Community of the lost

Not being the world's greatest map-reader - and not yet possessing SatNav! - I am actually quite used to getting lost. It's usually both frustrating and annoying - and it's always good to find the right way again! Sometimes, when we get frustrated and annoyed with the Church, because of all the difficulties and silly things we encounter, we might do well to remember that the Church is actually a community of the lost. We're all lost. We're all trying to find the right way. Jesus once told a trio of parables to press that point. The stories deal with a sheep, a coin and a son. They thus offer three very different contexts, but they are all about the move from being lost to being found and the joy that provokes. Church is about helping lost people to find their way back - and that's likely not to work if the approach is unsympathetic.