If you mention Handel’s Messiah, there are two pieces that immediately come to mind–the Hallelujah Chorus and the Amen Chorus.  One that sticks in my mind is “all we like sheep have gone astray.”  It’s such a joyful piece.  “Wow!  Look at us.  We’ve gone astray.”  I don’t think that sheep really plan on going astray.  They look up and say, “Where has everybody gone?”  We don’t wake up in the morning and ask ourselves, “which commandment shall I violate today?”  I think we drift across the line.

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If you mention Handel’s Messiah, there are two pieces that everyone immediately thinks of—The Hallelujah Chorus and the Amen Chorus. One of the other pieces that sticks in my mind is “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Stop and listen to it some time. The impression that you get is that going astray is one of the most exciting things that a sheep can do. Wow!! Look, we’ve gone astray. I’m not sure that sheep really think all that much about going astray. I think that a sheep probably looks up and says to itself “where did everybody go?”

It is in the latter sense that we are like sheep. We don’t set out to do the wrong thing. We don’t wake up in the morning and say to ourselves “which commandment shall I violate today—8, 7, maybe 9? No, I think that we probably drift across the line. Our sins tend to be trespassing and missing the mark of what God created us to be, rather than outright rebellion. Maybe God should put up a sign like the photograph I saw of a tiger enclosure—“Trespassers will be eaten.” No matter how great or small—mortal or venial—a sin might be, it is still a slap in the face of God. Sin, unfortunately, is still sin.

The joy of “all we like sheep have gone astray” is a real danger. We are a sinful people and the danger is that we can get so caught up in our sin that it no longer becomes a problem for us. We enjoy what we are doing and cease to question whether it is right or wrong. The sin becomes habitual. And it is then that we find ourselves lost. It doesn’t have to be a big thing like the ruthless business man who gets so caught up in making money that he doesn’t think about those that he crushes in the process, or the woman who is so protective of her children that no teacher or coach can dare speak a word of criticism. No, it is often the little things, the minor faults in which we find ourselves engrossed and in need of forgiveness. “All we like sheep have gone astray.” All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The all includes us.

The second reading is a parable, a story. A man has a hundred sheep. One of them wanders away. He leaves the ninety nine behind and searches for the one that is lost. That, when you come right down to it, is a silly thing to do. After all, he is putting at risk the bulk of his flock for the sake of a single sheep. Would a shepherd actually do that? Possibly not, but that’s not the point of the story.

The point of the story goes back to last week’s Scripture lesson: “Tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus]. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” Jesus told the story to the scribes and Pharisees to point out that each individual is important to God—even tax collectors and sinners. And if we are numbered among the sinners, then we are important to God.

The second thing that Jesus was saying to the scribes and Pharisees was that God was relentless in his pursuit of the one who is lost. The shepherd goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. He doesn’t give up. He keeps looking. We give up on God a lot sooner than God gives up on us. God is open to receiving an individual until that individual has breathed his last breath. Think of the thief on the cross. There was a criminal who was dying and Jesus could say to him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

There is a corollary to the story of the lost sheep. The shepherd carries it back and restores it to the flock amid great rejoicing. The lost is not only found. The lost is back where it belongs.

This past Sunday this worshiping community gathered to vote on extending a call for a permanent pastor. In a sense there was a loss here. The pastor who had served the congregation for over a decade had to resign because of illness. The congregation was without a permanent pastor. Now the congregation has moved to rectify that to return to wholeness so that it can move forward into the future that God has in mind for it. After the congregation had voted to issue the call, it did two things. The first was that it arose and joined in singing a Doxologly–Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” That was important, because this moment was a blessing from God. We are a praying and thankful people. The second thing is that we joined hands and prayed together the Lord’s prayer. I like that. It is a bonding, making us part of a whole. I’ve encouraged that in meetings of boards and committees, and certainly in meetings of the call committee. We aren’t simply individuals acting on our own behalf. We are the people of God—the lost who were found and restored to the community—who together are acting on behalf of the people of God.

There is a second corollary to the story. As Jesus told it, the missing sheep was important. It was important to the flock. The hundred sheep were no longer there and so the shepherd set out to find the one. The one who is lost, the sinner, is important to the whole and God does set out to restore him or her. To this worshiping community, it means that you are important. When you are not here the congregation is diminished by one. And we need to be better about being aware of who is missing. We need to be concerned about each other.

After a worship service when I was serving my vicarage, the pastor called me into his office. Mr. So and so wasn’t in church today. He always sits right over there three or four pews back on the left hand side. Go and check if something is wrong. I did check, and the man had died walking to church that morning. Now there was a real pastor. He knew that one of his flock was missing and he sent the vicar to find out why. Maybe we should take a lesson from our relentless God and be relentless in caring for one another.