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March 21

Lost and Found

There are two interrelated themes in the biblical story—our flight from God and God’s search to find us. In the triumph of grace it is the latter that wins the day.

The ancient church father St. Augustine said it well: “I would not find

myself, much less thee.”80

This is so in a number of ways: we do not so much find God, it is God who finds us. Salvation is not the human climb up to the divine. It is the divine stooping down to embrace a wayward humanity. The great theme of the biblical story is the incarnation.

This, of course, does not mean the human is simply factored out. No. In our seeking God is already drawing us. And in our response of faith grace has already been given us. And in homecoming there is already having been found.

But the church father also reminds us that finding God and

finding ourselves are intimately related. This is because God is not only our salvation, but also our true home. We are truly human in

relationship with God and others. We are less than what we can be in flight, in isolation, and without an abiding center.

Thus coming to God does not take us away from ourselves, as if we do violence to ourselves in the act of faith. The opposite is true. We come home to ourselves in committing ourselves to God’s embrace. And in the face of the God of grace we can more clearly see ourselves.

Reflection

Being found is not simply a return to a previously known place. It is entering a new reality.