Saturday, August 1, 2020

The Lost Sheep

It has been reported that His Grace Pope Francis was 'deeply pained' by Turkey's decision to reopen Hagia Sophia museum as a mosque. In his own words "I am thinking of St. Sophia and I am deeply pained.".

There was outrage from others as well. The World Council of Churches has called on the Turkish president to reverse the decision. The Russian Orthodox Church expressed dismay at Turkey's decision, accusing it of ignoring voices of millions of Christians.

The European Union's foreign policy chief called the decision "regrettable". Cypress strongly condemned Turkey's actions and called on Turkey to respect its international obligations.

The US State Department spokesperson expressed disappointment at the decision by the government of Turkey. Greece branded Turkey's move an "open provocation to the civilized world".

But why outrage at this monument alone? There is no doubt it held importance and significance as it was one of the oldest churches, built in the year 537 AD by Constantinople. It remained as a church under various Christian denominations until the year 1453 AD when it was converted into a mosque by the Ottoman Empire.

But the truth is, this is not the first time when a church has been closed, abandoned, sold or converted.

I had the good fortune of visiting the magnificent church of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. As our tour guide was guiding through the various marvels of the Basilica, she mentioned that close to 800 churches in Italy were closed. The reason being, with no one visiting the churches anymore, it was not feasible to maintain them. Without any offerings from the faithful it was not possible to keep the churches open. It was absolutely shocking news for me, especially something like that happening in Italy with the Vatican right next door!

While in Venice, I saw a chapel being used as a warehouse for storing marble stones.

When we visited Germany, we came across a big church with tall spires and Gothic architecture. Admiring the architecture of the huge imposing building, we went around looking for the entrance of the Church to spend some time in prayer.

As we approached the entrance we saw a tall beautiful lady in a green dress standing with some leaflets in her hands. On a wooden stand next to her there was a stack of leaflets. My thought was “perhaps some program was in progress, perhaps a marriage”. I asked her if the church was open and could we enter the church. She stretched the leaflet in her hand towards me and answered with a sweet smile and a musical voice "yes it is open, we are devil worshipers and you are welcome to join us". 

I stood there open mouthed, staring at her long fair face wondering if she was joking or perhaps I might have heard her wrong. At the speed of lightning, everyone who was with me disappeared from the scene. I asked her "Are you really devil worshipers? You are not joking?". She answered in her soft voice "No, I am not joking". Still confused and not believing what I heard, I just mumbled a "thank you" and left the place completely rattled by what transpired in the last few minutes.

I have read about devil worshipers, and even seen them in movies. But this was the first time I encountered one in person, face to face. The experience was quite overwhelming. I went looking for my group and as I joined them, the topic of discussion was “why are people leaving the Church!”.

Sadly, many Christian churches are being listed on the real estate market even today by real estate firms all across the world for sale, many of the countries predominantly following Christian faith.

The churches may be closed or abandoned because money is very important for maintaining the structures and its facilities. When no faithful are visiting them, and with no prospect of offerings collection, it becomes a difficult proposition to continue the church functioning. 

But the important question is, where are all those Christians? Why are they leaving the Christian faith? Have they lost their faith in Christianity? Have they found and adopted some other faith? Where exactly are those lost sheep? 

Hundreds of Evangelists, pastors, and missionaries from the US and other western countries go to India, Africa and other countries, all through the year, some very famous, some less known. They go around preaching the Gospel, trying to find new converts to Christianity.

Why don't they go after the "lost sheep" in their own respective countries? Why don't they take inspiration from Jesus Christ? In the parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7), when a sheep was missing, the shepherd did not say "it is alright, I still have 99 and I can get another new one". He went looking for the one lost sheep, leaving behind the ninety nine.

However big or small a church, a cathedral or a chapel may be, it is a place of worship and praising God. And without a congregation, there cannot be worship and praising. So, the most urgent need of the hour for the churches, the evangelists, the pastors, and the missionaries is to get that missing congregation back into the churches, get the Lost Sheep back into the flock of Christ.
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