Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome back to the way home.
In our last reflection we sat with the story of the prodigal son and discovered that every spiritual journey begins with a longing for home.
Today we're moving deeper into that mystery.
Through another story from the Gospel of Luke,
This time the parable of the lost sheep.
It's a short story,
It's only a few verses long,
But it hides within it one of the most beautiful truths in all of scripture.
Sometimes,
We don't find our way home by ourselves.
Sometimes,
We are found.
So as we settle into this time of prayer and reflection,
Just allow yourself to become still.
Feel the chair beneath you,
The ground beneath your feet.
If it's comfortable and safe to do so,
Close your eyes.
Let your hands relax.
Take a deep breath in.
And out.
And then just allow your breath to maintain its regular rhythm.
And bring yourself fully into this moment.
Mind,
Heart,
Body and soul.
Let's begin with prayer,
Good shepherd.
You know each of us by name.
You know the paths we walk,
The fears we carry,
The places where we feel lost.
In these next few moments,
Quiet the noise that's within us.
Help us hear your voice calling us home.
Give us the courage to believe that we are worth searching for.
Let's begin by reading these words once again from the Gospel of Luke,
Chapter 15.
Jesus said,
Which one of you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them,
Does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
And when he's found it,
He lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.
And when he comes home,
He calls together his friends and neighbors saying,
Rejoice with me.
For I have found my sheep.
That was lost.
And just notice those words,
Until he finds it.
Not if.
He finds it.
But until he finds it.
This is a shepherd who searches until he finds it.
Now most of us know what it means to be lost,
Not just physically lost,
But spiritually,
Emotionally,
Internally.
We've all been through seasons where in one way or another we've lost our bearings.
Emotionally it can mean losing touch with joy,
Losing sight of hope,
Losing confidence in ourselves.
Maybe you've been through seasons where you've lost your sense of purpose or even your faith.
And quite often,
Being lost doesn't happen all at once.
We don't just wake up one morning and decide to walk away from the life that you're meant to live.
It happens gradually.
Just like it does when you're physically lost.
One step.
Two steps,
One disappointment,
One grief,
One compromise,
One distraction,
One wound,
After another,
After another.
And then one day we wake up and realise that we don't recognise who we are anymore.
We don't know where we are anymore.
So as we begin,
Just take a moment to ask yourself,
Where in my life do I feel lost right now?
Do you feel lost in your work or in a relationship?
In grief,
Uncertainty,
In your faith,
In your expectations,
Just notice what rises in you as you sit with this.
Now the ship,
It has a hundred sheep.
Ninety-nine are safe,
One's gone missing.
And what's interesting is the shepherd's heart notices the absence.
Now I think the really interesting thing about this story,
If you look into sheep and the behavior of sheep,
And how shepherding often works.
There's nothing unusual about this story.
That a sheep has wandered off.
It happens.
Sheep get lost.
They wander away.
It's what sheep do.
But what's really important about the story is that the shepherd notices.
The shepherd counts and remembers.
One is missing,
Somehow looks at the group and says there's one that's gone and then the shepherd searches.
And maybe there's some part of us that secretly believes that we're invisible.
That our struggles and difficulties go unnoticed.
Even from God,
Maybe God's too busy for our ordinary fears and disappointments,
But Jesus in telling us this story.
Is saying the exact opposite.
This is a shepherd who notices,
Who knows when something in us has wandered away,
Who knows when our hearts are weary.
This shepherd knows that we're carrying burdens that nobody else can see.
And it's a reminder that we're not forgotten.
We're not overlooked.
We're not simply one amongst hundreds.
That we are one in a hundred,
That we are known.
And that we are loved.
And there's something very humbling.
About this parable too,
That the sheep.
.
.
Doesn't suddenly become wise and heroic and climb a mountain and find the shepherd.
The sheep is found.
And maybe that's one of the hardest truths for us to accept,
Particularly spiritually.
A lot of us have spent our lives believing that everything depends on us.
We hold everything together somehow that we fix ourselves and become strong and earn love and rescue ourselves but And this is the audacity.
Of grace.
And the offensiveness of the gospel,
If you can borrow Paul's terminology,
Grace doesn't work that way.
I mean,
Sometimes healing begins when we finally admit,
I don't know the way.
I can't carry this alone.
I need help.
That is grace.
And we need that grace.
And there's a sacred vulnerability in allowing ourselves to be found.
And so for a moment,
Just sit with this question,
What part of my life?
Am I still trying to carry alone?
Now in your mind's eye,
Just put yourself in the story.
Big picture,
Open fields stretching towards the horizon,
Suns beginning to set,
Shadows are growing longer.
You've wandered further than you intended.
You're in unfamiliar territory.
The uncertainty rises within.
There's fear,
Maybe loneliness,
Regret.
You listen.
And at first there's complete silence.
And then in the distance you hear a voice.
The Shepherd is calling your name.
But notice the tone of the voice.
There's no anger or disappointment.
Bit tenderness.
You listen more and the voice comes closer.
The Shepherd has come looking for you.
Just notice what you feel.
Notice what rises within you.
As you are found and stay there for a moment.
Jesus says that when the shepherd finds the sheep,
He lifts it onto his shoulders.
The sheep doesn't walk home,
The sheep's carried.
You've probably seen those images and icons of Jesus with the sheep.
On its shoulders.
And their seasons in life.
When we're strong enough to walk,
But there's also seasons in life when we're not.
The moments when grief is too heavy,
When the disappointment is too deep.
When the anxiety we're feeling just overwhelms us.
And in those moments,
Maybe faith is not about having the strength to keep walking.
In those moments,
Faith is trusting that God can carry us when we can't carry ourselves anymore.
Think back over your own life.
Can you remember a season when you survived something?
That you thought you would never survive.
A season when somehow,
Despite your weakness,
You were carried.
Maybe by God,
Maybe by friends,
Maybe by grace itself,
Maybe.
.
.
At the time you didn't even realize it.
But looking back now,
You can see.
That you weren't walking alone.
Now an important part of this story is the ending,
Because it ends with celebration.
Rejoice with me,
The shepherd says,
For I have found my sheep that was lost.
And you'll notice.
That all of heaven rejoices.
And it rejoices.
Just because what was lost has been found.
No one's had to do something brilliant or be perfect or get everything right.
Just getting found.
I'm wondering whether this is what God feels whenever we turn somehow even slightly towards love,
Whenever we forgive,
When we begin again,
When we pray after a long silence,
When we admit that we have a weakness,
When we take one small step towards home,
That in those small moments,
Those insignificant or seemingly insignificant moments,
There's joy and celebration.
And delight.
You don't become someone else to be loved.
You just have to let yourself.
Be found.
That's all.
So as we prepare to finish,
Just take one slow deep breath in.
.
.
And out.
And imagine yourself resting on the shoulders of this shepherd.
You do not need to carry everything alone,
Just rest.
And listen carefully.
What is the shepherd saying to you today?
Maybe the words are,
You are not forgotten.
You are safe.
You are loved.
You do not have to do this alone.
I am here to bring you home.
Whatever words rise up,
Just take a moment to let them settle into your heart.
Let's pray,
Good shepherd,
When we wonder.
Come searching for us.
When we're weary,
Carry us.
When we're afraid,
Reassure us.
When we feel invisible,
Remind us that we are known.
Teach us to trust that your love is stronger than our fear and that your mercy is deeper than our wandering.
And help us in the days ahead to rest in the knowledge that we never walk alone.
And may grace,
Peace and love be known to us and be awakened for us today and always.
Thanks so much for being with me on this journey,
Friends.
Until tomorrow,
Remember the journey home.
Doesn't always begin with us finding God.
Sometimes it begins with discovering that God has been searching for us all along.
Until tomorrow,
Grace and peace.
