Now the first part of this text is Jesus moving out of metaphor. He tells us not to despise the little ones, but instead remember that the children, the slow, the crippled, the frail are of great worth for Christ, and they may have more advocates in heaven than us adults. For most of us can tell an illustration from plain teaching.

On the sheep, can I refer you to the story SSM tells?

In the story, there were a group of sheep in a sheepfold in a barnyard. They were owned by a farmer who was kind to them, who saw to their every need and many of their wants. Their only job was to grow wool and produce lambs for the farmer, so they had a lot of free time to do as they pleased and were happy, contented little ewes.

One day, a wolf sidled up to the sheep pen and started whispering to some of the sheep. He told them their life looked dull. He told them how much more fun it was outside the sheepfold. He told them that he had a wonderful time being free and that it was such a shame that the poor ewes had to obey the farmer and grow wool for him. How terribly unfair that he gets their wool for free! The wolf said he would never make the sheep do anything like that for him if they were ever to come out and play with him.

The sheep were timid at first, but a few started to listen. They looked at the wide world outside the pen, and it looked enticing – all that freedom! And the sheep started to whisper about the farmer, that he was using them unfairly and not letting them have any fun. They decided they would be much happier if they escaped from the farmer altogether and went to play with the wolf.

And then one day, the farmer didn’t latch the barnyard gate securely. The wolf pointed that out to the sheep; he himself did not open the gate but only mentioned it slyly so as not to put the ewes on guard. When the ewes saw that the gate was ajar, they shrank back a little at first. But then one particularly brazen little sheep wiggled her fluffy self through it, and out into the wide world she went. Once she had escaped, the others began to follow the naughty sheep out, a few at a time.

As the story continued, I described how the ewes had fun at first frolicking with the wolf, but then when it was dinner time, there was nothing to eat because they had always relied on the farmer for this, and the wolf suddenly was nowhere to be found. And then it grew dark and they were afraid and had no barn for shelter. And then finally, the wolf returned, only this time he brought more wolves with him…

After awhile, a few of the surviving sheep in my story stumbled back to the barnyard only to find that the farmer has closed and locked the gate to keep the few sheep who had remained in the barnyard safe. They could no longer get back in and they were sorry they had ever listened to that deceiving wolf and left the peaceful safety of the fold and the farmer’s protection.

But the next part of the text will require a little more discussion, for it relates to an issue that any Christian has to deal with in the blogsphere. You make friends. You post. Because you post, you err. And there has to be a way of dealing with this. And then, by extension, can the church be virtual — a series of comboxen, and you never meet anyone?

Matthew 18:10-20

¹⁰“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. ¹²What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. ¹⁴So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

¹⁵“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. ¹⁶But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. ¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Christ says that where two or three are, there is the church. In the meeting of each other is the church. The couple in the photo may be the church. The structure of the church is that we meet in families, and then together as groups of families with elders or presbyters or bishops over us (I think the words are interchangeable — presbyteros in Gk which meant older [man], but that is another debate). But it is a human interaction: it is not a matter of sitting and reading, or watching the service on TV.

Which takes me back to a couple of weeks ago. One of the women in my church (yes, we have female elders, and yes, I disagree) is being taught to deliver communion and being licensed by the church for this. Because we need someone to go to the many old people’s homes and to the people who cannot leave their homes and minister to them, and that needs to include worship and the table. For when two or three are gathered together.

So I’m going to invoke the rule of Valentian: if the practice has been done in all churches in all places and in all times it is probably legitimate — and that church requires that we meet. Physically.

This is why I sat in the back of both a Coptic service and a catholic one on the Sunday I was in Vienna (the Coptic was weird, and I have but three words in German). Because I disagree with the Romans (and more with the Copts) on theology, but it is important that one meets. And, no, I did not partake: I respect the rules of each kirk even if they are not the rules I would advocate.

But back to cyberspace. there are a few things I think we can do.

1. Be part of a Kirk. Or Church. The Internet is no substitute, and there is no perfect church. There will be people in the church who will irritate you. My practice has been to find the nearest Protestant church, preferably reformed,  that preaches the word faithfully, and choose to hold my nose on certain issues.
2. Have a combox. That means, allow comments: you can use plug-ins that put everyone into moderation unless whitelisted (which is what I do) but it allows people to correct you
3. Email rocks: Facebook does not. Facebook is too public — and I do have a facebook profile. (and Google Plus)  but they are semi public — and in both cases I have non universal access (i.e. friends and family) so we can share photos of kids and other civilians. You can correct by email — and if there is a serious issue, email is probably the place to go.
4. Pray for us in the sewer. The Internet is not a place for the faint hearted. There is a lot of spite, a lot of venom. Those who try to provide teaching for others find opposition. This has led to a series of good blogs going under. And the internet is a place of temptation: not all the products are safe, even from reputable companies.

The Internet is not the Kirk. Instead, it is the mission field for this century, where the most hostile and difficult population is the post-Christian West.