For the last few days the news has finally, and rightfully, been full of outrage and anguish at the news of the abduction of dozens of girls from a boarding school in Nigeria. Social Media has been full of pleas to #bringbackourgirls. Our own slice of the world is finally up in arms that these girls, who were trying to make the most of themselves, to be all that they could be, who were learning, growing, and living life as abundantly as they possibly could, have been stolen from their school and from their families. Most strikingly has been the publication of the list of names of those who are missing, along with pleas to speak their names, remember them in our prayers, and to cherish and care about each one of them.
From today’s gospel: “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
God calls us into that life abundant, and calls us by name, at our baptism. I understand that some of the missing girls are Muslim, while many are Christian. To be honest, I don’t think God cares by what faith they have come to know him: he knows them, each of them, by name, and loves them all.
New parents are hyper-alert to the needs of their child – a new baby can wake its parents in the middle of the night because they are programmed to believe that their child is the most the most important thing in the world. It’s not the volume of the call that matters, it’s how important we think it is, how carefully we listen for it. Whenever we call God our Father, we affirm that he is this acutely aware of the pain and distress of each of his seven billion children.
And therefore so must we be. For to be beloved of God, to be part of Jesus’ flock, is to affirm that our relationship with God is intimately bound up with the welfare of the whole flock. We are not cats in the household of God, just in a one-to-one relationship on our own terms, we are his sheep, and our relationship with God as our shepherd is inseparable from our relationship with each other. A sheep that is close to the shepherd is by definition close to the rest of the flock.
And the closer we come to our shepherd, the more we may remember about the gospel message and what it reveals about Jesus’ attitude to the lost, to the weak, to those in distress. And how in performing acts of mercy, kindness and courage, he told us to go out and do likewise.
Our calling as the body of Christ on earth has to be to continue Jesus’ work of enabling all his people to have life abundant. This is the start of Christian Aid Week, when we may be thinking of contributing something to the work of a charity which, in the name Jesus Christ, seeks to bring abundant life to those in need (of any faith or none) through the relief of poverty, through education, better healthcare, improved sanitation and so much more. This is how we start to be not only sheep in his flock, but fellow shepherds.
Our calling is to protect those most vulnerable from ‘the thieves who come to steal and harm and kill’ – and to ask our government to do this in our name when we see acts of violence and injustice being carried out against those who cannot defend themselves.
Meanwhile on the micro scale, we think again of those missing girls. Pray for them. Speak their names. See them as God sees them. Love them, even from thousands of miles away.
For your prayers, below is the list, provided by the Christian Association of Nigeria, of 180 of those still missing:
1. Deborah
2. Awa
3. Hauwa
4. Asabe
5. Mwa
6. Patiant
7. Saraya
8. Mary
9. Gloria
10. Hanatu
11. Gloria
12. Tabitha
13. Maifa
14. Ruth
15. Esther
16. Awa
17. Anthonia
18. Kume
19. Aisha
20. Nguba
21. Kwanta
22. Kummai
23. Esther
24. Hana
25. Rifkatu
26 Rebecca
27. Blessing
28. Ladi
29. Tabitha
30 Ruth
31. Safiya
32. Na’omi
33. Solomi
34. Rhoda
35. Rebecca
36. Christy
37. Rebecca
38. Laraba
39 Saratu
40. Mary
41 Debora
42. Naomi
43 Hanatu
44. Hauwa
45. Juliana
46. Suzana
47.Saraya
48. Jummai
49. Mary
50. Jummai
51. Yanke
52. Muli
53. Fatima
54. Eli
55.Saratu
56. Deborah
57. Rahila
58. Luggwa
59. Kauna
60. Lydia
61. Laraba
62. Hauwa
63. Confort
64. Hauwa
65. Hauwa
66. Yana
67. Laraba
68. Saraya
69. Glory
70. Na’omi
71. Godiya
72. Awa
73. Na’omi
74. Maryamu
75. Tabitha
76. Mary
77. Ladi
78. Rejoice
79. Luggwa
80. Comfort
81. Saraya
82. Sicker
83.Talata
84. Rejoice
85. Deborah
86. Salomi
87. Mary
88. Ruth
89. Esther
90. Esther
91. Maryamu
91. Zara
93. Maryamu
94. Lydia
95. Laraba
96. Na’omi
97. Rahila
98. Ruth
99. Ladi
100 Mary
101. Esther
102. Helen
103. Margret
104. Deborah
105. Filo
106. Febi
107. Ruth
108. Racheal
109. Rifkatu
110. Mairama
111. Saratu
112. Jinkai
113. Margret
114. Yana
115. Grace
116. Amina
117. Palmata
118. Awagana
119. Pindar
120. Yana
121. Saraya
122. Hauwa
123. Hauwa
125. Hauwa
126. Maryamu
127. Maimuna
128. Rebeca
129. Liyatu
130. Rifkatu
131. Naomi
132. Deborah
133. Ladi
134. Asabe
135. Maryamu
136. Ruth
137. Mary
138. Abigail
139. Deborah
140. Saraya
141. Kauna
142. Christiana
143. Yana
144. Hauwa
145. Hadiza
146. Lydia
147. Ruth
148. Mary
149. Lugwa
150. Muwa
151. Hanatu
152. Monica
153. Margret
154. Docas
155. Rhoda
156. Rifkatu
157. Saratu
158. Naomi
159. Hauwa
160. Rahap
162. Deborah
163. Hauwa
164. Hauwa
165. Serah
166. Aishatu
167. Aishatu
168. Hauwa
169. Hamsatu
170. Mairama
171. Hauwa
172. Ihyi
173. Hasana
174. Rakiya
175. Halima
176. Aisha
177. Kabu
178. Yayi
179. Falta
180. Kwadugu
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