Sacrament Attendance Chart - August 18, 2013

The Lord began, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.” (Luke 15:4)

Elder L. Tom Perry relates, “It is important for each of us to ponder how it feels to be lost and what it means to be a ‘spiritual’ shepard who will leave the 99 to find the one who is lost....Such shepards respond to the final injunction to be a member missionary that I want to share with you from the Doctrine and Covenants. ‘And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!’ (D&C 18:15-16).”

The third verse of the following hymn, "Dear to the Heart of the Shepard," highlights the Lord's charge to us to search for His lost sheep.

Dear to the heart of the Shepard,
Dear are the 'ninety and nine';
Dear are the sheep that have wandered,
Out in the desert to pine.
Hark! He is earnestly calling,
Tenderly pleading today;
'Will you not seek for My lost ones,
Off from My shelter astray?'

As we look at the numbers for this week's sacrament attendance, may we, as the ninety and nine, ever seek to act as the Lord's under-shepards by finding, and bringing back to the fold, His wandering sheep.