Luke 15:8

The Parable of the Lost Coin

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins,if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

And likewise, a woman who lost a favourite silver ear-ring last Thursday, convinced it was somewhere out in the village, run over by a car, or swept up by a school cleaner, rejoices when she cleans the kitchen floor slightly more thoroughly than she usually does, and finds it lurking under the fridge!

Now I've got a pair again- and I'm really glad, because they were a present from Bob and the girls when I first had my ears pierced back in 1987. No doubt I'll work this into a sermon illustration sometime!

I remember telling the story of the lost coin to my Explorers [5-8 yr olds] in Girls Brigade once. A few weeks later, there was an upset between two of the little girls and it took a bit of sorting out. One of them suddenly burst into tears and said "I am  really, really sorry" and the other one hugged her. Another child said "Angela- are the angels having a party now?" "What?"  "Well you told us that when someone says that they are really sorry, and they really mean it, all the angels in heaven have a party!" I agreed that the angels were indeed having a party, and that we ought to celebrate too!