The Lost Sheep

On my last Sunday at the Church I grew up in, I was asked to do a sermon. These are the words that came out of my brain.

The brilliant Leena Norms recently made a video called My Gretel Self, partially inspired by the parable of the lost sheep, and I thought it might be nice to share a short extract:

“Sometimes parts of me wander off and don’t leave breadcrumbs. And you face the choice of darkness, leaving alone the rest of you to bring back the one, wondering piece that left you high and dry in the field of yourself. When I was a child there was a story in a book I no longer look at. A story where a man asks a crowd if someone had a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Will he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go searching for that one who is lost, until he finds it? So, will you lead yourself willingly into the dark of the trees and come home carrying your own soul on your shoulders? It’s okay to wander from yourself for a while. As long as you are brave enough, to bring yourself home.”

It made me think about the many parts of myself – I’m a daughter, a sister, an auntie, a student, a Girl Guide, a vegetarian, a well dresser, a linguist and a Christian. All these parts of myself are important to me, but they are merely parts of the whole. And I think that’s why I don’t often tell people that I’m a Christian. Not because I’m ashamed, but because being a Christian and coming to Church has been a part of me since I was so young, that I forget it’s becoming increasingly unusual to grow up in a Christian community. If I mention my religion, usually in a phrase like ‘my friend from church’, I tend to be bombarded with questions like ‘WHY ARE YOU IGNORING EVOLUTION?’ and ‘WHY DO YOU HATE GAY PEOPLE?’. (Both of which, in my opinion, are ridiculous). A lot of people only see the negative portrayal of religion, often by the media, and think of it as really backward and non-progressive, but they probably don’t know that much about it. I never try to force my beliefs on people because I don’t think that’s right, but I do try to dispel any negative stereotypes and prejudice they may hold.

I remember once I was having a conversation with a group of people about role models. One girl said “whenever anyone asked me who my role model was when I was little, I used to say Jesus” which was followed by peals of laughter, but I thought about it, and I wondered why it was so ridiculous, because Jesus was a pretty cool guy, and I’ve learnt quite a lot from him over my 18 years. He’s known as the Good Shepherd for a reason – like the shepherd in the story, he searched actively for the lost. I don’t think that ‘lost’ necessarily refers to non-Christians, but it my mind it means those lost socially, those forgotten by society – people with illnesses, disabilities, and people widely-hated like adulterers and prostitutes. He strove for equality and he epitomised the phrase ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world’. And he loved everyone so much that he would leave the rest of his flock to bring the one lost soul home on his shoulders. Even when faced with death, he trusted that God knew what he was doing and everything would turn out OK. And I think that even if I can only be a tiny bit as cool as Jesus, I will be the change I want to see in the world, and that, in turn, will change a tiny part of the world. And every little helps.