One of the nice things about living in College Station and ministering in Northgate is that you really can go all over the world without ever leaving this church.  Here I have met people from India, China, Turkey, Iran, Korea, Germany, England, and many other places.  It is always fascinating to me to learn about other cultures, cuisine, and entertainment.  A couple of months ago we hosted several Chinese graduate students in our home and during my interview with them about life in China, I discovered that these students really do enjoy table tennis.  I just happen to have a table in the garage, so I challenged them with just the right amount of American bravado.  I held my own during warm up, even slammed it on my friend, Xiwen Zhang.  Then we started keeping score.  I like to call it “customer ping-pong”.  They may have called it, “mopping the floor with an American pastor.”  Still, it was an enjoyable evening getting to go around the world at the dinner table and later the Ping-Pong Table.  If you are an international student, please make sure that you get the chance to visit in an American home.  If you are an American, please extend the hospitality to international students.  You will build a lasting memory.

My favorite line from an international student was from Katherine about three years ago.  Katherine’s home is in India and she told me, “It doesn’t matter how much you read about India or see it on the television.  It doesn’t matter how many people you meet from India.  Until you have been there, you cannot imagine its beauty.”  I believe her and have added it to places to see in my lifetime.

Sometimes as I’m reading the gospels I get the sense that Jesus was a visitor that would occasionally be interviewed by those who were curious about his home.  In fact, in Matthew 18, it is his disciples who wanted to know more.  They said, “Tell us what your home is like. What does greatness look like there?”

Jesus placed a child on the step nearby and said, “Unless you become like children, you will never enter the kingdom.”  Then he talked about making sure that no one brings harm upon the child and that no one causes the child to even stumble.  Severe consequences would be in store for any who violated these directives.  Then he expanded the kingdom view of mutual responsibility.  Listen to what he said in Matthew 18:10-14 with the child still standing in their midst. Hear now the Word of the Lord:

“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage Jesus commended to his followers, care for every member of the community. Let us pray.

We have been telling the stories of the windows since Easter Sunday.  Our focus has been on the west side windows: stories of the resurrection, the ascension, the crucifixion, the never ending meal of communion, and the transfiguration.  Today, we come to the Lost Sheep Window at the northwest corner of our sanctuary.  It’s a window with few symbols – really just two – a sheep and thicket.  The power of this window is in that which is not seen – a shepherd on the lookout, a community charged with the care of the sheep.  Emma Gay did not mention the green leaves in this window, but in them I saw hope.  I believe that this lost sheep will be found, but not all of them are.  That was the point of Jesus’ teaching.  It is quite clear from this brief passage that in the kingdom of God everyone counts and everyone cares.
 

In the Kingdom of God Everyone Counts

As soon as I wrote that statement I realized that the verb “counts” has at least two very different meanings in our vernacular.  On the one hand, it can mean that “everyone matters”, everyone is important and that is true.  It also means that “everyone notices” who is present and who is absent.  I think that too is valid in this scripture.

Everyone matters – there is no insignificant person in the kingdom of God.  Jesus pointed this out in several ways.  First, he lifted a child up in their midst and made sure they knew that one whom society often ignored, abused, or tolerated mattered a great deal to God.  Second, he cautioned the disciples never to despise one of the little ones.  Webster defines the word, “despise” as follows, “to regard as unworthy of one's notice or consideration.”  It is not even actual mistreatment, but rather a feeling of superiority over another person.  Third, the word Jesus used for little ones is an interesting word to me.  He said, “Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones.”  I went to the Greek version of this passage, curious if Jesus used the word, teknon, which means child, or paidion, which means little child.  I discovered he used neither of these words, but instead used the word, mikron.  I recognized this word from our common prefix of microscope, micrometer, microwave, and microeconomics.  I went to the Greek lexicon and found that this word is an adjective that refers to smallness in size, age, space, or influence.  I take the time to talk about this word to open for you what was opened for me this week – you don’t have to be young to be one of the little ones of whom Jesus spoke.  It can be the single mother looking for some help with her utilities, or the high school student who feels invisible, or the retired couple who had to move out of their home and into assisted living.  It can even be the person who may be a little hard for others to be around.  Howard Vos wrote, “One should be careful not to despise or show contempt for other believers, however spiritually immature or difficult they may be.  These are people that Rick Warren refers to as, “EGR Christians, Extra Grace Required.”  There are a plethora of little ones in our world and we are cautioned not to despise one of them, not to regard any of them as unworthy of our notice or consideration.   Everyone matters.  Oh, and in case you are wondering how much they matter, Jesus said that their angels continually see the face of his Father in heaven.  They have constant access to the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. Everyone matters.

Everyone notices – we are called upon to take note of how many sheep there are and are there any missing.  Jesus gave the example of a shepherd with a hundred sheep, if he misses one in the count he goes in search of the one who has strayed.  There are two basic types of Christians that have strayed: runaways and drift-a-ways.  Runaways have left the fold, the church, because they have been wounded by another Christian or found a teaching or two to be too difficult.  These are traumatic events for those who carry the wounds.  They are the minority of those who have strayed according to recent research done by Thom Rainer who discovered that the vast majority of those who have strayed from the church are drift-a-ways.  70% of Americans who attended church before they were 18, dropped out of the church between the ages of 18-22.  The number one reason given was, “I wanted a break from the church.”  Rainer concludes in his book, Essential Church?, “Churchgoing students drop out of the church because it is not essential to their lives.”  The question I have is who is counting these individuals? Who notices if they are here or absent?  Apparently, someone is.  I received this email earlier this week from a mother of one of our graduating Aggies.  She granted me permission to share it with you:

   Dear A&M United Methodist Church - Thank you for providing a church home to our sons.  When our oldest son started at A&M in fall 2005, what a joy it was to see him find the same church home we'd found some years ago.  Bob Waters was our pastor then.  It is a treat to see him on our visits from time to time.  Our older son attends the 8:30 service.  On our most recent visits, those sitting around him have expressed to us how they will miss him.  Through these 4 years, they have often said "he's here every Sunday" and things of that nature.  A great thing for a parent to hear!  He'll be moving to Dallas to go to med school at UT Southwestern.  Our youngest son is class of 2012.  He sometimes comes to the 8:30 with his brother but will often be a later service.  Thanks again!  Your ministry is amazing!

“Those sitting around him have expressed to us how much they will miss him.”  I Like that.  I am confident that if this was the experience of most young people, the number in the group referred to by Rainer as “dechurched” would significantly decrease.

Jesus said any shepherd worth his salt will leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go searching for the one that went astray.  Look around you, do you notice anyone missing?  I encourage you to go looking for them this week.  In the kingdom of God everyone counts and everyone cares.  When I say everyone counts, I mean everyone matters and everyone notices who has left the fold.  By the way, before I leave this point about the runaways and the drift-a-ways, look at the sheep in this window.  In which category do you think it belongs?  He looks oblivious to the peril that he is in.  He seems to have drifted away from the flock, not aware of the dangers of being separated from the fold or being stuck in the thicket.  He doesn’t even seem to care, but the Shepherd does.  Because in the kingdom of God everyone counts and everyone cares.
 

In the Kingdom of God Everyone Cares

 Many commentators believe that this reference to the lost sheep refer back to Ezekiel 34, where in verse 16 the Good Shepherd promises, “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak”.  Jesus identified himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10 and here charges his followers with that same task.  In the Kingdom of God everyone cares.  The shepherd cares so much that he leaves the ninety-nine and searches for the lost sheep and if he finds it, he rejoices over it more than he does the ninety-nine that never strayed.  This does not mean that he loves the sheep more than the others, it just means that it was lost and finding it brought much relief and great joy.  We get that.  Who hasn’t lost something among all the other stuff we have – a pocket knife, a key, a child at Wal-mart – finding that which was lost brings a lot of joy.

This is the 20^th Confirmation class that I have helped to confirm.  I wish that I could tell you that all of them really meant what they said when they answered, “I do” to the question, “Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races.”  I wish I could tell you that not one of went astray, either by running away or drifting away.  I can’t, but I care.

I can almost see Jesus looking squarely into the eyes of these confirmands and then looking up at each one of us and saying, “So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”  In the kingdom of God everyone counts and everyone cares.

Let me tell you a little about this window.  It was donated in memory of William Waldo Partlow by his family.  Will, as he was known by family and friends, grew up in Liberty County, Texas and was described as the quintessential American boy.  He graduated with a degree in Agronomy from Texas A&M 66 years ago this week – class of ’43.  His dream was to serve in the military as a pilot, but his coordination was not up to standards, and he wound up being a radio operator on an aircraft that transported cargo from the Middle East to India.  On July 27, 1945 his plane apparently caught fire and while attempting to make a forced landing, crashed in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.  He was buried with full military honors in Iran with other fallen comrades.  Three years later the family was able to have Will’s body shipped back for burial in the City Cemetery of Liberty, where two Methodist ministers officiated.  The Army chaplain sent this message to Mrs. Partlow, “I wish there was something which I could write that would assuage your grief.  We can only trust that the new world which is to be when the guns of war are silenced will be such as to justify all the sacrifices that are now being made.” I want to know more about this new world which is to be when the guns of war are silenced.  So did the disciples when they asked, “Tell us what your home is like. What does greatness look like there?”  It was then that Jesus declared that in the kingdom of God everyone counts and everyone cares.  Amen.