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September 12-19, 2007

Missing persons

Warm-up Question:

Tell about something or someone you have lost that you were desperate to have back.

 

During the week of September 5, the Nevada Civil Air Patrol and Nevada highway patrols mounted a massive search to find Steve Fossett, a world-record holding daredevil whose aircraft was last seen taking to the skies on Labor Day. Fossett, a millionaire stock-broker, was the first person to fly around the world alone in a balloon and is one of the most famous aeronautical adventurers in the world.

Madeleine McCann, a 3-year-old English girl, has been missing from a beach resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal, for over three months. Her family was vacationing when she disappeared from her bedroom in the night. Since then, her parents have enlisted journalists, investigators, citizens, and even celebrities from across Europe in a massive search for the girl, whom local police fear dead.

On Monday, September 3, the search for six coal miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon Mine in Huntington, Utah, was officially called off after 25 days of desperate searching, in which three people trying to rescue the miners also died.

Stepha Henry, a woman from Sunrise, Florida, has been missing since Memorial Day. Her case has not received nearly the media attention that some of these other, more high-profile cases, have (some would argue this is because she is African-American ), but her family and friends miss her just the same. (For more on the racial disparity of news coverage for missing persons, check out the 2004 MSNBC story “If you’re missing, it helps to be young, white and female” at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5325808/)

While the world still waits to hear about Fossett, McCann, and Henry’s ultimate fate, the National Crime Information Center reported 110,484 missing persons in the United States alone at the end of last year—over half of whom are under the age of 18. These folks cut across every line of race, class, age, and genders, and most, if not all, of these missing persons have family and friends who are desperately longing for their safe return.

 

Discussion Questions

  1. What do you think the family and friends in each of these cases are feeling about their loved ones who are missing? How would you feel if a loved one disappeared?
  2. What would you be willing to do to find a dear person you have lost? What wouldn’t you be willing to do? Why did the rescuers in Utah decide to stop searching for the trapped miners?
  3. Why do you think some of these cases receive more media attention than others? Are all missing persons “equal” in the eyes of the world? Why or why not?

Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, September 16, 2007.
(Text links are to oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings.)

Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm 51:1-10
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection
Jesus is always making people grumble. One of the things that irritates people most about Jesus’ ministry is the people he chooses to eat dinner with: He “welcomes sinners and eats with them”—he hosted sinners for meals. In Jesus’ culture, to share a meal with someone “implied acceptance, trust, peace.” People can’t stand the fact that Jesus trusts and accepts people that others would never accept or welcome. But that’s just Jesus’ way. And he tries to get folks to understand:

If you lost a sheep, wouldn’t you search like crazy to find it again even if that means leaving the other 99 behind while you search? Or if you were desperately poor, with only 10 coins to your name (each of which was worth a whole day’s wage!), and you lost one, wouldn’t you turn the house upside down looking for it? Wouldn’t you light the lamps and move the furniture and search until you found it?

Well, that’s how God feels about you. What the Pharisees don’t get is that Jesus is talking about them; he’s talking about all of us. God is willing to turn the whole world upside down to search for every last person who has fallen through the cracks, to find all the lost, to save all the sinners. That’s what God has done in the death and resurrection of Jesus—turned the world upside down in order to find and save the lost. And every time God finds one of us, all of heaven rejoices! God carries us back to the flock; God places us carefully back into the purse.

And once God finds us and brings us back home, we share that home with everyone. We share a home with all the other folks whom God has found.

This is made most clear for us in Holy Communion, the meal that Jesus welcomes and invites all sinners to eat with him. Gathered around the table are all the people who once were lost but now have been found by God’s grace. We’re back in the family, we’re back home, and that includes everyone whom God has gathered to share that Holy Meal. Even you. Even them. And thanks be to God for that. Amen!

Discussion Questions

  1. Who are the people—in your family, school, city, or around the world—that you would rather not share a meal with? Who would you be surprised or even annoyed to see coming over to dinner at your house?
  2. When have you felt lost or alone, or felt like an outsider? When have you been invited to be “in” after feeling like you were “out”? How does it feel to be either lost or found, or both?
  3. What are some ways that we can express our thanks to God for sending Jesus to find and save the lost, including you and ‘them’ (whoever ‘they” are)?

Activity Suggestions

  • Listen to the song “Just to be with You” by Third Day. Choreograph a dance or a mime or a skit that expresses the meaning of that song.
     
  • Research the story behind the hymn “Amazing Grace” using the Internet or a book like Amazing Grace: The Story of the Hymn by Linda Granfield and Janet Wilson; or Amazing Grace: The Story of America’s Most Beloved Song, by Steve Turner. Sing the hymn together after you learn the story. (Evangelical Lutheran Worship, #779) Think about performing the hymn as a youth group during church.
     
  • Find out all you can about some of the missing persons in your area of the country, especially those that haven’t received much, if any, media attention. (A quick Internet search for “missing persons [city] [state]” should yield good results; otherwise, call your local police station.) Paste pictures or other information on pieces of paper and draw or write prayers of hope and concern around the pictures. Hang them up in the youth room or on a church bulletin board and remember those people in your prayers. Talk with the pastor about including their names in the prayers of the people during worship.


  Closing Prayer
Dear God, we know that you search for us like a woman searches for a lost coin, or a shepherd for a lost sheep. Thank you for finding us when we can’t find you ourselves. Help us to remember how much you will do to find and save all those who are lost—including us. Your grace is truly amazing. Thank you! Amen
 

Contributed by Pastor Jay Gamelin
University Lutheran Chapel
Columbus, OH
 

Permission to reproduce for local use. Copyright © 2007 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ELCA Youth Ministries. 1-800-638-3522, ext. 2447. To offer your comments or responses to Faith Lens, e-mail:  rod.boriack@elca.org.

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