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I
had a conversation a couple of weeks ago with a colleague of mine about the
challenge of this sermon today. The sermon was a challenge for several
reasons.
First of all, as one of your Associate Pastors, I only preach occasionally.
So, if I bomb, I have less of an opportunity to redeem myself. Also, when
you don’t preach very often, there it the temptation to include too much in
sermon. And we have to resist that.
Secondly, the texts that we have heard today are very familiar texts: the
23rd Psalm
and the text from
John
about the Good Shepherd. And when you sit down and start to prepare a sermon
on these texts, you have to wonder, “Is there anything that I can really
say… do I really have anything left to contribute that people haven’t
already heard about these two wonderful texts?”
And then layered on top of that, I have been thinking about our Easter
Living theme; and the meaning of membership and the convergence of my main
areas of responsibilities which are member care and outreach. I find myself
asking a couple of questions:
Am I, and my fellow pastors, and the officers of this church, being
faithful to our membership vows and ordination vows?
Are we, the members of Northminster Presbyterian Church, being faithful
to our membership vows?
All of this was rolling around in my head when I had that conversation with
my colleague. I didn’t know then what the days ahead would hold.
Of course, there was the regular stuff of life and work; getting up… going
to work… taking care of the house. All the things that you do day-in and
day-out. And then each one of us has the peculiarities of life that may be
going on. For me right now, its looking forward, I think, to my daughter’s
graduation from high school and all the stuff that goes with that. And then
there is the stuff of my job. The stuff that causes me great pain and causes
me to rejoice that God has called me to be a Minister of Word and Sacrament.
Over these past two weeks, I have sat with people as they have heard about
life-threatening diagnoses. I have been with someone that has suffered abuse
at the hand of the person who said that he/she vowed to love, honor and
cherish this person for the rest of his/her life. I have sat with someone
who has dealt with the consequences of life-long mental illness. And just
this past Tuesday, I sat back in the corner of this Sanctuary and counseled
with a family that needed money for motel bill because the father had
leukemia. He had lost his job because he was no longer able to work. But,
they couldn’t stay in shelter because his immune system has been
compromised.
All of that has been floating around in my head,
and I still had this sermon to prepare. At this point, if Jim was here, he
would point out that if I would do as he does and get my sermons done way
ahead of when I need to preach, it wouldn’t be a problem. Well…
So, instead I visited a website. The website’s name is
Desperate Preachers Site. Okay, I really
didn’t go there because I was desperate. I went there because they have this
weekly web blog where preachers, as they are looking over the scriptures and
thinking and praying about their upcoming sermons, can reflect together on
lectionary scriptures and share their concerns and joys about being a
pastor.
And I was saddened by some of what I read that some of the ministers had
posted. One of those entries read, “I am tired of people saying to me, ‘We
love you pastor but the church, your flock, has let me down, so we are
seeking pasture somewhere else!’”
It makes it tough to be a good shepherd when you have fought off wolves for
the sheep and then they decided to run off to another larger, supposedly
safer flock. Sometimes I wonder if running away wouldn’t be easier for me
too! It’s 1:27 a.m. on Monday and I am not really certain where my sheep
are, or where they are laying plans to go next Sunday morning.
Or who will be their shepherd next Sunday?
Please don’t interpret this as a “Woe is me” lament from any of your
pastors. I suspect that this particular pastor’s lament is perhaps the
result of church members not truly understanding the meaning of church
membership; what we are talking about between Easter and our 25th
Anniversary Celebration.
I also resonated with some of what was written in the web blog. One pastor
shared a story from a book called “Lessons From A Sheepdog”
by Phillip Keller. Keller has been around dogs all his life. He has raised
and trained Australian Sheepdogs. They are used
mostly with cattle, but also occasionally with sheep. So, Keller is familiar
with the relationship that the dog has to its master and the master’s sheep.
The key thing about that relationship is obedience. A good Australian
Shepherd will keep track of its master and will move according to the
master’s will. This breed has certain instincts that it is born with that
allow it to gather and divide and drive and lead and shape to protect the
sheep. These instincts operate best when they are led by the gentle hand of
training and guidance of the master.
So, these two entries together in this web blog caused me to think about my
role here among you and our role as members of the church. Pastors often
thought of as shepherds and the members of the congregation as the sheep.
But, reading what Jesus says about the good shepherd, I’m not sure I
measure up. I think I prefer to be a sheepdog or actually, a
"sheepcat". Hey, if
a pig named Babe can do it…
Well, we sheepdog pastors run the borders. Sometimes we have to bring people
together. Sometimes we have to nip at heels. Sometimes we are out in front
leading. Sometimes we are in the back, encouraging and pushing along. And
hopefully, most of the time we sheepdog pastors are tuned into the
directions from the Shepherd. And when we aren’t, we ask for forgiveness and
grace, from God and from you.
I’m not completely comfortable referring to church members just as sheep
either. I’m wondering if the members of the church should also be sheepdogs
along with the pastors. Look at inside pages of the mustard colored insert
[Susan is referring to the ‘Easter Living – The Meaning of Membership’
bulletin insert]. Pull it out very quickly. See the words in bold print
down at the bottom? I would like for you to read with me that bold print.
Proclaiming, Taking Part, Praying And Studying,
Supporting, Participating, Demonstrating, Responding,
Living Responsibly, Working. All of these things about what it
means to be a member of the church are
only possible
if we listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd.
In the text that we read from
John,
where Jesus says, “I
am the Good Shepherd”,
the Greek word there for good is “kalos”. And it means that the thing is not
only good, but in the goodness there is a quality of winsomeness, loveliness
and attractiveness which makes it a lovely thing.
Today, we have done and will do some lovely things. At our 9:00 a.m.
Service, we had our Prayers for Wholeness and Healing. Shortly, we are going
to go to this table. This table is a lovely thing where together we will
celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Even the Cross behind me, even though it was a
symbol of death, for us it is a lovely thing. It makes me wish that we were
doing a baptism. I think that would just sort of
round everything out for us today.
But, every day of our lives we have the opportunity to do lovely things. And
if we take seriously God’s call on our lives as outlined in that statement
of Membership, we’ll be ready. We will be ready to be sheep, and
receive care. Or we will be ready to be a sheepdog, and lead and serve.
Whatever we do, whatever we are, sheep or sheepdog,
either way, it is a lovely thing! Amen. |
