Called by name
Bible Reading: John 10:1-5
Author: Colin Harbach (Cumbria, England)
Author: Colin Harbach (Cumbria, England)
Friday 26 April 2024 © The Upper Room.
The day’s news brought another image of refugees. I had seen many scenes of distraught people huddled together on their perilous sea journey or their long march to safety and new life. This time it was an image of a crowd pressing against an impassable razor-wire fence. Then, over the commentator’s voice I heard someone call, ‘Zaria!’ Suddenly I no longer saw a crowd but a group of individual people. Like Zaria, each one has their own personal story, their own experiences of horror, fear, loss, pain and sacrifice, their own hopes, faith and loves.
Jesus taught us that while God’s love is for the whole world it is also very personal. In today’s reading Jesus likened God to the perfect shepherd who knows each sheep by name. God will suffer for and with each to ensure that no one is lost.
From that day on, my prayers have changed. I no longer pray, ‘Lord, help refugees’, but ‘Lord, take into your loving care Zaria and every other refugee and asylum-seeker like her.’ No longer do my prayers come from impersonal concern, but from intimate compassion – closer to the way God loves each of us.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus Christ, give us your compassion to share the pain and joy of individuals in a crowded world of injustice, until all our prayers are acts of love. Amen
