cast him out, treating him like a pagan and a tax collector. In other words, our relationship to the departing sheep essentially changes. Excommunicating someone who has stopped attending is, in effect, giving them what they’ve asked for. It’s letting go of the rope they’re trying to pull out of our hands. It’s not forcing them to remain bound when they don’t want to be. At the same time, it’s also refusing to let them force us to declare them a “Christian in good standing” when, in good conscience,