Day Eighty One - “Rejoice with me”

Read Luke 15: 3-7

We like a satisfying ending and everything tied up with a neat bow. Responses to the series finale of the hit TV crime drama ‘Line of Duty’ were decided mixed. Many felt that without a shoot-out or a big reveal it was all a bit of an anti-climax. How great that Jesus’ three ‘lost’ parables all end with a ‘finding’ and a party - the equivalent of AC-12 heading down the pub.

Yet, on closer inspection, the three celebrations are a bit odd. “Rejoice with me” says the shepherd who, while he had shown determination in seeking out the lost sheep and strength in carrying it home, had still lost it in the first place. At some point this shepherd had taken his eye off the ball. Neither does going after the one and leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness make great business sense. “Rejoice with me” says the woman who loses a precious coin that may have been part of her wedding headdress. As someone who loses phones, jewellery and on two occasions my wedding ring, she is a character that I identify with. The father in the story of the prodigal son orders a celebration even though he gave his son everything he wanted and his son had blown the lot, surely a sign of bad parenting. What did those neighbours really think when they received the invitation to “Rejoice with me”? As they drank their host’s wine did they think “What an idiot!”

These are not stories of heroes but of those who make mistakes which, by the grace of God, still come good. All of us have felt sheer, utter relief when our lost child is found or a treasured possession is located. We know that our folly could have resulted in a very different outcome. The temptation would be to hide such stupidity but the protagonists in the three parables refuse to do that. Instead they say, “Rejoice with me”. It is not about their success but God’s grace - receiving back what they had lost and realising that it is a gift. Do we dare to celebrate our mistakes and what we have learnt about God and ourselves through them? For me, the climax of ‘Line of Duty’ wasn’t who ‘H’ was, but Ted Hastings admitting his mistakes to his team.

Today is our Congregational Federation National Assembly and you’ll hear what our churches have been up to and how the committees, programmes and staff have supported them. There will be stories of achievement - nothing wrong in that - there is much to celebrate. However, there have also been losses and difficulties and I daresay mistakes this year, can we acknowledge those too and rejoice in the Lord who is still present to us?

I hope to serve you well as President but I suspect I will take my eye off the ball at some point and make a bad decision. I hope to witness to God through everything; the good stuff and the messed up stuff. God can use both - “Rejoice with me”.

Suzanne Nockels