I used to work summers at a camp that had a working farm. We raised goats, cattle, chickens, pigs, and yes, sheep. I loved barn chores, milking the docile cows, fighting with the ornery goats who tried to kick over the milk bucket, often successfully, and taking my life in my hands by bringing the pig its bucket of slop. Inevitably the pig would hear the slop and charge the bucket and the person holding it. Then there were the sheep. I thought sheep were, well, boring. All you had to do was change their water. Feeding them was simple. Put them in a pasture. Done. They spent the entirety of their days eating or sleeping. But, one night a counselor ran into the lodge shouting, “The sheep escaped!” We ran down the road and started herding them back in. The thing was they never run in the direction you want them to. So in a moment of inspiration, I started barking. Ruff! Between barks, another counselor asked, “WHAT are you doing?” I answered “Sheep dog.” The sheep moved from me and towards the pasture until they were all back safely inside the fence. Sheep are actually quite intelligent- they stay together in close-knit groups where they feel they belong. Too often as people, we drive out sheep from our groups, making them feel isolated and alone. I interpret the Gospel’s message as a charge for us to keep all people in the fold, safe and with a sense of belonging.
Justin Aaberg was just fifteen when he killed himself in the summer of 2010. He came out as gay at thirteen and endured years of bullying at the hands of his classmates in a suburbanMinnesotahigh school. Justin hanged himself in his bedroom; his mother found his body.
To our south, aPrincetongraduate student that my husband Nick knew, a funny, intelligent guy with a bright future ahead of him hanged himself last year. In his suicide note, he wrote that he had struggled for years with his sexuality, increasing his sense of isolation. To our north aRutgersUniversityfreshman jumped off theGeorgeWashingtonBridgeafter his roommate discovered he was gay and maliciously spread the news.
In the school where I taught inTrenton, a fifth grade girl is mockingly called “Rainbow” by her classmates. She acts out and is angry all the time. What will become of her?
I grew up in a Quaker family. I was taught, and still believe that the light of God is in everyone. Not just the people we like, or look like us, or agree with… everyone. Every single time a person kills him or herself, not believing that people will accept who they love, or thinking that the endless assault of bullying will never end, a light is extinguished. My sister is gay and thankfully she did not have to endure what Justin did in high school. But when she worked in a rural school she could never tell her students about her wife. She would have gotten fired, or worse.
When Nick told me about the It Gets Better Project, I was immediately excited. It is a collection of videos submitted online, with a simple message to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth: It Gets Better. It started in response to a rash of teen suicides by gay, lesbian, and questioning youth last fall. For those who are being bullied or who don’t believe it will get better, the message is that there is hope. There thousands of videos on the site, including one from President Obama, telling teens to hold on, everyone has future full of joy, love, and opportunity, but you don’t get to see it if you’re dead.
So I took the pledge to spread the message, speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, and to provide hope. In November 2012 voters inMinnesota, my new home state, will have the the power to decide on constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. What message does it send to the Justins out there that people do not see a place for them in society? It’s not one of hope. Marriage equity is not an abstract moral question, it is also question of life and death for young people desperate to feel accepted for who they are and that there is a place for them now and in the future. So how do I feed more sheep? So I feed more sheep by speaking up against this amendment and for marriage equity, I feed more sheep by working to eradicate all kinds of bullying I hear as a teacher and support kids who feel isolated, and I feed more sheep by responding any time I hear someone speaking against the light of God in another person. Because the mission of our church asks that we help keep all of God’s sheep safe and part of our fold.
July 17, 2026
