we lost Jesus..

Sunday I did the children's sermon during the church service. The substitute pastor said he liked it, and even referred to it some in his own sermon that day, which I imagine is a decent affirmation. And the pastor of the congregation, who was on a trip with the teenagers that day, had suggested earlier in the week the possibility of my dispelling the myths of Mary Magdalene being a prostitute, or somehow mentioning how women are important too, but I just couldn't figure out how to bring those issues to a 5 year old level. Fortunately the pastor mentioned those in his sermon, so I didn't even need to consider worrying. But anyway, preparation for any sermon, for kids or the congregation or whatever, involves first reading the text(s) of the day from the lectionary (in the case of denominations that do that, or when preparing a Bible class lesson with particular texts), and then reflecting upon those texts and attempting to come up with some tidbit of a message that could be expounded upon. I think often this happens in conversation with another, whether on purpose or not. I received some inspiration from my roommate, who had the benefit of attending many children's sermons in her lifetime; I did not grow up in a denomination that had children's sermons. So she suggested I talk about how Jesus is there even when we don't know it. (the text was Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb, finding it empty, weeping, and then seeing Jesus standing outside--John 20:1-2, 11-18) So I thought about that for a while. It sounded good to me. So I asked the kids, "have you ever lost anything?" Fortunately they said yes, so I went on with "in this story Mary and some apostles go to the tomb, because Jesus had died, and he wasn't there. And they were like, great, we lost Jesus." So then I asked them if they had ever not been able to find anything, but then it was right there in front of them. The one boy got this grin on his face like it was a secret admission, and said yes. It was a great expression. He is already getting to the age where he understands embarrassment, but how it can be freeing to admit things like that when it is a shared admission. He was 5 or 6, I can't remember exactly. Anyway, I continued with telling them how even though we don't see Jesus like the people did back then, we can be Jesus by doing things that Jesus would do, and being kind to others and helping others when they need it. But the pastor, in his sermon, seemed to really appreciate the way I said they had lost Jesus. Which then got me thinking some more, about how it is true even now. We are constantly losing Jesus, because we get distracted by things happing in our lives and we forget Jesus is there too. So we all too often are weeping and looking for Jesus, and turn around to ask someone if they have seen Him, and realize it is Him we are talking to. Just the way Mary did in the story. It isn't the actual flesh and blood Jesus who walked the earth 2000 some odd years ago, maybe, but it is Jesus nonetheless. We all have opportunity to help others find Jesus when they lose Him, and we will be visited by another who will help us do the same. This life can be a messy business but we have help, and we can make it through. Help from God, help from the other two members of the Trinity, and help from the rest of God's creation, living out their calling to be the hands and feet of God in the world.