Sheep without a Shepherd

"May the LORD...appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd." Numbers 27

"And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd." Matthew 9

As a Christian minister I am, of course, concerned for the spread of the Gospel to those who are "unchurched", those who have not heard the message of salvation in Jesus. But looking over the religious landscape another pressing concern seems equally important but too often neglected - the discipleship of the "churched". Now, before the protests arise: this is not to suggest the proselytization of Christians from one church or style of church to another that I presume to be better. Our county is blessed with churches of various tradition doing wonderful ministry in the Lord. One local pastor, though, on hearing about our fellowship (but not real pleased about it) quipped, "do you really think Wilson needs another church?" I wondered then if all the heathen were converted, if our sanctuaries could hold them. They couldn't.

Today I'll go one step further - if all of the baptized in this county who have quit an active practice of the faith, "quit church", were discipled, those same sanctuaries would not be enough to hold them. Thousands who consider themselves well exposed to Christianity, thousands with church backgrounds, thousands who have been baptised in our Lord's name find no reason to go to a church, no reason to pursue discipleship, nothing among us worth striving for.

Somehow the "Israel" of Wilson's churches - perhaps of America's churches - has lost her sheep and, like Bo Peep, doesn't know where to find them. We have marketed for their return: we've created programs to reach them, have entertained them on their visits hoping to keep them, have fed countless pizzas to their over-stimulated sons and daughters, have put up our signs and cards at Starbucks. Why are our sheep still so scattered and lost?

1. I think we have often cared more about their attendance than their welfare. We have not called them to difficult repentance and renewal, caring more that they are in church than if they are in Christ.

2. Because we gained so many by sales pitches and programs, we have lost many of them to better marketing elsewhere. We were salesmen instead of pastors and lost the "deal" to other hawkers.

3. We have often led them to the fold rather than to the Shepherd. We have tried to make congregations for ourselves rather than disciples for Jesus.

4. We have not let the Word be unattractive. We drew them to our music and programs rather than allowing the Crucified to draw them to himself.

5. We never let them grow up. We often preach the same version of Christianity we give to Sunday School children over and over,preventing adults to mature into/wrestle into a mature faith in Christ.

I say "we" because I have been an ordained minister for nearly a decade and am eaten up with the same mess. Because I am finally discipling a tiny flock and feel the desire to make if bigger rather than better. Because this flock needs me to join them in the difficult work of repentance and trusting in Christ.

These are some of the ways we have scattered the sheep. What can we do to gather and disciple them now? That's a topic for another post. God help us.

if not with Thee

Whither should we turn, if not to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ?

Where might the sufferer find consolation, if not in Thee?

Ah, and where the penitent, if not with Thee, Lord Jesus
Christ?

- Soren Kierkegaard

Trained within a tradition that vaunts itself in certitude, this prayer is for me both a conviction and a breath of cool air. With these words on my lips I am not any longer the sure messenger of Christianity’s claim to exclusivity preaching repentance to others and at a great distance. I am the sinner and no stranger to exasperation who has found a hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know no one else to whom I could have turned and now can simply imagine no other at all.

We are all of us sinners. And we were penitent long before we repented. We were sorry for our sins but utterly without the strength to leave them. We wallowed in a toxic pattern of repetition and entrenchment within the sins we hated ourselves for. Even when we self-justified. Even when we put on our bravest of faces. We were vexed. Desperate. Sorry. And, somewhere deep within, we knew it.

As a student chaplain I once sat at the bedside of a dying woman who was gulping for breath and with every gasp whispering to me, one hand extended, “I am heartily sorry for all of my sins…I am heartily sorry for all of my sins…I am heartily sorry for all of my sins”. I was uncomfortable. Unnerved. I tried to assure her that her sins were forgiven, that salvation was sure. I left the room feeling that I had failed this woman and needed a chaplain myself. A wiser minister than I looked at me and simply told me I had missed the point. “Perhaps she didn’t need you to convince her of anything. Perhaps she just needed you to hear her confession.” I was a young Pentecostal with no capacity yet to hear confessions. Sin is a past thing, always a past thing, you see. We sinned. We “got saved”. Now we’re okay. We’ve moved on. I could not hear her gasping contrition because I was out of joint with my own.

Who can we turn to, Lord Jesus? Who else knows our estate? Who else can see the blackness of our motives, our pride, our selfish acts, and receive us with care? Where can go the penitent…and we all are in our sinful ways penitent…to unload the guilt and despair of it all whether for good or just for now, but to you? Is there salvation outside of Jesus? I’ve no care to look. My soul runs to Jesus and finds rest there. My suffering is consoled. My penitence turns to repentance. My homelessness to belonging, in him.

Let us not miss the point: salvation is not a truth we believers have a corner on; it is the place to which we run and from which we call for others to come. They come not to us; we are so often deaf priests at the bedsides of the dying. They ask in their many ways, “where can we go?” Our answer, not dogmatic, but empathetic, “where if not to Jesus?”

A Bright Epiphany for Us...and the World

Epiphany is a season of the Church Year that can be seen either as following or as extending Christmas. It commemorates the coming of magi - enigmatic, Gentile seekers - to the infant Jesus and his family - offering those famous gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. How on earth did these astrologers from the distant east find a particular Jewish peasant family in an obscure village of Judea? How did they know that this swaddled baby was the long-awaited King? A Light shined for them. They followed that Light to find Jesus. And there they worshiped. This story is significant to the Church because we recognize that we too were seekers far away from God. And yet a Light has come into the world. We have perceived that Light and it has led us to God in Christ Jesus. Who more unexpected a worshiper than me?

Epiphany is a big day around my living room this year because we will be celebrating together for the first time on a Sunday morning. Our fellowship is small, mostly teen, and (like the magi when they got to Jerusalem) seeking direction. But in the process of their coming and worshiping, each of our little family have brought wonderful gifts for the Lord's use. We are Light beholders glad to have been brought together to this place (the metaphorical "place", not necessarily the living room) "to behold the beauty of the Lord".

But Epiphany will not be a time for us simply to congratulate ourselves for having made it to this point! We are concerned for the many, many who have "sat in darkness" in need of the Light that has shone in Jesus. We beholders of the Light cannot hide our joy away from those who, for whatever reason, persist in gloom. We must open the shutters, raise the blinds so that all may see that Light has come.

This does not necessarily, though, call for tracts to be handed out or door-to-door witnessing to occur. It may not (though this would be my first temptation) be time to invite all of our heathen friends to the living room to "get 'em saved". It is time to live conscientiously in the Light so that we might reflect the Light. I was often taught to convince people of the truth claims of Christianity so that they will believe and then come to church. I believe more now in living "Lightly". Folks around me will tend to see my witness of Christ's Light and find, in seeing Him, that they do believe after all. We pastors won't have to teach people how to "get saved" or even to worship...if they have an Epiphany.