For those in my class today, quotes I referenced can be found in Lesson Part 1 - Seek Those Who are Lost and Lesson Part 2 - What Lack I Yet?
This post includes song and activity ideas to use with children at the end of the story about the lost sheep.
This week, one of our key topics in church was about finding lost sheep, based on the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son - all stories that can be found in Luke 15, about being lost, then found. Each parable is similar in that it was about something being lost and that it was of great importance to find the lost item, but the parables are different in what caused the item to be lost.
In pondering and preparing for this lesson, I came across an Australian sheep named Chris, who became famous in 2015 when some hikers noticed him and his unusually large fleece.
They notified a shelter. Chris is a variety of sheep that has been bred so that the fleece would keep growing until someone cut it, unlike wild sheep, whose fleece would naturally shed. As a result, his fleece just kept growing, which made it difficult for Chris to walk. If he had fallen over, he would not have been able to get back up. He could not run easily from predators. He had infections under his heavy fleece. He was probably miserably hot every summer.
Various sources have estimated that based on the size of his fleece, Chris had been wandering lost for five to six years. He had been in the woods by himself for so long that he was afraid of humans. When he was found, the shelter called upon a national sheep sheering champion to shave him. While normally it would take this champion about two minutes to sheer a sheep, he had to have help, and then, it still took over 45 minutes. The sheep had to be sedated to be sheered because they were worried that he would be too scared and confused, and probably because of how long it would take to sheer him. By the time they were done, they had sheered about 88 pounds of wool off the sheep - eight times more than the average merino sheep.
Once he was shaved, the shelter found a new home for him. He was still scared of humans when he arrived at his new home. His new owners at Little Oaks Sanctuary said, "When we first took him to the farm he was really shy but he is now really cheeky. He is more brave around people and no longer struggling to sit down."
One fun way to discuss lost sheep with children is to print and cut out a bunch of sheep. On the back, write facts about Chris the Lost Sheep or a Song from the above list. As children take turns turning the sheep over, they will learn more about Chris the Lost Sheep and/or sing a song!
Recommended quotes related to lost sheep on a separate blog post here:
https://singingmagic.blogspot.com/2019/05/seek-those-who-are-lost-and-rejoice.html
Sources for Chris the Sheep story:
This post includes song and activity ideas to use with children at the end of the story about the lost sheep.
This week, one of our key topics in church was about finding lost sheep, based on the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son - all stories that can be found in Luke 15, about being lost, then found. Each parable is similar in that it was about something being lost and that it was of great importance to find the lost item, but the parables are different in what caused the item to be lost.
In pondering and preparing for this lesson, I came across an Australian sheep named Chris, who became famous in 2015 when some hikers noticed him and his unusually large fleece.
They notified a shelter. Chris is a variety of sheep that has been bred so that the fleece would keep growing until someone cut it, unlike wild sheep, whose fleece would naturally shed. As a result, his fleece just kept growing, which made it difficult for Chris to walk. If he had fallen over, he would not have been able to get back up. He could not run easily from predators. He had infections under his heavy fleece. He was probably miserably hot every summer.
Various sources have estimated that based on the size of his fleece, Chris had been wandering lost for five to six years. He had been in the woods by himself for so long that he was afraid of humans. When he was found, the shelter called upon a national sheep sheering champion to shave him. While normally it would take this champion about two minutes to sheer a sheep, he had to have help, and then, it still took over 45 minutes. The sheep had to be sedated to be sheered because they were worried that he would be too scared and confused, and probably because of how long it would take to sheer him. By the time they were done, they had sheered about 88 pounds of wool off the sheep - eight times more than the average merino sheep.
Photo credit: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34135805
What do we learn from this story?
1. We are resilient. We can come back from
our dark places, and all the weight we bear on us, if someone will give us the warm and helping hand that we may not even realize that we desperately need.
2. Every year in the wilderness our burdens
and need for help increases. The lost sheep may not realize they are even lost at first and their burden grows so slowly that they don't notice at first, until suddenly, their weight is so great that if they were to fall over, they would not be able to get back up.
3. We need to be gentle and loving with bringing sheep back into the fold. It took the sheep a while to learn that
there were people that cared about it, and that he could trust people, but once he did, he was happy.
Recommended songs to go with this story and the concept of lost sheep:
One fun way to discuss lost sheep with children is to print and cut out a bunch of sheep. On the back, write facts about Chris the Lost Sheep or a Song from the above list. As children take turns turning the sheep over, they will learn more about Chris the Lost Sheep and/or sing a song!
Recommended quotes related to lost sheep on a separate blog post here:
https://singingmagic.blogspot.com/2019/05/seek-those-who-are-lost-and-rejoice.html
Sources for Chris the Sheep story:
Overgrown Australian sheep Chris 'breaks world record'
3 September 2015
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34135805
Hikers Saw That This Neglected Sheep Could Barely Stand, So a Shelter Begged for Experts to Save Him (Video)
Hikers Saw That This Neglected Sheep Could Barely Stand, So a Shelter Begged for Experts to Save Him (Video)
World Record Sheep Fleece
No comments:
Post a Comment