Our time together remains as near as a song, or a scent, or a place, and I believe in the love conjured by those memories, there is God – and where God is, they are … different, of course, but meaningful, real …

When the world has tried to pull us all apart in fear, you proclaim a gospel which does not flatter kings or powers of this world, but calls every human being beloved, deserving of dignity. And so this morning we are reminded that we’re all part of that far greater story.

In the story world of our contemporary lives, violence and political madness wrack us with grief and anxiety.  In response, we have too often contributed to the unholy momentums of the extant narratives, hating our opponents, rather than loving our enemies. 

Has the world got you down? Do you feel like you can’t handle any more things on your plate? The disciples felt stretched beyond their limits, to which Jesus says- you have enough. Do you think you are enough? God does!

Grace is not a wage that is meted out for good behavior. Grace is a gift, wholly indifferent to questions of merit. A gift wholly undeserved. We simply cannot earn it. So where is the grace in this parable?

Only a God who knew the messiness of the incarnation—of being both human and divine, loving and hurting, sheep-chasing, coin-hunting, fatted calf-preparing as a means of love, could find redemption and promise, phorismo, wisdom, prudence, shrewdness, in a thorough scoundrel.

All of us spend time as a rolling coin, a dawdling lamb, a distracted preschooler … lost, whether we know it or not – and be sure that Jesus also tells these parables for us. Jesus reassures us God’s capacity for Grace has not diminished because we ended up between the world’s sofa cushions. Jesus tells us that God never calls off the search, promises that God’s patience, persistence, and grace will always overcome our wandering.

Thanks be to God, we do not undertake this righteous prayer alone! We bind what is to what might be, and we seek Grateful Hearts and Gracious Lives in our Trinity Church community. Sunday by Sunday, we gather as a parish family to practice our thanks and praise, to share with one another the gracious plenty God has shared with us. Peering into this new Program Year we look forward to singing together, to learning together, to serving together … to challenging the world’s depravity with the joys of our companionship and the generosity of our spirits, together.

A Throne, a small chair, a high chair…. who sits WHERE is really not important, what is really important is the WHO. This week’s gospel invites us to wonder “where will you see the face of Christ in the seat beside you this week? Where will you LOVE the person beside you and what will you do if there is no chair?”

That on that first Sabbath, God did rest, but perhaps God’s rest wasn’t just about ‘not doing’ more creation, but rather ‘connecting with’ the creation God had made and hallowed; about delighting in what creation had to offer; in exploring the wideness of God’s expanding love and playfulness. Maybe God buried God’s face in our toes and laughed at our expressions and simply enjoyed learning the quirks of God’s humans and animals and oceans, of the ferns; of the redwoods.