[Propertalk] 4 Easter a 2017 - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

The second part ... 8 - )
Blessings for your work!
Bob

 This is something that’s become foreign to us, though. We prize
individuality; being seen and heard apart from and above everyone
else, striving to get ahead by ourselves, rather than forming a
glorious whole. And just as we expect to find ourselves noted for
being such individuals, so we find ourselves in rivalry between
communities – West Albany or South Albany; Albany or North Albany,
or Millersburg; Albany or Corvallis; Beavers or Ducks – you can take
this as far as you like. The thing is that the flock should only be
seen as separate sheep when one gets in trouble. Then the rest come
together, they react to try to assure safety for the one who has
become separated. As a fascinating article about sheep points out –
and as the caption mentions beside one of the photos in this
morning’s bulletin – “there is surprising intelligence behind
those eyes” and “Sheep are one of the most unfairly stereotyped
animals on the planet. Almost 

	everything we believe about them is wrong.” 1

	 Think of the reputation of sheep: They’re_ “__stupid,
defenceless and harmless creatures that mope about on hillsides doing
not very much. They are good for two things: being eaten and producing
wool.”_

	_ Now check the reality. “Sheep are actually surprisingly
intelligent, with impressive memory and recognition skills. They build
friendships, stick up for one another in fights, and feel sad when
their friends are sent to slaughter.” _2 _And Jesus called us
sheep!_

	_ So when one sheep DOES become separated, by accident or design, it
finds salvation when it becomes one with the flock again – and by
the initiative of the flock. It’s the shepherd’s role, then, first
and foremost, to ensure that salvation is offered to all, and to offer
correction, when necessary, because, as that article points out, sheep
“are also one of the most destructive creatures on the planet.”
Maybe Jesus REALLY knows us!!_

	_ Through the care and concern of the shepherd, then, the whole flock
has this ethos of compassion, of openness to the needs of both the
individual and as the individual works within the whole; the whole
flock has this ethos imprinted upon it so that all may respond to the
needs of the one who has been separated; or has become ill or injured;
or can’t find food or shelter. And all the while, the nature of the
sheep to become so destructive is gradually transformed through the
shepherd’s constant attention, and through the work of the
community._

	_ There’s an old saying that goes back to a theologian’s writing
in the third century. “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus - _outside the
Church there is no salvation”. I heard it mostly regarding dogma in
the Roman Catholic Church, but it’s not unique to that branch of
Christianity. In their minds, this meant that the Roman Catholic
Church was the repository of all correct dogma and efficacious
Sacraments. That statement used to make me smile or grimace, depending
on my mood or the way in which the comment was made on any particular
day.

	 A bishop in the Orthodox tradition, however, while pointing out that
this is not unique to one branch or another, is gentler and more
thought provoking.  “‘Outside the Church there is no salvation,
because salvation is the Church’ 3 Does it therefore follow that
anyone who is not visibly within the Church is necessarily damned? Of
course not; still less does it follow that everyone who is visibly
within the Church is necessarily saved. As Augustine wisely remarked:
‘How many sheep there are without, how many wolves within!’ 4
While there is no division between a ‘visible’ and an ‘invisible
Church’, yet there may be members of the Church who are not visibly
such, but whose membership is known to God alone. If anyone is saved,
he must in SOME sense be a member of the Church; in WHAT sense, we
cannot always say.” 5

	_ So, there are two things, at least, to consider. One, WE don’t
know who will be in the community, the flock, or not. Jesus simply
called everyone, and only God knows. We have to look, then, and
listen, and sense, to become aware that, all the time, someone needs,
both literally and metaphorically, to be brought in, to be bandaged,
to be given food, drink and shelter – to discover that we are all
part of God’s salvation._

	_ The second thing is to remember the incredible love that God has
for everyone, and the wonderful lengths to which Jesus goes to ensure
our safety. Every day, Jesus checks in on us. Every day, Jesus leaves
notes and signs about where we can find what we need. Every day, Jesus
is prepared to go looking for us, to bring us to where we need to be._

	_ On second thoughts, that opening question is NOT unimportant to
us._

	 Maybe I shouldn’t, maybe we shouldn’t, be put off, or worried,
about being asked, “Are you saved?” after all. Maybe all I need to
do, we need to do, is to understand what the question really means. Am
I, are you, are each of us, doing everything we possibly can, every
day, to make sure that others – often the strangest of others, the
supposedly placid, but actually highly intelligent “other sheep”;
am I, are you, doing everything we possibly can to include absolutely
everybody within the flock that is Jesus’ family?

	 If we are, or are at least putting all of our effort into trying to
reach that goal, then we ARE being saved.

	NOTES:

[1] _“__SHEEP ARE ONE OF THE MOST UNFAIRLY STEREOTYPED ANIMALS ON
THE PLANET. ALMOST EVERYTHING WE BELIEVE ABOUT THEM IS WRONG”_ BY
HARRIET CONSTABLE 19 APRIL 2017
_HTTP://WWW.BBC.COM/EARTH/STORY/20170418-SHEEP-ARE-NOT-STUPID-AND-THEY-ARE-NOT-HELPLESS-EITHER
[1]_ 

	2 Harriet Constable, Op. cit.

	3 G. Florovsky, _"Sobornost: the Catholicity of the Church",_ in
“_The Church of God”_ p. 53.

	4 Augustine: Homilies on John, 45, 12.

	 5  Kallistos Ware (1993) in The Orthodox Church [2]. Penguin. p.
247–248._ __ISBN_ [3] _9780140146561_ [4]. Quoted in “Extra
Ecclesiam nulla salus” – Wikipedia – emphasis added
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_Ecclesiam_nulla_salus [5]


Links:
------
[1]
http://mail2.spectrum.net/HTTP://WWW.BBC.COM/EARTH/STORY/20170418-SHEEP-ARE-NOT-STUPID-AND-THEY-ARE-NOT-HELPLESS-EITHER
[2]
https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2Z8bVDVMLEC&pg=PT303&lpg=PT303&dq=%22Extra+Ecclesiam+nulla+salus.+All+the+categorical+strength+and+point+of+this+aphorism+lies+in+its+tautology%22&source=bl&ots=_FUWRWBd8a&sig=NMRfWZsQal_6u24SsHO7p1cJIAg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NcodVeuNBMuVatLDgYgD&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAw
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780140146561
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_Ecclesiam_nulla_salus

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