Thought for the Day-Lost & Found

The Good Shepherd (The Lost Sheep), 1922, by Henry Ossawa Tanner

A Thought for the Day given at a Lunchtime Service of Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Tuesday 9th December 2025 based on readings from Isaiah 40.1-11 and Matthew 18.12-14.

Even with today’s advanced GPS technology it’s still possible to lose your way. While on holiday earlier this year a yellow line that looked like a perfectly good road on the map, turned out to be a narrow dirt track between two dry stone walls cutting through an olive grove. We persevered in the hire car over the rocky terrain - Top Gear style - for a while - and were doing fine until we met a convoy of tractors and trailers laden with olives coming towards us from the opposite direction! The air was tinged with blue, I am ashamed to say!

We can experience a sense of loss when we are feeling blue. Distant or withdrawn from our families, friends and work colleagues - perhaps due to the stress of a new position, insecurity about the future, or a seemingly insurmountable workload. Or perhaps changes in our relationships or physical circumstances or routine might leave us feeling isolated and alone, grieving for who or what we once knew.

We might feel different to others - and choose to isolate ourselves from those around us - or we may feel forced or pressured to do so. Sometimes we can be so distracted and caught up in the busyness of our own concerns that we lose sight of what really matters. 

The scriptures recognise the human tendency to feel lost is as old as time itself. In one of the creation stories in Genesis, Adam and Eve crouch among the trees of the garden, hoping to hide from God after they disobey Him.

But whether we have lost our way by accident or on purpose—or by some mixture of the two—God comes looking.

The book of Isaiah is often understood in three parts. Today we heard the opening of the second—words written for a people long in exile. The elders were concerned not only for themselves but their children and their grandchildren. In Babylon, removed from the temple in Jerusalem and from the songs and traditions that defined them, they were worried that their identity was slipping away - that God’s promises were fading. That by the time they returned to their land, their ‘people’ – as they understood the term - would be lost forever. 

The first words of this section of the prophecy seek to strengthen their resolve. “Comfort my people” it declares - because God is coming to them on a road through the wilderness. Like a great shepherd he will gather his lost people in his arms, carry them close and lead them home. 

Isaiah’s prophecy addresses the fear of loss by reminding the Israelites that they are never alone with God. 

The same image is echoed by the words of Jesus in our gospel reading. But this time the shepherd gathers up not a whole population but a single lost sheep. 

“It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Jesus says. 

The shepherd does not consider the reason this one sheep is lost. The fact that it is lost is enough for Him to act.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve hid because they were ashamed of what they had done. They tried to lose God, to shake him off their tail. But He calls out, “Where are you?”—not in anger but in love - not because He doesn’t know where they are, but to remind them that he is always with them. 

Through the prophet Isaiah, God’s call - the assurance of his eternal loving presence - is heard by the whole of Israel in exile. ‘Comfort you my people.’ And as the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to find the one lost sheep, our Great Shepherd calls out to each of us who have lost our way today—whether by accident or choice, or some combination of the two—without hesitation and without distinction.

This lunchtime the scriptures remind us that we are never too lost to be found. Never too hidden to be seen. Never too far or too insignificant for God to reach us, gather us up, and bring us home.

The Advent call of “O come, o come Emmanuel” - as we prepare to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord - reminds us that this is the very nature of God. The God who searches for the lost, who calls out “Where are you?” - is Emmanuel - God with us - the great Shepherd who has already come looking for us— who has already found us.

The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.
As we wait for his coming in glory. 

Image: The Good Shepherd (The Lost Sheep), 1922, by Henry Ossawa Tanner