Today is December 5th in the first week of Advent.
 
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you.   
  
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence, and say Come Holy Spirit.  
  
Today’s reading is from several verses from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15. 
  

“He calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ / ‘She calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ / ‘It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ 
  

The lost sheep. The lost coin. The lost son. For God so loved the world that He came to seek and to save that which is lost. The savior of the world enters into history not as a God who despises things that go missing, but rather as the God of the cracks, the corners, the far-off spaces… the God who seeks… and the God who then celebrates when he finds that which is precious. This is what love looks like: a willingness to get low, to get messy, to go out of His way… in order to go after ‘the one’. Take a moment and let this settle over you. That ‘lost and found one’ is you.  
  
All of these parables tell of personal things get lost. Is there anything – or anyone - lost in your life right now? Are you seeking after them in the same way Christ seeks after you?  
  
Now enter a personal moment of prayer and pray specifically – by name if you can – for those you know who are lost, and who need to be saved and restored by love. 
  
Advent is a time of looking forward to a celebration of joy! An event that reminds us: we are not lost! We are not alone! We are not left in the corner, stuck out of sight, unworthy of rescue! Ask God, as we end our time of prayer, to help you grow as a seeker… someone with eyes to see those around you who might be holding out hope for to be ‘found’ themselves. Ask God to give you grace to speak His words of invitation to someone who might be ready to hear them. 
  
Come, thou long expected Jesus, 
born to set thy people free; 
from our fears and sins release us, 
let us find our rest in thee. 
Behold, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… 
In the name of the Father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.