Carl DeLine

A child shall lead them. Who would’ve thought a lost sock would have created such a conversation. Easter Sunday morning was visited with a special moment of spontaneity. As families came to visit they brought their children with them. Without reservation these little ones came forward to the front of the church for the children’s story. The simple question about a lost sock prompted what would become a visual illustration of the gentleness of the Spirit of God. At one point I knew I had lost control of this moment with the children. At another point it was obvious that God had control of this moment. As various children responded with their own stories of things that had been lost one message came through. The message that Jesus came back after his death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus came out of the tomb and appeared to Mary and then to the disciples. To Mary and to the disciples Jesus was lost; he was not to be found. In the midst of their fears, in the midst of their worst imagination Jesus was not where they thought he should be. Instead he came back and he found them. The story is simple; a sock was put into the washing machine. It disappeared. One child told of a lost wallet (it was found in the washing machine), another about a lost toy, another about a lost sock. All the children chimed in with a sense of something to add as they understood that I had lost my sock. When I opened the washing machine, which had a whole different load of clothes in it, at the conclusion of the wash cycle my lost sock was staring at me as if I was the one who had been lost and had needed to be found. The message of Easter is indeed about God finding us. It is the message of God seeking us in and through the life of Jesus Christ. After the death, burial and resurrection it is Jesus who continues to seek for us. Like those around the tomb, in astonishment, we respond to Jesus. The apostle Paul reminds us – death where is thy sting? Jesus accompanied by these children declare the joy of that which was lost is now found. Amen.