used to be 78 strays per year," she noted, "that we've got it down to one is most impressive!" The faction responded with a loud cheer and rumbled off to a celebratory ball and fundraiser to cover the cost of a digital camera to supply graphics for future presentations.
All of this "pro-stray" rhetoric greatly annoyed the planners of the campaign to convince the stray to return to sheephood, and the sheep who didn't want the stray back in the flock at all were furious, threatening to leave the flock. Much hubbub ensued, and hours later, if you could somehow manage to listen beyond all of the loud bleating and blaring loudspeakers and committee deliberations and rousing choruses of "Bringing In the Sheep" and a new hymn, "Goading Out the Goats," you might have heard a few sheep quietly noting the shepherd's absence and wondering where the shepherd had gone, as one silhouetted figure made its way toward the horizon and the stray ... and some wolf howls echoed in the distance.
Three questions:
- Where
is the shepherd?
- Where
are the ninety-nine?
- If
one sheep is with the shepherd and ninety-nine aren't, who's really the
stray?
* Used
in 2007
http://pietas.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/wordle-luke15v1-101.jpg?w=700
I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who
has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his
service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of
violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and
the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in
Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. But for
that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ
might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come
to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal,
invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein
Jeremiah 4:11–12, 22–28
Psalm 14
1 Timothy 1:12–17
Luke 15:1–10