Let me tell you a story about my High School class ring.

I should begin by telling you that I fell head-over-heels in love when I was a Junior at Burncoat Senior High School in Worcester, Massachusetts. I was just a baby – just 17-years old. Today, I realize just how young I was, and that I was virtually stolen out of the cradle! Of course, I should also disclose that the young woman who stole me from the cradle – Miss Sandra Lee Angell-with-two-L’s – was a freshman and just 15 years old herself! We went together the rest of that year, and when the calendar turned once again, and her sophomore and my senior year began, I knew that one of the things I most looked forward to was receiving my Senior Class Ring – so I could give it to her.

Finally, the Spring of the year arrived, and so did the ring. My parents were sort of upset that they had paid all this money for my class ring and now I wasn’t even going to wear it. But I rationalized that they were an old married couple, and what did they know about love?

So I went ahead and gave Sandy the ring, and our hearts were cemented together in a special and wonderful way.

Later that summer, following graduation, Sandy and I were spending the day at one of the beautiful beaches in Rhode Island. It was getting time for me to go off to college so we were spending as much time together as we could. We had a wonderful day, and as we got ready to return home to Massachusetts, Sandy went into one of the bathhouses to change and get cleaned up. Somewhere along the line, she removed the ring. And forgot to put it back on. We didn’t realize it was missing until we were all the way home.

Frantic telephone calls were made. No, no one had turned in a ring. No, a search of the bathhouse did not turn up a ring. We were out of luck. The ring was gone.

We were brokenhearted. After all, that ring symbolized so much – my achievements in high school, our love for one another. And not only that, but what would my parents say when they found out about the lost ring they hadn’t wanted me to give away in the first place?

It was pretty devastating.

If you’ve ever lost something precious to you, you know the feeling.

But one day, weeks later, something wonderful happened. The telephone rang. It was the office at our high school.

Had I lost something at a beach in Rhode Island that summer? Yes, my class ring!

Had I lost it in the ladies bathhouse? Well, that took a little explaining, but yes, that’s where it was lost.

We have the ring here, they said!

So I dashed up to the high school, and sure enough, there it was. My Senior Class ring. It had arrived in the mail, along with a note. Some beautiful person from Rhode Island had found the ring that day, and knowing how much it must mean to somebody, they had scoured telephone books and city directories, and finally gone to their own local school department to research where, in all of New England, there might be a Burncoat Senior High. And when they found it in Worcester, Massachusetts, they sent the ring and the note. And the good people in the school office spent some time peering over class lists to find out who the engraved initials MCS might belong to.

And that’s how my high school ring was found!

You know, sometimes in the church, we get to thinking that our main job is holding worship services, balancing budgets, teaching theology, taking care of buildings, getting fed spiritually, getting fed at pot-luck suppers – all sorts of stuff like that. But maybe that’s all secondary.

Maybe the number one job of the Christian Church is to find lost things (or people) and help them find their way to the One they mean the world to.

+ Important point: A person who is “lost” in our faith does not mean they are without hope, headed for hell, or – worse yet – a “loser.” “Lost” simply means lost – like when life overwhelms you – like when you lose a loved one – like when you face a serious illness – like when you lose the joy and purpose of life – like when you face difficult circumstances and don’t know which way to go – like when your childhood faith in God is shattered and you don’t even know if there IS a God anymore. “Lost simply means lost.

+ Who are some of the people you know who are “lost”?

+ What can you do to help them find their way?

+ Read John 1:35-51 and see how many times the word “found” is used.