One of the most hopeful passages in scripture is found in our gospel for today: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” We don’t know who those other sheep may be, where they are, what they look like. We believe, however, that it means we who are not in the Jewish fold of those first disciples can be followers of Jesus—even though in the early days of Christianity that was in question. The important point is that the Good Shepherd knows who the other sheep are and where to find them, to bring us all together into the fold of God’s love.

When I was a child, I thought that “one flock” meant we would all go to the same church, that God would somehow smooth the way for all Christians to come together in harmony, surrendering all our tenets of exclusivity. While even that limited view of one flock doesn’t seem remotely possible in our day and age, my understanding of God’s flock today is far more expansive yet. Considering the implications of Jesus’ statement: “In my Father’s house are many dwelling places (mansions, KJV)” (Jn.14:2a), and overlooking all the jokes about folks in one mansion thinking they are the only ones there, I imagine room enough for all of God’s children in God’s house of love, for all the other sheep in God’s flock that we don’t know or recognize, from wherever they may come. I expect the proverbial black sheep to be included in the flock along with the lost sheep from Jesus’ parable (Lk.15:3-7). In A Monk in the World Wayne Teasdale says, “One definition of true community [doesn’t true community sound a lot like God’s flock?] is that it includes individuals who are difficult or even abhorrent,” so I suspect God’s flock will have plenty of those as well.

Since God sustains all creation, the entire cosmos, in divine love, I wouldn’t even limit God’s flock to Earth. What about you; how do you picture the flock of the Good Shepherd?