Good Shepherd - sermon

John 10:11

“No One Left Behind”

Are you a leader or a follower?  It seems, in this world today, we want to raise our children to be leaders.  We want our children to get a good education, so we will have leaders for tomorrow.  I was raised to be a leader, starting back in elementary school with student government and then as captain of my soccer team.  The world needs strong leaders.  We need leaders in math and science.  We need our country to be the leader of the world, economically, socially, politically. 

 But over time, I learned, that some are leaders and some are followers.  Not everyone wants to be the leader, not everyone feels able to be the leader.  I use to really dislike having to do group assignments in school because not everyone would pitch in.  Just a few would end up doing the work and the rest just hung out, not doing much of anything but still getting credit.

Are you a leader or a follower? Sometimes it just depends on the setting.  I might be a strong leader in my school’s PTA but maybe not willing to be as involved as a leader for a sports team.  Don’t ask me to chair that committee but I am happy to serve on it.  Right, we all have strengths in different places and can shine as leaders in one setting and sit back comfortably and just follow in other settings. 

And then there is the question – are you a leader if no one is following?  This is sometimes called being a lone wolf, out there on your own. And then there are the lost, needing someone or something to follow and grabbing onto anything, anyone so that they will be able to find their way. 

What do people look for in leaders?  We don’t want dictators or tyrants or people that won’t’ follow through.  We seek leaders that help guide, that have clear visions, and that have skills and abilities for the tasks ahead.  

As Jesus speaks of himself as the good shepherd, he is identifying himself as a leader.  He is the one that has the skills and abilities to take care of the sheep.  It is his vocation, it is his responsibility, his desire to be in charge of the sheep.  He is the one willing to be present even in times of danger in order to lead the sheep.  He shares that others, the hired hands, will run away but not him.  He is willing to stand in the face of whatever comes before his flock, he will not run, he will not abandon, he will not desert those that he is called to lead.    

As he compares himself to the hired hand, he states that the hired hand does not really care for the sheep.  The hired hand puts his own interest, his own safety ahead of those that he has been called to care for.  In the face of danger, the hired hand will run and the sheep will be scattered.  But that is not what the Good Shepherd will do. 

As he emphasizes his care for the sheep, he states:  I know my own and they know me.  The shepherd is not just looking over the sheep, but knows them, has a connection with them, is in relationship with them.  And the sheep know the shepherd.  This is not a one direction relationship, but together, the shepherd and the flock are connected to each other.

As Jesus begins this teaching, he shares that he will lay down his life for his sheep.  In a sense, it seems like he will abandon them.  What good to the sheep is a dead shepherd?  This teaching seems more like a Lenten reading than an Eastertide, resurrection story.  But now that we are in the season of the resurrection - Is it possible that this is a story connected to the resurrection because the good shepherd has laid down his life for his sheep and even in death does not abandon them? 

Once the shepherd is gone, the sheep are left to fend for themselves.  They are vulnerable, susceptible to the dangers all around.  But not these sheep.  These sheep are not abandoned.  Even though the teaching does not explicitly state: I will lay down my life for them and will return to them and continue to speak my voice to them, the resurrection stories of John do say:  – the Good Shepherd does know his sheep and even though the worst of the world has taken hold of him, his sheep are too important to him.  In the power of God’s love, in the power of the Easter story, in the power of the resurrection, the good shepherd comes back to his sheep and continues to pour God’s love into them.   

This very day, the Good Shepherd continues to know his own and his own know him.  This very day, the love of God is showering this world in various ways and people are responding to that love through worship, through praise, through prayer, through fellowship, and through compassion for others.  This very day, our Triune God, our creator, redeeming, sustainer, is present with us in our stress, our anxiety, our grief, our joy, our gratitude, our praise and thanksgiving. 

This very day, God calls us into this relationship, this way of living where we are connected to our creator, where we listen to how our Shepherd is leading us.  We talked a little about this, this past week during the Bible Study conversation group, listening.  Listening to God, listening to each other.  Sometimes we listen but we don’t always hear.  Opening ourselves up to listen to God is a challenging thing in today’s world.  It seems, even in our own denomination, people are hearing God saying completely different things on controversial issues.  Some are saying – God is calling us this way, and others are saying – no God is calling us this way.  In our inability to listen, listen to God and listen to each other, congregations have chosen to leave our denomination. 

So, how do we listen?  How do we know we are truly connected to our Shepherd, that just as God knows us, we too know God?  We start, by finding intentional ways to listen.  We listen on our own, but we also listen as a group.  We pray, we read scripture, and we share what is on our hearts.  The faith time line set up in the fellowship hall is one way to listen.  As God’s sheep, people have felt connected to our loving creator through retreats, through church leadership, and through friendships.  As God has connected to us in various ways, God will continue to connect with us.  But we do need to listen to how God has already worked in our own lives.  Sometimes, in the practice of listening to our own lives, new insights open up to us.  We remember things in our past where God has been at work that we had completely forgotten, or we see, only in looking back, that God’s hand truly was present with us. 

I started this sermon off by asking: are you a leader of a follower?  With the metaphor of the Good Shepherd, Jesus depicts some strong leadership skills of one that will do anything for those that follow.  For those of us raised to be leaders, sometimes it is hard to acknowledge that we need to follow, that we aren’t always the one in control, that even in our leadership, we too need a spiritual guide.  Allow the leadership of the Good Shepherd to infuse your life, accept God’s love which is greater than anything this world can give, and celebrate that God’s story is one where no matter what life brings, the Shepherd returns to the sheep, never abandoning them, and continually gathering them for God’s purpose in this world. 

Earth Day - Sermon

“Until All are Fed”

Have you ever had really big dreams?  Have you ever imagined really making a significant change in the world?  When I was in the eighth grade, I remember sitting in the school cafeteria with a few of my good friends and talking about some of the world’s problems, most significantly world hunger.  There is nothing like seeing pictures of malnourished children to tug at your heart strings.  So, we sat there, all of thirteen or fourteen years of age, trying to solve the problem of world hunger.  I decided that I was going to join the Peace Corps.  I would go to Africa and figure out a way to help feed the people.  I held onto that dream of joining the Peace Corps all the way through college, when someone suggested that maybe I should look into VISTA, the domestic Peace Corps.  Sure, I could go to another country, but we have plenty of problems and issues right here in our own back yard. 

So, instead of journeying to Africa, I was sent to Bradenton, FL.  And instead of solving the world’s food shortage and the issue of hunger, I was assigned to teach English as a Second Language to Migrant Farmworkers.  God sent me in a whole new direction, and although I was not working directly with the world food crisis, I was exposed to American Farming in a whole new way. 

I am only one generation removed from a farming family.  My mother grew up on a farm and my aunt and uncle still live on the family farm in Iowa.  I spent many a weeks in the summer playing with my cousins on the farm, learning about planting and harvesting, rotating the fields, the dangers of flooding versus droughts, and the cycle of life and death.  I can no longer snap beans then to be brought back to my aunts living room, sitting on sofa with my cousin, snapping bucket upon buckets of beans getting them ready for her to can.  When the whole Y2K thing happened, I said, what better place to be than the farm.  We have enough canned food down in the cellar to get is through whatever technological disaster they are predicting. 

The large corporate farms in Florida introduced me to irrigation systems and planes that flew overhead with pesticides.  I saw how migrant families worked long hours and were paid by the pound of what they picked.  I visited their homes in the migrant camps and saw that this was not how people helping to put food on my table should be living.   I’ve seen how farming and transporting food has a deep and negative impact on our environment. 

Food, from small farms to vast corporate entities, we buy it, we consume it, our very lives depend on it.  And I have learned, there truly is an abundance of food.  Once, when I was in the eighth grade, I had a very grand dream of being a part of ending world hunger.  Over the decades, I have learned that I am not alone in this dream and that there are numerous organizations and agencies out there doing their part to feed the world such as Heifer International, Save the Children, Unicef, and the Presbyterian Hunger Program, not to mentioned the countless soup kitchens and food banks scattered all over our country and the world.

This year, the Earth Day theme suggested by our denomination is:  Sustainable food.  Although the New Jersey farming season is rather short, we are blessed to live in an area that has farms not too far away.  My mouth just waters thinking about New Jersey corn in the summer.  And our local farms are doing their part to help us get in the habit of buying local through the numerous Farmers Markets that are located in our county.   

My grand dreams from the eighth grade are still with me, but I am much more committed to being involved with local agencies that are bringing food to the hungry, such as the Community Food bank, America’s Grow a row, and Faith Kitchen.  When I read the statistics that 40% of our food is actually thrown away, I know we can do better.  There are ways to mobilize resources to prevent food from being thrown out and to get it on the tables of people that need it. 

 A few years ago, I came across this song:  Until All Are Fed and it just really struck me.  I listen to it every so often as a prayer.  One of the versus is this: 

On the green, green grass they gathered long ago. To hear what the Master said. What they had they shared - some fishes and some loaves. And they served until all were fed.

Until all are fed we cry out. Until all on earth have bread. Like the One who loves us each & every one... We serve until all are fed.

It was there, on the green grass or on the rocky soil, or on the beach, that Jesus is teaching and his disciples are concerned that there are just too many people to feed and that the cost will just be too much for them to try and buy food for all the people that have gathered.  Jesus tells them to take what they have, which does not hardly seem to be enough, a few loaves of bread and fish, and what was once scarcity becomes abundance.  Until all are fed. 

Famine and scarcity to abundance, in our faith stories, God works through the fears that there is not going to be enough and brings abundance.  Pharaoh was greatly disturbed by his dreams, all is well during the good times, the times when the fields produce enough to go around, but what happens in times of scarcity?   When people don’t have food, the social systems that order life will break down.  Pharaoh’s very empire could be destroyed if there are seven years of no food.  Fear drives this story and rightly so.  But because God has shared that there will first be years of abundance before the famine, Joseph becomes the ears to hear God’s presence and mobilizes the empire to store food for the time of need. 

On the green, green grass they gathered long ago, they shared some fish and some loaves and they served until all were fed.  This time, they did not have the barns filled with stored grain, they only had a few loaves and a couple of fish, and yet, they served until all were fed.  Scarcity to abundance, echoes throughout our scriptures and continues into our world today.  How are we doing to feed the people of the world today?  We serve until all are fed.  We serve learning new ways to mobilize resources, such as modern day gleaning where we partner with grocery stores and convenience stores to repurpose food that would have been thrown out.  And yes, this is an incredible gift to our planet earth as well.  By seeking ways to keep that 40% of food out of landfills, all of the energy that was used to produce that food goes to its proper purpose, feeding people. 

Our God of creation has put natural systems into order that allow this precious planet that we live on produce an abundance of food so that all can be fed.  We, as a part of God’s creation, tend to get in the way.  In our own small way, we can seek to be less wasteful, we can buy local when the food is available, and we can begin to educate ourselves more on food and its impact on the environment.

Our denomination has a program called:  Presbytery Hunger program and it  is committed to the belief that life should be lived simply so that all can simply live. The everyday choices we make in our individual and family lives is a very personal matter, but they also have global implications. Understanding what causes hunger in the world is central to finding solutions. PHP encourages families, individuals, and church groups to evaluate their own needs and develop new ways of  caring and sharing of the world's resources in obedience to the gospel.

From this is a program called:  Earth Care Congregations – in which congregations seek to grow in their stewardship of God’s creation.  There is an inventory quiz to see how well your congregation is doing, and resources to guide a congregation into becoming more Green or better stewards of God’s creation.  If anyone is interested in this, I was thinking over the summer, we could have some conversation groups on Earth Care and how we can grow as a congregation in sustainable living. 

 

2nd Sunday of Easter - sermon

John 20:19

Breath of God

            Today we begin with the creation story of God creating Adam.  As God creates, it is not until God breathes into Adam that there is life.  God’s breath into humanity, into us, into this world to bring life.  This is a rather intimate way of remembering who we are in relationship to our Creating God.  Our life force, our very being exists because God has breathed life into us. 

            Breathing is one of those things that I don’t pay much attention to until I am out of breath.  Athletes and Musicians must pay attention to their breathing as they practice and train.  If you do yoga, the practice reminds you to breath and to feel your breath.  Breathe in, breathe in deep, and then breathe out.  The world all around us is breathing:  The trees, the birds, the squirrels, and each of us. 

            As we get busy in our lives, it is easy for us to forget that we are so connected to God, that all of creation is so connected to God.  Can our very breathing be a spiritual practice?  Can we find time in our daily living to just stop and focus on our breathing, saying a short prayer of gratitude to God for these created bodies in which we dwell?  As you find time to breathe in, remember where your breath goes, as it enters into your lungs and then from there is gathered up by your blood and brought to every last cell in your body in order that each part of your being receives the oxygen that it needs to live.  Your breath, finding its way to the tips of your toes. 

            Our God uses breath to bring forth creation, and our God uses breath to bring forth the new creation of God’s people in the resurrected Christ.  The Easter story is not over.  Easter is not just about God defeating death and overcoming the powers of sin in this world.  Easter is about engaging God believe that in the power of the resurrection, we are a new creation.  We are an Easter People. 

            As those disciples gathered together, full of fear, they were in a room and they had locked the door.  They had no idea what their future held.  They had just witnessed the death of their beloved friend, teacher, and leader.  What was going to happen to them? 

            Years ago, a church member gave me a Jade plant, they were downsizing and could not take this rather large plant with them.  Well, I rather quickly destroyed this plant, but instead of just throwing the whole thing away, I took cuttings off of it, and replanted the parts I thought would continue to grow.  That was over ten years ago, and I still have cuttings from this Jade plant.  A few weeks ago, my girls were playing together, and seemed a bit too quiet, so I went to see what they were up to – and they had stripped on of the Jade plants of all of its leaves, just leaving this bare stalk. 

            Symbolically, that is how I envision these disciples in that locked room.  They were stripped of everything, stripped of their hope, of their faith, of their expectations and assumptions.  All they had left were each other.  They had lost everything.  Everything that they had put aside for the past three years, their families, their livelihoods, all for nothing.  As they gathered in fear in that locked room, there must have been some deep grief and loss going on as well.   

There is just something so real about our scriptures.  The story of who we are, it tells it like it is.  We are a people that don’t always get it.  We are people that, when afraid, we gravitate towards those that help us feel safe.  We lock the doors to keep others out, whether it is the doors of our houses, our churches, or even our hearts.  We know how to protect ourselves.  And our God never gives up on us.  Jesus does not say, oh I wasted the past three years with these people.  Jesus meets them in their fear, he appears to them, entering into the locked room, and breathes upon them.  Sacred breath, sacred creation, sacred living.  No matter who we are, no matter what our past or what our present, God desires to encounter us in our locked places of our lives and breathe the life giving force of creation. 

I didn’t throw those stalks of my Jade plant away.  I decided I would continue to water it and see, if just by some chance, it would continue to grow.  And it is.  For a plant that I thought I had killed ten years ago, it continues to amaze me as cutting after cutting continue to grow. 

God’s people are the same, we continue on, we continue from a long faith history, we continue hearing the story and sharing the story.  And sometimes, hopefully more often than naught, we encounter the risen Christ in our lives and are refreshed with God’s living breath reminding us that we are indeed a part of God’s new Creation. 

As Jesus breathes into his beloved friends, he does not allow them to stay in the locked room.  He calls them to go forth.  They have a role to play in God’s plan.  They have a role to play in continuing God’s story.  They have a role to play in sharing the message that God has overcome the oppressive powers of the world.  This is a daunting role, and they do not go out alone, but they go out with the breath of God within them. 

Maundy Thursday

I had no idea there was a whole world of Historical re-enactments that goes on.  Over the past few years, I have met more and more people that participate in Civil War re-enactments.  I even have a pastor friend that was asked to do a Renaissance wedding, with the Knight in armor and his fair maiden, complete with noble stead.  The more people I met, connected with some sort of re-enactment group, the more I realized this was greater than just Historical Williamsburg.  Just a quick google search will show you that there are Historical Re-enactment groups for Vikings, for Ancient Rome, and for the Scottish Highlands. 

            When I ask people why they are involved in such groups, there are a variety of responses such as: I find it interested, it is fun, this is a part of history that fascinates me, I want to connect to my history and my heritage in a meaningful way. 

            Tonight, is, shall we say, a historical re-enactment.  This night, this gathering, this Holy feast takes us back to the life of Jesus as he gathers in the upper room with his disciples.  Just as we do a historical re-enactment of that meal, they too were doing a historical re-enactment of a Holy Meal – the Passover feast, remembering their own history, their own heritage of a God that liberated their people and brought them out of Egypt. 

            Why do we, as people, engage in re-enactments?  And why these stories?  Why is it so important to remember something through our actual participation?  Our scriptures are filled with lots of stories, lots of events.  God is continually connecting to God’s people, creating covenants, extending love, but we choose just a few, just a handful to re-enact.  And through these – hands on – experiences, through bringing our scriptural stories out of the past and into the present, we are given a deep spiritual connection to our ancestors, to our heritage, to our connectedness in God’s work in this world. 

            Part of why we re-enact these particular stories is because God calls us to remember.  As the Passover occurred, God marked this moment in the people’s history as a Holy meal, a time of remembrance, to remember always.  The people are told to tell their children, and their children’s children what God has done, how God heard their suffering in Egypt and brought them to freedom and wholeness.  It is a story to tell the next generation to remind them to be compassionate about others, once you were slaves, once you were aliens in the land, now you are free, now you are God’s holy people. 

            Although the Exodus from Egypt comes at a horrible cost, the Hebrew people are now free to leave their oppression. 

            As Jesus participates in this spiritual memory, it is still a significant practice for him and his disciples to remember that they are God’s people.  That God works to liberate people from oppression and calls God’s people to be compassionate care givers to others. 

            And Jesus brings this into their present day situation as he humbles himself and washes their feet.  He shows love and compassion to them.  He breaks bread with them, participating in this Holy feast together and then he gives them a new commandment:  To love each other as he has loved them.  He has loved each disciple as well as the mass crowds who gathered around him.  He heard their suffering and lifted them out of their oppression as he loved the leper, the sinner, the tax colletector, and the outcaste.  He loved them all.

            In all of this, he proclaims, by this – everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.  Discipleship.  They have already been his disciples, but now they are being prepared for a new stage, a time of public witness, a time of living out everything they have learned and seen and participated in as they followed Jesus.  What  a task, to let the world know they are his disciples. 

            This calling to discipleship is ever bit as important to us today as it was on that night of the last Supper.  We remember this meal, we re-enact this meal, we seek to embrace the new covenant n our lives, and we must then take it out into the world.  We cannot be afraid to let everyone know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ, as we proclaim God’s love for each and every person. 

            But discipleship takes work, and we need ot be comfortable in our beliefs, we need to be able to name our spiritual gifts and our spiritual calling, and we need to understand what our Holy passion is for this world.  Jesus spent time preparing his diciples and they still struggled but he did not give up on them and continued to teach and model and exemplified God’s love for this world.

            Passover, a Holy Feast of God’s liberation to a people once suffering under great oppression.  Communion, the continued story of God’s love as God continues to shine the light of love into the world’s darkest places.  And now it is our calling as disciples to bring forth that Holy story, not just re-enact it, but live it out as we share God’s love that knows no boundaries, but is extended to all.  Amen.