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SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD
I doubt many of us have any contact with sheep, but we can all relate to a lost dog or cat. When we see pictures and posters of them attached to street signs and telephone posts, we not only sympathize with the owners for their loss, we pity the animal, because we know they are no longer in contact with the care and love they so desperately need. We relate to their wandering, being disoriented and confused.
How many people do we know who are lost like “sheep without a shepherd?” Do they find in our heart the same sympathy and pity that the lost pet did? Are they given the same compassion and love Jesus gives us in our daily struggles? All to often we view them with suspicion and a lack of respect. Their human dignity is often compromised.
All to often we fail to see the “sheep without a shepherd.” The “illegal” aliens, those who glorify violence, rebellion, crime, sexual immorality. Children who have no family stability and direction. Those alienated from church. The old and the forgotten who have no one to affirm them or give their lives meaning.
All to often we complain. We feel these people are dragging society down the drain, or perhaps we feel as long as they live on their side of the tracks and we live on ours, it’s none of our business. Maybe we believe if we worry about all the problems of this world, we’ll go nuts. Or do we simply say it is a shame, but what can we do?
How do we react in today’s society? Can you and I really make a difference?
There is a story I want to share with you, by Loren Eisley, it is tilted “Star Throwers.” .It goes something like this…
I awoke early, as I often did, just before the sunrise, to walk by the ocean’s edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt, in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.
As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the day, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night’s tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. “The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach, they cannot return by themselves.” the youth replied. “When the sun rises, they will die unless I throw them back to the sea.”
As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of the beach, stretching in both directions beyond my sight, starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculations. The hopelessness of the youth’s plan became clear to me and I countered, “But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.” The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish, and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me, the youth simply said, “I made a difference to that one.”
We too can make a difference. We can start with being convinced that we are part of the “they” who “should do something.” We are descendants of the apostles and their mission. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. We can continue with broadening our knowledge, enthusiasm for action is difficult without it. Be open to relinquishing easy “solutions” based on stereotypes. Consult a variety of sources, including church teaching.
Last but not least we must Act! - Somehow, some way, no matter how seemingly small. “A drop in the bucket” is one drop more than there was! There are many organizations addressing these concerns that depend on individual support. There are public officials and legislative representatives that we vote into office (and their voting records are easy to reach via the internet). Direct action through word or example is often more possible than we think.
And never, ever, underestimate the power of prayer. Christian hope is not wishful thinking but confidence in a future that rises from a past and present experience. Prayer is not something we resort to when real action is out of reach.
Today’s ills result in many kinds of “sheep without a shepherd.” And all are our sisters and brothers in physical and spiritual need.
As people of God we know there is nothing that can defeat us, if we lead a spiritual army organized into units and marching under standards. Our defense, however, will be found not in the conventional weapons of this world, but in a right relationship with God, as we face each day with Christ as our shield, and love as our only weapon.