In 2000 a homeless man by the name of William Wallace Brown, Jr. was buried in the graveyard of the prestigious St. John's Episcopal Church, across from the White House. This would not be unusual except that St. John's is called the "church of presidents." Since 1808, the time of the James Madison presidency, nearly every U.S. leader has worshiped there. So how is it, that this street bum was laid to rest in a prominent burial garden? It all began one Sunday morning when the homeless man spotted George H. W. Bush entering the church and asked the president to pray for him. Bush looked at him for a moment and said, "No, come inside with us and pray for yourself." And, so he did. He became a permanent part of the services and every week would place a crumpled dollar bill in the silver collection plate. He died not long after that. During the funeral for William Brown one of the speakers said that in the eyes of God "the homeless and the most important are one in the same"

I agree. And I would add that when any one of us are homeless and have lost our way, God leaves the most important of us behind and goes in search of the one. It is the way any parent would act. It is the way God acts. There is not one among us, down to the very least, who is not valued in the eyes of God. It is what I like to call Redemptive Joy! St. John's understood it the day William Brown walked down the isle shoulder to shoulder with the Commander and Chief. Jesus tried to explain it to his critics when he welcomed and ate with sinners. I want us to take look at it in our reading this morning.

There are three great themes that spring out from these two little parables. Three themes that describe precisely the meaning of the Gospel:

1. The Lost
2. The Found
3. And the Joy