How Many, Lord?

Genesis 18:20-33 (click for RSV scripture)
Luke 15:1-10 (click for RSV scripture)

Mr. Hunter's sermon on Sunday was engendered by the question "How many people does it take to make it worth doing?", with it being replaced by the church activity of your choice.

The scripture lessons for today combined two familiar Bible stories:

1. Abraham bargaining with God to save Sodom if only ten righteous people could be found in the city (Genesis), and
2. Jesus's parables of the shepherd who leaves 99 sheep to find one lost lamb and of the woman who searches her house for one lost silver coin of ten (Luke).
   

By examining these two stories, Mr. Hunter concludes that God's answer to the question "How many?" is "Only a few are needed to make mercy and compassion worthwhile." As Jesus's parables illustrate, every individual is worthwhile.

Mr. Hunter concluded with two lessons from pondering the question "How many"?

• Every person is important to God, and
• We shouldn't measure our church programs by numbers but by the impact our programs may have on one life.