May 2015
If you walked
through Burton just before Easter you may have noticed sheep sheltering in
various windows in the village, looking a little lost. Fortunately some children were willing to use
part of their Easter holiday to search for the sheep and to report their
whereabouts to us when they arrived at our ‘Lost and Found’ Holiday Club.
The Club
was run by a team from the churches in Holme and Burton and was held in the
Burton Memorial Hall. About 30 children
from both villages came for teaching, games and other activities. Over the three days we heard three stories
that Jesus told to explain his own mission.
He is like a shepherd who leaves the flock while he searches for a sheep
that is lost. He is like a woman who
loses a silver coin but who turns the house upside down until the coin is
found. When a son walks out of a family
and makes a mess of his life, Jesus is like the father who longs to be able to
welcome his wayward son back into the heart of the family.
With each
story Jesus is explaining why he, a man whose life was beyond criticism, gained
a reputation for eating and drinking with those thought to be
less-than-wholesome. Jesus says that
no-one should be surprised – that is exactly what he came for, to find those
who have distanced themselves from God and bring them back into his
family.
In Jesus’
story, there is also an apparently loyal older brother who ends up outside the
family; he is self-righteous (unable to see that he too is lost) and angry with
his father for forgiving his brother. Jesus is challenging us: Do you think it is a good thing that
I’m finding lost people or not? Are you
with me or against me?
Our ‘Lost and Found’ Holiday Club was a small part of the
task that Jesus gives: to let everyone know that he is searching for lost
people to bring them home to himself; he loves doing this.
“The Son of
Man (that’s Jesus) came to seek and to save lost people” (Luke 19:10)
Sincerely
Graham
Burrows
