The Shepherd and his Sheep - A message for the Church

Okay, this one is for the Church (because let's face it, we aren't perfect, which is a pity, since we are supposed to be a shining light on a hill, bringing light to the world, rather than some dim, nearly burnt out bulb that we don't want to show anyone - despite the fact that we are on display for all the world to see...)

We, the church, are often referred to as "sheep" and Jesus as "the Good Shepherd" - but has anyone actually looked more closely at this analogy? It stems from the parable of the lost sheep - if one becomes lost, then a good shepherd will leave the other 99 in the field and go and find the one who is lost, so it is the same with the Father, if we become lost - but what about when we are back in the field - what then? can the analogy continue? I think so...

when I was back in Lancaster visiting some friends from uni, a few of them live in a house next to a field of sheep. we watched them a little, and we noticed that the sheep followed each other quite a bit - if one would wander aimlessly to one side of the field, half of the others would follow. So it seems with Christianity - we are in this big field, and some bright spark has a new idea about theology - and so the rest of them follow him to this new area of the field - unlike sheep however, we seem to bicker and quarrel over which is the better patch of grass - and therefore forget that we are still in the same field, and under the same shepherd, and part of the same flock, God's Church.

Paul talks about the Church being the Body of Christ - but a church divided means that Christ's body is divided! we are guilty of precisely this - we have divisions in the church, sometimes within the same congregation, as I experienced when I was a small child - too young to remember/understand, but the whole story was explained to me by my parents of a massive split in my church - and we forget that we are all loved and cared for by the same God.

Imagine a Body - living, complete and whole - it is able to function in the most incredible way - at the moment your eyes are taking in huge amounts of information, and feeding it to your brain, which then interprets what you are reading. At the same time, your heart is pumping blood around your body, to keep your brain and eyes working, and to keep your lungs pumping - which in turn, feed oxygen into the blood that keeps the heart and the lungs both working. when you eat, your mouth works together, with the tongue and the teeth, and crushes up the food that it can slip down your throat thanks to help from your salivary glands, that have produced spit to help with the digestion and ease of passage down your oesophagus. Your hands and feet also have to co-ordinate well with each other for the most simple of tasks - imagine when you put your clothes on - and the amount of work you do with your hands, legs, and arms - all requiring input from your eyes and touch sensors in your extremities, which is all fed through the brain, that then controls all these actions.

Now imagine the body divided. It is lifeless, and is unable to function properly. so it is with the church - if we unite this church, and come together and work together, instead of bickering over which section of the field we should be in, then we are not only alive as a church, but we can then bring eternal life to others too.