EVERYONE MATTERS TO GOD

In our worship celebration this week, we read a classic from the Gospel of Luke.
It’s the Good Shepherd Story. Rather than try to re-tell it myself, I’m going to just give you it out of my favorite Bible translation - The Message (a retelling of the Bible in more modern language, no begats here):

Luke 15
1-3By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

I don’t know about you, but I have had plenty of times in life where I would have thought of myself as having a “doubtful reputation”. Believe me, I am the worst critic of Kurt Young on the planet. If there is something I’ve done wrong, I’ve noticed it. Anything I’ve failed to do, humanly possible or not, I’m on it.
Leave it to Cheri to come up with a few ways to get me off of the I’m not worthy recording in my head. First, the more serious, she had us all repeat a simple, but effective phrase to start her message, “God really loves you, so I’m going to try too”. Then she went to the wacky. She had us all stare at the video screens to see if we could recognize the new United States Senator and former comedian. The screen sprung to life with “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and gosh darn it, people like”.
In case you were not a fan of Saturday Night Live, that’s Stuart Smalley, a self-help guru spoof created by Al Franken, the now junior Senator from Minnesota. As Cheri pointed out, and I agree, we live in a pretty amazing world where Al Franken is a senator and Cheri is the Pastor of a Methodist Church with a beer cooler in it. Yes, if you have not joined us yet, the Village has a beer cooler running, unfortunately filled with milk & creamer. It does make a great way to the break the ice on inviting people to visit.
Recently, We’ve seen a lot of the world valuing good people whose lives were cut short. Jasper Howard is a prime example of that. Jasper was a young man who worked hard to leave the seemingly unsafe streets of Miami’s Little Haiti behind to go to school and play football in suburban Hartford, Connecticut at the University of Connecticut. Seemingly a safe place to be. But on October 17th a day that started with Jasper having 11 tackles in homecoming win, ended with Jasper stabbed to death at the Homecoming Dance. Such a wonderful young man was a common theme in the words of who lost him. Fitting tributes have followed in the media and even from his team’s opponents this week. Jasper was someone who mattered to the world.
It reminded Cheri and I of a recent loss, near us, not treated with nearly as much coverage. Victor Johnson was 34 years old and lived a few blocks away from us. He was walking down his street when a gunman or gunmen shot him. Hearing the shots (sadly not that uncommon near our home) and not having Victor return home, his family and friends feared the worst and called 911. The Toledo Police came, but were unable to find a body where they were told the shooting and went back on patrol. Hours later, the family found the body. Victor Johnson was someone who mattered to God, just like Jasper. Just not as much to the world. Our scripture this week was about a simple message, EVERYONE MATTERS TO GOD. No exceptions
Cheri told us about a time where this was driven home to her. Cheri’s family is from Texas, the family home is DeLeon, Texas, which believe me scared the daylights out of this big city Yankee. She grew up in Abilene, Texas, which she described in the heart of redneck country. But she found herself in Atlanta, hired to be the youth pastor for an inner city youth group. Somehow, the naive West Texas white girl connected to the young, African-American men. Leading a communion Sunday, where Tony asked Cheri to join her as his family saying “is there room for me here?”
Jesus message in this week’s scripture is “There is always room.” In fact, if you’re not here – I’ll come looking for you. God isn’t worried about the 99 “worthy” folks out there, but the 1 of us that is not worthy, at least in our eyes. In God’s eyes, we all matter, this is non-negotiable, no exceptions, no questions.
Of course, there is a problem with mattering. You have to find it out for yourself. It’s not easy. Even for me, who has been told I was God’s beloved child since birth. Sometimes that voice is hard to hear, but you need to hear that. You are God’s child and you matter. But when you, when you do you’re going to hear a new voice. Others matter too and need to hear that.

So, whether the voice you need to hear is You Matter to God, or Make Others Know They Matter to God, we’re here every week waiting for you. Come visit the Village, our worship celebrations are Sunday at 10:30. See you there.