1. Lost Sheep
Luke 15:1-7

2. Lots of people were gathering around Jesus to listen to him
Lots of people were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. But other people were watching and disapproving, saying, “Jesus will be friends with anyone, and even eat with them!” So Jesus told them this parable:

3. “Imagine a friend of yours had one hundred sheep, and one of them got lost.

4. Wouldn’t your friend leave the others and go look for the lost one
Wouldn’t your friend leave the others and go look for the lost one? Wouldn’t your friend look until she found it?

5. And when she does – wouldn’t she be so happy?
Wouldn’t she scoop it up in her arms and swing it over her shoulders to carry it home?

6. And then imagine the arrival – she’d call you, and all her other neighbors and friends, and say, ‘Let’s have a party! I found my lost sheep!’

7. Listen: that’s what God is like
Listen: that’s what God is like. The people you disapprove of are the same people God is throwing parties for. When people’s hearts and lives turn toward God, it’s something to celebrate!”

8. How many times have you read this parable. Heard it in Sunday School
How many times have you read this parable? Heard it in Sunday School? Sermons? Shepherd Sheep Searching Celebrating

9. Here’s the part I NEVER NOTICED:

10. Try closing your eyes to be this sheep for a moment. Sun. Grass. River
Try closing your eyes to be this sheep for a moment. Sun. Grass. River. Flock. Shepherd. How did you get lost? Wander away? Run away? Too preoccupied to notice others moving? What does it feel like when you realize how far you are from the Shepherd? Now, imagine that it is getting dark. What do you feel now?

11. Do you hunker down, sheltering in place
Do you hunker down, sheltering in place? Do you run around, looking for the Shepherd? Do you plot a course of action, create a spreadsheet, and implement your plan? Does any of that help?? You’re still lost.

12. You may be in the same place, or you may have run off to a different place, but you still haven’t found the Shepherd. You are shivering from the cold because you are used to sleeping with 99 other sheep who are covered with nice thick wool. Think of it as trying to sleep in a T shirt when you are used to wearing a handmade Irish fisherman knit sweater.

13. This night is not going well
This night is not going well. But for the sake of this story, keep on being the sheep. It gets better. Listen. Hear the nighttime noises. What are they? Other creatures? Wind? Weather? But wait. Do you hear a voice? Could it be the Shepherd?

14. Is she calling your name???? You expect to hear irritation. Maybe reproach. She’d be warm by the campfire now, eating freeze dried stroganoff and settling in for sleep if it weren’t for you. Whether you wandered on purpose, or by mistake, you have seriously messed with her evening. You brace yourself. Keep listening.

15. What if anger isn’t what you hear?? What if the voice is tender? Worried? Full of love? What if you call back? Marco! Polo! Marco! Polo! And she finds you? Sit with that for a moment. You have been found by the Shepherd.

16. When she reaches out her hands, it is not to strike you in reproach
When she reaches out her hands, it is not to strike you in reproach. It is not even to set you back on our own four feet, demanding that you follow her to safety. She picks you up and wraps you around her shoulders to carry you.

17. Can you feel her warmth seep into you
Can you feel her warmth seep into you? She’s wearing a wool shawl and she’s warm from the hike she’s taken to find you. It’s like finding your sweater again! You stop shivering. In fact, while she walks, you are lulled to sleep because you are warm and safe at last.

18. The Shepherd always goes looking for her sheep.
Even when the sheep is very, very lost, she searches until that sheep is found.
It doesn’t matter how the sheep got lost.
Absentminded accident
Willful wandering
Shoved off a cliff by a mean-spirited varmint

19. The Shepherd does the heavy lifting
The Shepherd does the heavy lifting. She carries the sheep home on her shoulders.

20. Every sheep matters.
“The people you disapprove of are the same people God is throwing parties for. When people’s hearts and lives turn toward God, it’s something to celebrate!”