The Kin-dom That Will Not Rest Until All Are Found
Yesod of Malkuth Day 48 of 50 · Foundation within Presence
The Lost Coin
The forty-eighth saying of the living Christ as spoken by Mary Magdalene:
The Holy One is like a woman who had ten silver coins. She lost one silver coin, so she lit a lamp, swept the house, and diligently sought it until she found it. When she found it, she called together her friends and neighbors and showed them the bridal headdress with all ten silver coins set in their place, and she said, “Rejoice with me, for I found the silver coin I had lost.” There is the same joy among the angels of God over someone rediscovering their belonging1.
See how the woman never believed the coin was stolen, only lost. Too many who call themselves elders in the faith refuse to accept a change in others and become controlling. They would have searched their friends’ houses before their own, and might not have found what they were looking for at all. They seek an accounting and do not know love. To them, freedom exists only under their watchful eye. In so doing, they forget to clean their own home, leaving it empty so anything could creep in and live there.
There are others, who unlike the Holy One, accept the loss too easily. Nine coins are enough; who will notice the tenth is missing. They may mourn the loss briefly, but it is soon forgotten. The community shrinks its sense of wholeness until the whole is less than it should be. After all, is it not easier than searching until the lost is found? They light no lamp, so they live in darkness. The floor is never swept, so they do not know what is there. The coin is lost and they never find the joy that awaits them.
The community whose covenant does not invite more people into the kin-dom is not living in the grace of the Divine. Our community is not whole while any remains outside.
We must search our own house, kindling the lamp so the light shines out. We search in the dark corners and under the furniture so nowhere is overlooked. The kin-dom’s search for the lost is thorough because love does not surrender any to the darkness.
When the coin is found, joy overflows into the neighborhood and friendship is restored. The community is renewed every time another soul finds their way back to life. All this rejoicing draws others into the light, because joy is the calling of life.
Restoring the searching covenant to the community, we refuse to accept the world’s accounting of who matters and who can be lost without consequence. When we light the lamp and sweep every corner until the missing are found, our bonds are restored to their fullness.
We heal our soul’s own sense of belonging when we discover that the kin-dom has been searching for us as thoroughly as we have been searching for it. The lamp was lit before we knew we were lost. One restored spark at a time, we heal the world. We patiently work not to declare the work finished, but to ensure not a single holy fragment remains orphaned in the darkness.
Luke 15:8-10
Some people pray to a God they no longer believe in because they have not yet found language for the God they do. Creation’s Paths: A Creation Spirituality Primer is that language, grown from twenty years of walking the Four Paths.
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