9-14-25 “Joy in Heaven Over the Founding”
“Joy in Heaven Over the Founding”
I want to start with something funny that I found on an internet site: One humorist once said, “Life is unfair. I lost my car keys at a ball game and never found them. I lost my sunglasses at the beach and never found them. I lost my socks in the washing machine and never found them. I lost three pounds on a diet, but I found them—and five more.”
Have you ever lost something really important? Maybe your car keys, right when you were in a hurry? Or your phone—how helpless do we feel without it? I remember one of our parishioners who lost her cell phone in the park after our joint service last year. That phone held a lot of personal information—hers and her friends’. We asked everyone who was there to help and retraced her steps again and again, but it couldn’t be found. What a stressful experience, having to replace so many important things!
I was also once my mother’s “lost child.” When I was young, I became separated from her in a crowded marketplace. I searched for her, crying and wandering through the crowd for what felt like half a day. Eventually, someone found me and brought me to the police station, where lost children were kept. I was so afraid I would never see my mother again. But then—she found me. I will never forget the joy and relief of that reunion.
I can’t imagine how my mother must have felt in those long hours of searching. Afterward, she seemed to love me even more tenderly than before. But that experience left me with a kind of trauma—I still struggle with being “map-blind.” Even now, when I plan to travel far, I get anxious. Thankfully, I have GPS now!
Jesus takes that very human experience—the fear of being lost, and the joy of being found—and says, “That’s how God feels about you. That’s how heaven feels when one person is found in God’s love.” If you’ve ever lost and found something precious, you can begin to understand today’s scripture.
Today, our scripture about joy in heaven comes alive in a special way. We at Central UMC in Grantsburg will celebrate an infant baptism today, where God’s covenant love claims a little one before they can even speak. And today, we at Atlas UMC, present Bibles to our children, placing God’s Word into their hands so they may grow in the story of God’s love. These moments are not just nice traditions—they are signs of God’s joyful pursuit, God’s delight when each one is brought into His loving arms.
In the parables, Jesus tells of a shepherd who notices one sheep missing and leaves the ninety-nine to search. He tells of a woman who lights a lamp, sweeps her house carefully, and keeps at it until she finds her lost coin. These pictures reveal something powerful: God does not sit back, arms folded, waiting for us to come home. God is the One who searches. God goes out. God shines a light. God sweeps every corner until we are found.
That is what we see in baptism. Before this child can say, “I love you” to God, God has already spoken: “You are mine. You are beloved. I will never give up on you.” Baptism is not our act of searching for God—it is God’s act of searching for us, claiming us in steadfast love.
A single sheep. A single coin. To some, that might seem insignificant. But not to the shepherd, not to the woman—and not to God. Each one matters. Each one is worth searching for. And so it is in the life of the church. Embracing a baby into our faith community through infant baptism is a celebration of great significance in heaven. There is more joy over one baby than over ninety-nine people who are already in the community. It is like we have a new granddaughter today.
Today, as we at Atlas UMC place Bibles into the hands of our children, we are making a bold statement: “You are so valuable to God, so precious to us, that we want you to have God’s Word to guide you all your life.”
Think about that: the Bible is not just a book of rules or stories—it is a love letter, a living witness to the God who searches for us. By giving our children Bibles, we are equipping them to discover, again and again, how much they matter to God.
This summer, at Vacation Bible School, we gave Bibles to all the children and youth volunteers who participated. This was made possible thanks to the financial support of St. Croix Falls UMC. We prayed that they would continue to grow in God’s Word, discovering how deeply God loves them.
The infant baptism and Bible presentation both proclaim the same truth: no one is expendable, no one is overlooked, no one is forgotten. Each child is worth heaven’s celebration.
Notice how both parables end. The shepherd calls his friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” The woman calls her community, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.”
Yes, we have reason to rejoice too—because God’s joy is here among us. Do you hear it? Heaven rejoices. The angels sing. God delights in each one who is brought close.
And so today, we join in that heavenly joy:
- When a child is baptized, heaven rejoices—because God has claimed another beloved child into His covenant family.
- When a child holds their very own Bible, heaven rejoices—because God’s Word is taking root in another heart.
- When any one of us turns back to God—whether for the first time or the hundredth time—heaven rejoices, because love has done its work again.
The church’s role is to echo heaven’s joy. To be the kind of community that celebrates, encourages, and supports. To say to these children—not just today, but every day: You are loved. You are not forgotten. You belong here.
God rejoices when the lost are found, when the wandering are brought home, when the little ones are welcomed into His family. Today is a reminder that the story of God’s joy is not just about “those out there”—it’s about us, right here. When we gather at the baptismal font, when we place Bibles in small hands, when we live as a community that supports and loves, we are joining the party that has already begun in heaven.
Atlas Church observes today as Rally Sunday, marking the beginning of the Sunday School year. Grantsburg also begins its Go Fish program for children this week, and the youth embark on a new school year. This is not only a joy for each individual church, but for our entire parish, because we are one parish that supports and cares for one another.
So today, let us rejoice with heaven. Let us support these children with our prayers, our presence, our teaching, and our love. And let us never forget: the same God who rejoices over the found is rejoicing over you, even now.
Beloved family in Jesus Christ, heaven is rejoicing today—over this child, over these children, and over each one of us who has been found in the love of Christ. Let us join in heaven’s joy!
Thanks be to God. Amen.