“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? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’"
(Luke 15:4-6)
We Americans prize the self-reliant individual above all others. We idolize figures like The Lone Ranger, Captain America, Steve Jobs who ostensibly set out on their own and faced their respective frontiers with cut-throat ingenuity, bravery, and grit. We praise leaders who have the backbone to say "You're fired," and who are willing to do what needs to be done to protect the bottom line, even if it means sacrificing personal relationships and dismantling the livelihoods of others. The film Up in the Air captures this perfectly when George Clooney's character, a corporate firing consultant, receives his 10 million mile flier status, just moments after losing the one real relationship he had ever experienced. He had spent his whole life "up in the air," loyal to his corporation, only to realize far too late that he was lost, and had no one with whom to share his free miles.
Everywhere we go we hear the drum beat of consumer values. They try to make us believe that, if we want to be successful and belong, we must be willing to look out for #1, and compete in an every-man-for-himself game. It's no wonder that this image of Jesus the Shepherd, holding the one little lost sheep, isn't on the flagship image of business school brochures. We don't see billboards with pictures of those who give their lives working for causes like homelessness, poverty, addiction, and human trafficking because our collective consciousness would have us believe that this isn't what success looks like. Whether consciously or not we have come to believe that material and social success is a sign of being blessed. We are led to believe that we must choose either success or service. But, in the image of Christ the Shepherd, God calls us out of "either-or" thinking into "yes-and" dreaming.
Every one of us, wherever we live and work, encounters "lost sheep." Every one of us, at one time or another, becomes lost ourselves. Some are lost on the streets, in addictions, or in poverty. Others are lost in broken relationships, loneliness, or mental illness. What often keeps us from loving one another, and loving ourselves, through those lost places is a powerful lie. It's a lie that says that money equals worth, social status equals value, help-seeking equals weakness, and sacrifice leads to financial insecurity. This lie cuts us off from others and from the God who wants only to find us and love us just as we are. It alienates us from a God who longs to connect us to one another, and rejoice with us at the reunion. God's dream is to stop at nothing until every single person who is lost and alone gets found, celebrated, and reconnected to loving community. Those are God's values. In God there is no shame in being poor, not holding important titles, seeking help, and sacrificing. Quite the opposite, in fact. From God's perspective, the real shame is when our wealth, status, pride, and fear of not having enough keeps us from living as we were created to live. God created us out of the very heart of Love and calls us to carry love out into the world. God asks us to find those who feel beyond love's reach, and use all the resources at our disposal to shepherd them back into loving community. The truth is that we weren't created to do life on our own. God doesn't need us to be self-reliant. God only asks that we look out for one another. God only asks that we do all that we can to open our arms to one another, to carry each other into safety, and to rejoice with one another every time we get a chance. We weren't meant to use our ingenuity, bravery, and grit merely to win and survive. We were meant to serve one another and thrive. So let's change our flagship image of success to a shepherd, and start teaching our children that real heroes leave no one out of the fold.
(Luke 15:4-6)
We Americans prize the self-reliant individual above all others. We idolize figures like The Lone Ranger, Captain America, Steve Jobs who ostensibly set out on their own and faced their respective frontiers with cut-throat ingenuity, bravery, and grit. We praise leaders who have the backbone to say "You're fired," and who are willing to do what needs to be done to protect the bottom line, even if it means sacrificing personal relationships and dismantling the livelihoods of others. The film Up in the Air captures this perfectly when George Clooney's character, a corporate firing consultant, receives his 10 million mile flier status, just moments after losing the one real relationship he had ever experienced. He had spent his whole life "up in the air," loyal to his corporation, only to realize far too late that he was lost, and had no one with whom to share his free miles.
Everywhere we go we hear the drum beat of consumer values. They try to make us believe that, if we want to be successful and belong, we must be willing to look out for #1, and compete in an every-man-for-himself game. It's no wonder that this image of Jesus the Shepherd, holding the one little lost sheep, isn't on the flagship image of business school brochures. We don't see billboards with pictures of those who give their lives working for causes like homelessness, poverty, addiction, and human trafficking because our collective consciousness would have us believe that this isn't what success looks like. Whether consciously or not we have come to believe that material and social success is a sign of being blessed. We are led to believe that we must choose either success or service. But, in the image of Christ the Shepherd, God calls us out of "either-or" thinking into "yes-and" dreaming.
Every one of us, wherever we live and work, encounters "lost sheep." Every one of us, at one time or another, becomes lost ourselves. Some are lost on the streets, in addictions, or in poverty. Others are lost in broken relationships, loneliness, or mental illness. What often keeps us from loving one another, and loving ourselves, through those lost places is a powerful lie. It's a lie that says that money equals worth, social status equals value, help-seeking equals weakness, and sacrifice leads to financial insecurity. This lie cuts us off from others and from the God who wants only to find us and love us just as we are. It alienates us from a God who longs to connect us to one another, and rejoice with us at the reunion. God's dream is to stop at nothing until every single person who is lost and alone gets found, celebrated, and reconnected to loving community. Those are God's values. In God there is no shame in being poor, not holding important titles, seeking help, and sacrificing. Quite the opposite, in fact. From God's perspective, the real shame is when our wealth, status, pride, and fear of not having enough keeps us from living as we were created to live. God created us out of the very heart of Love and calls us to carry love out into the world. God asks us to find those who feel beyond love's reach, and use all the resources at our disposal to shepherd them back into loving community. The truth is that we weren't created to do life on our own. God doesn't need us to be self-reliant. God only asks that we look out for one another. God only asks that we do all that we can to open our arms to one another, to carry each other into safety, and to rejoice with one another every time we get a chance. We weren't meant to use our ingenuity, bravery, and grit merely to win and survive. We were meant to serve one another and thrive. So let's change our flagship image of success to a shepherd, and start teaching our children that real heroes leave no one out of the fold.
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