99 to 1

They even look a lot alike. Same hair cut and color, similar body types, similar timbre in their voices.

Besides these similarities, they share this. They are haunting examples of times that, as a pastor, I chose the 99 over the 1.

"Sid" was a teenager. Smart, but angry. He pushed the limits during every youth group gathering. Some kids quit coming and told me it was because of Sid. There was pressure from some parents to kick him out of the group. I stood up to this and maintained that church should not be in the business of "kicking out" those who were obviously struggling. Finally, though, he did something so outrageous and violent that we had no choice. For the safety and continued viablity of the group, we had to say, "You blew it. We care about you, but you can't come back."

Fast forward 15 years.

"Bruce" is a bona fide adult. A former fundamentalist, when I met him he was already at the fringes of "traditional Christianity" even by my rather generous definition of what that term means. Within a year, he had moved beyond the fringes. LIke-- Marcus Borg was too conservative for him. This wouldn't necessarily have been a problem for me or the session--better to hold him close and continue the conversation than reject him in a way that might make a temporary trajectory over the fence a permanent alienation. But he wasn't content to be in conversation. He was right and we were wrong and anyone who couldn't see that traditional Christianity was bankrupt and over was a fool. Finally, in a small group he became verbally abusive. We weren't going to kick him out of the church, but we asked him not to return to that particular group and said that kind of behavior was not acceptable anywhere. He asked to be removed from the rolls.

I know about the parable and all. But doesn't a good shepherd sometimes put the 99 first?