SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good evening, little lambs. Tonight's story is called Shoulder to Shoulder, inspired by the Gospel of Luke twelve fifty four fifty nine. There is a kind of strength that only shows up once you stop trying to be strong all by yourself. Tonight, the Bible reminds us that we belong to one big family with one Father who loves every one of us, and that a family like that works best when everyone is patient, gentle, and willing to wait for each other, even for the smallest one among them. So tonight we're back on Shepherd's Hill, where one enormous stone is about to teach the whole flock something that not a single lamb could have learned alone. Every evening before full dark, a flat gray stone the size of a cartwheel had to be rolled into the gap in the sheepfold's low stone wall. It was the very last job of the day, and it mattered more than almost any other, because without it the fold stayed open all night, and the cold wind, and whatever else might be moving out there in the dark, could walk right in. Tonight the clouds over Shepherd's Hill hung thick and low, and the evening was closing in early. Boulder got there first. He was the biggest lamb on the whole hill, built like a young ram already, with wool the color of wet river rock, and there was nothing he liked better than showing exactly how strong he was. Stand back, he said, lowering his head against the stone. I don't need anybody for this one. He pushed until his legs shook. The stone did not move, not even a hair's width. Three more lambs tried next, shoving from three different sides at once, each one shouting a different direction. The stone rocked and groaned and went nowhere at all. Off by the gatepost, half in shadow, stood Matt, a small, dark fleeced lamb who mostly watched instead of joining in. He was the kind of lamb that got left off the count when teams were being picked. Watching Boulder's shoulders strain against a stone twenty times his own size, Matt didn't even think about stepping forward. What difference could one more small lamb possibly make against something that big? Jesus had been mending a fence post nearby, and he came over now, brushing the dust from his hands. He looked at the stone and the clouds and the tired lambs, and then he looked at Matt. Everyone take a place along the stone, he said. All of you, Matt too. Matt shook his head. I'm too little, he said. I'll only be in the way. Jesus crouched down until his eyes were level with Matt's. I didn't ask the others to come because they're big, he said. I asked every single lamb here because there isn't one of you I don't need. So Jesus set them all around the stone. Boulder at the center, two lambs along the sides, and Matt down low at the near corner, where the ground dipped a little under the stone's edge. On three, Jesus said, altogether. Nobody goes early. They pushed, but Boulder went half a breath ahead of everyone else, same as always, and the stone barely shifted before settling right back where it started. Again, Jesus said, this time wait for the three. Boulder waited. Everyone pushed together on the very same count, shoulder pressed to shoulder, and the great stone groaned, tipped, and rolled, slow and steady, straight into the gap in the wall. The flock cheered. Boulder shook out his wool, pleased with himself. See, I knew we could he glanced down and noticed Matt, still catching his breath at the corner. Oh, thanks for coming, I suppose, though I'd bet it would have gone in just the same without you. You're awfully small to make much difference against a stone that size. One of the lambs who'd been pushing from the side spoke up. Actually, it kept catching right there, on a root under that corner. That's why it never worked before tonight. Somebody had to get down low enough to lift the edge over the bump, and the rest of us are too big to even see under there. Matt blinked. He hadn't thought of it as anything special. He'd only done the one thing he could reach. Boulder looked at the corner, then at Matt, and for once he didn't have a quick answer ready. Jesus smiled and said the thing he wanted every lamb on that hill to carry home with them. We are one family, one father loves us all. Every lamb here has a job that only that lamb can do. That is why we wait for each other. That is why we are patient and gentle, even when someone is small or slow or new to the flock. Nobody here is extra, and nobody here is too small to matter. Matt looked down at his own small hooves, the ones he had always figured were too small for any real work, and for the first time he wondered if they might be exactly the right size for something. Boulder, who had wanted to roll the whole stone by himself, found he didn't mind one bit that it had taken every lamb on the hill. By the time they all turned toward supper, he was walking right alongside Matt. And that is what Jesus was showing the flock on Shepherd's Hill tonight. We belong to one big family, and every single one of us, even the quietest, even the smallest, has a part to play that no one else can play. When we are patient with each other and make room for each other, we can do things together that none of us could ever have done alone. Dear Jesus, thank you for making me part of your big family. Help me be patient and gentle with the people around me, and help me remember that even on days when I feel very small, I still have a job that is just mine to do. Keep me close to everyone you love. Amen. Good night, little lamb. God loves you so much. Sweet dreams.