Pentecost 2009

Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21

Happy Birthday Chruch!

You may or may not know it, but Pentecost is usually looked upon as the birthday of the church. It was the time when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples and sent them out into the world. Jesus was born, died, had risen. These were important things, but they were not the event that marks the birth of the church. It was this sending out into the world that truly made the church. If the disciples had not gone out, if they would have just stayed in the upper room, the church would have died. It was in being sent out that the church was born.

The disciples were sent out into the world, but the Holy Spirit did not send the disciples out into the world unprepared; when the Holy Spirit sent the disciples out; the Holy Spirit gave them a gift. The gift that was given was pretty dramatic! After the Spirit descended upon the disciples, the disciples were no longer speaking in their own native language, after the gift of the Spirit, the disciples were able to speak in the languages of all the people who were listening.

I have always thought this was a good example upon which to base the church. This story shows that the church – from its very beginning – was based on more than just keeping the Good News about Jesus to itself. The church was to be about bringing the Good News out to the people of the world. The disciples could have just stayed in their room and reminded themselves of how great it was to have Jesus, the Son of God, as their savior. Or they could have just talked to their friends about Jesus. But the church was to be so much more. The church was to be a beacon to the world! The church was to spread the news of Christ to the Nations.

During Pentecost we get do all of this talking about speaking in tongues. But for most of us in mainline denominations, the whole concept of speaking in tongues seems to be itself, speaking in tongues. I was never very comfortable with the whole “speaking in tongues” thing. It just seemed too weird to me. I know that there are other Christian brothers and sisters that take speaking in tongues very seriously, but I couldn’t understand what good it would do to be uttering things in a language that nobody seemed to be able to understand.

Well, I think this shows part of the limit in my thinking. If I were to stand up here and speak to you in French, Greek, or Sign Language, it would help none of you. You could sit there for hours, even days, and not get an idea of that I was saying. But we need to remember that the disciples were not just talking to themselves, they were out talking to the people of the city.

This still doesn’t seem to have an effect on us. If we walk to the neighbor’s house, we could speak English to them and they would not have too difficult a time understanding us. Why do we have to get this lesson in speaking in tongues?

This question was bothering me until I remembered a commercial I had seen on television. You may remember seeing this commercial; it had gotten a lot of play in its time. It involves a mother and a daughter trying to have a conversation. The mother asks the daughter why the cell phone bill is so high. The daughter responds with “WTBD?” The mother says, “What’s the big deal? Who are you texting 50 times per day?” To which the daughter says, “IDK, my BFF Jill?” It then dawned on me; this girl was speaking in a different language! Children today have a new language. They not only text in a new language, they have a new way of speaking and a new language of music. They have a whole different way of communicating with the world and with each other.

I had always been told that speaking in tongues was some kind of Spiritual language or some ancient language, but maybe we need to think about tongues as the language of those around us. Within the church we have a language of ritual; we have a language of faith. We have a language of music and we have a language of holiness. And this language has worked for a long time. But now, we cannot assume that everyone speaks the same language. We cannot assume that the things we take as basic to the understanding our faith are even part of peoples’ awareness. Even people who may claim to be Christian may no longer speak our language.

An example of this comes from a colleague of mine. He had performed a wedding and had someone come up afterward and tell him how wonderful the service was. The person was especially impressed with a certain prayer that was used in the ceremony. When questioned as to which prayer this was, the person said, “Oh, the one about ‘Our Father in Heaven’” and then questioned if my colleague had written it himself.

It is a different world out there, different than the one that we grew up in.

Now some would say that all we need to do is to keep doing what we are doing and trust in the Holy Spirit to open the ears of the hearers so that they may understand. This sounds good, and I do trust that the Holy Spirit can truly open peoples’ ears so they can hear what was said, but it seems to be too difficult. What seems easier is for us to listen to see how the Spirit may be moving us in new ways of speaking. How might the Spirit be asking us to change?

This thought of changing may be scary to some. Some may hear this and think that I am suggesting a wholesale dismissal of church traditions. And if I were to do that, I know that Bishop Eddie would be pounding on my door demanding an explanation. No, learning to speak a new language need not be that radical.

I saw an example of speaking a new language while I was in New Orleans a few years ago. St. Anna’s Episcopal Church in the French Quarter had a seeker service every Wednesday evening and this service was very well attended. I will have to say that music during the service had a definite “seeker” quality to it. But that was it. The service had bells, incense, and prayers. The service had all the trappings of a high Episcopal service. It was all there. Now what made it a new language were the explanations that were given in the bulletin. Each action was accompanied with the meaning of the action printed out for the seeker to read. In doing this, the congregation spoke the language of the seekers who attended the service. The congregation did not assume the seekers would know the language of the liturgy, and they did not assume the seekers would automatically learn the language. But they also didn’t totally abandon their language either. Following what I would consider the lead of the Spirit, they spoke the worship service in a manner that the truths which were present in the liturgy would be understandable to those who attended. In the reading from Acts, we are told that the people understood the words of the disciples. We can guess that the disciples were not watering down the message nor changing the message. What we need to see is that the message was being spread in a manner that the people in the city could understand.

The Holy Spirit still calls us as the church to reach out to the world. The Holy Spirit still gives us the gift of tongues. The Holy Spirit still calls us to use this gift in the building up of the community. Speaking in tongues doesn’t need to be something that we are afraid of. Speaking in tongues doesn’t need to be something for those other Christians across town. Speaking in tongues means being aware of those who are around us and finding new ways to help them to understand. Speaking in tongues means finding new ways to speak the truth we have been given.

The gift of the Spirit was given on Pentecost all those years ago, but it is also something that is here today. The Holy Spirit was present in the upper room but it is also present, right here in Swampland MI. The disciples went out, speaking the truth in the language of the people. Let us also go out and spread the truth to a world that needs to hear.

Easter 7 Year B

Easter 7 Year B John 17:6-19 May 24, 2009 The Rev. Benton Quest

Well, we have reached the end of the Easter season. Get a good look at the white paraments because next week they will be red, then once more white for Holy Trinity Sunday, and then they will be green for a whole long time as we enter the Sundays after Pentecost.

As far as the story of Easter goes, we are in a weird time: Christ has ascended into Heaven but we have not had the Holy Spirit show up on the scene yet. So we are in a lull. The apostles were also in a lull; not really sure what was going to happen next.

So it is interesting that this gospel reading from John was chosen for today. In this reading we overhear Jesus praying to God on behalf of the disciples and on our behalf also. In this reading, we overhear Jesus’ hopes, dreams, and desires for not just the disciples of Biblical times, but for his disciples of all times, us included. In this reading we also overhear Jesus’ prayer for the gifts of God to be bestowed upon us. It is a great thing to have someone pray for you, but when that someone is Jesus himself, how could we ever doubt that these prayers will be answered?

First off, before we hear anything else from Jesus’ prayer, we should hear his pride. Jesus is proud of his disciples. He states that right out, “I have been glorified in them.” That seems odd: One will betray him, one will deny him, and all will abandon him. And even though Jesus knows all this will happen, Jesus still says he has been glorified in the disciples. How can he be glorified in a group of people who don’t seem to get anything right? They seem to bungle everything. They never seem to understand. And yet, Jesus is proud of them, more than that, Jesus is grateful for them.

When I think of pride like this, I think about the movie, The Music Man. If you have not seen the movie, a man comes into a town claiming he will create a boys band. Well, the man can’t play a note of music and usually leaves after selling all the instruments but before ever giving any a chance to play. But this time he gets snagged by true love and decides to stay. When the band finally does play, they sound awful! The kids can’t hit any of the notes. But the parents loved it! They were so proud that their children were playing in a band. To the parents, it was not how good the band sounded; what was important was that the kids were trying.

I think it is the same with Jesus: He knew that the disciples were not going to get it right, but the fact that they were even trying to get it right was pleasing. Thomas Merton, a Catholic monk, stated it wonderfully when he said, “. . .the fact that I think I am following God’s will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please God does in fact please God.”

In his prayer, Jesus is proud of his disciples. Jesus is also proud of us. We really cannot be any more bumbling than the disciples were: If Jesus was proud of their efforts and said that he was glorified in them, then we can also be assured that he is also glorified in you efforts to be faithful.

There is a Jewish song, sung around Passover, called Dayenu. The gist of the song is that along each step of the Exodus, the Israelites should have been grateful for what God had given them, but, in fact, God had given them more. Having brought the Israelites to Mt. Sinai would have been enough, but the God gave them the Torah. Having the Torah would have been enough but then God gave them the Land of Israel.

At this point in Jesus’ prayer, we could say, “Dayenu.” Having Jesus proud of us and of our efforts would be enough, but Jesus gives more. Being able to glorify Jesus would have been enough, but there is still more to come.

Jesus prays for God to protect us through God’s name. And he also prays for God to join us together as Jesus and God are bound. I think we forget this. Jesus is asking this of God for our sake. Now, do you really think God is going to say, “No” to Jesus? Or do you think God is going to say, “yes, but only for a little while”? Of course not. But we act as if God were not there to protect us and unify us. We let our fears get in the way of actions. We allow our comfort or discomfort to dictate our actions in our neighborhood and in our our world. We forget that we can act boldly because God is there to protect us.

And again at this point, we could say, “Dayenu,” that would have been enough, but still, Jesus continues. Jesus states in his prayer that we do not belong to the world, as he did not belong to the world. WHAT? We do not belong to the world as Jesus didn’t belong to the world? From what we know, Jesus never owned a house, a donkey, a boat, or even a tent. From what we know, Jesus had little more than the clothes on his back and the sandals on his feet. We can see that Jesus is patently wrong here. We are of the world. We have cars, houses, furniture, iPods, computers, pets, lawn mowers... These things of life only briefly tempted Jesus and he got over that. We not only are tempted by the things of this world, we often give into that temptation whole-heartedly.

So, was Jesus lying when he said that we did not belong to the world? No, I think it would be better to say that Jesus values the direction we are facing much more than our position on the road. This praise, praise about not belonging to the world, was given originally to the disciples, people who bickered over who would have the position of the most power and people who clung to their dream of an earthly kingdom. These were not people who were models of simple living. And still, Jesus says they do not belong to this world. Through Jesus, the disciples are lifted above the world they could see. Through Jesus we are lifted above the life we see.

We are protected through God’s name and we are lifted above the concerns of the world; and we bring glory to Jesus, to that we could say, “Dayenu,” that is enough. But Jesus does not stop. He continues praying. We are not to exist for ourselves but for the good of those in the world. Even though we are surrounded by a world that would not hear the Gospel; even though there are people who would have us limit our love to those who fit nicely into certain categories; even though we may want to shrink back into a corner and keep away from anything that appears to be defiled, Jesus sends us out into the world.

We may say that going fearlessly into the world, extravagantly loving and caring, is just too much. We may think that this commission is just too big for us to do. We may feel we could never live up to such expectations. But to think this way is to forget who is praying for us! This is Jesus, God incarnate praying for us! This is Jesus, the Son of God intervening for us! This is The Word, the one present at the beginning of time, who is proud of us. We could not ask for a better source of encouragement! And if Jesus is the one praying for us, we can rest assured that the task is not too much for us.

So we are between the Ascension and Pentecost. But this is not the time to sit back and wait. Now is the time to trust in Jesus. Now is the time to trust in the promise. Now is the time to spread the news of love and forgiveness we have received through Jesus.

Just to have Jesus proud of us would have been enough. To have God protect us would have been enough. To bring glory to God would have been enough. But we have Jesus praying for us. So we go out into the world knowing that if Jesus is behind us, we cannot possibly fail.

Easter 6 Year B

Easter 6 Year B John 15:9-17 The Rev. Benton Quest

I started to write a sermon and I really made a big mistake! Major mistake! And this mistake caused me all kinds of problems. I was wondering why I was having such a tough time writing a sermon about love. A sermon about love shouldn’t be that hard, right? But then I went back and looked at what I wrote. I saw it! I was breaking one of the major rules of life. Now I don’t remember who it was who told me this rule, but I remember immediately seeing the truth in the statement. And just what was this great piece of truth that I had forgotten and that was messing up the sermon? That truth was: The opposite of Love is not Hate, it is apathy.

So often when we hear Jesus talk about love, I think we give ourselves a bye. We figure that we must love someone because we don’t hate that person. And this is a very easy way to let ourselves off the hook; as long as we are not actively doing something to hurt a person we must not hate the person. And since the opposite of hate is love, then if we are not hurting the person, we must be loving the person.

Now that may sound a little simplistic. And you are probably saying to yourself, he has finally gone off the deep end; how can he seriously expect us to believe this. Well, I expect you to believe it because I have seen such things happen within myself.

You see, this whole process I have explained does not happen on the conscious level; it is something that is happening much deeper, beyond our conscious processing. And it is in this deeper layer where most of our self-delusion happens. I truly believe that most of us probably wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves if we knew that our actions were causing people actual harm, even people we don’t really like. And actually going out of our way to hurt someone requires an investment in time and energy. As someone once said, “Hate is too strong of an emotion to waste on someone you don’t like.”

But apathy is something different. It is true neglect. To be apathetic toward someone, you really don’t have to do much at all. One of the people I work with at my new job has gotten this down to an art form: I can say something to her and she will respond with “Oh” and turn her back and walk away. Truthfully, I would rather have her make some kind of snide comment or something. Her total apathy is more hurtful than any mean comment.

What my coworker is showing I would call “active apathy” which almost sounds like an oxymoron. We can still probably weasel out of being actively apathetic. Probably most of us have too much “breeding” to do something like that.

But there is the more insidious of the forms of apathy, and that is the apathy that is part of our culture. We tend to ignore things until those things become a weight on us.

I heard someone on the radio once say that he hoped gas went over $5 per gallon and stayed there. He said it was only then, when we feel the pinch of our money, that we would finally do something about our nation’s energy obesity. It would be nice to think that we would see what our addiction to oil was doing to the world and work on lessening that addiction, that would be the loving thing to do, but we only begin to change when it directly effects us.

Another form of apathy as the opposite of love would be our nation’s addiction to drugs.

We hear so much about the problems in Mexico lately. What we may not realize is that many of the Mexicans’ problems come from the rampant use of illegal drugs here in the United States. The people who use the drugs may say that they love the people in Mexico and would not want to cause them harm, but their continued use of drugs would say otherwise. I am not trying to pick on people with addictions, but I am trying to point out the apathy that it takes to place a needle into your arm, knowing that people died in order to produce the substance you are about to shoot.

No, Jesus asks much more of us. As followers of Jesus we are asked to love. The author Leo Bescaglia would say that love is an “E” motion; that would be “Energy in Motion.” When we love, we do things. When we love, we put our energy in motion. Love is not just some nice touchy-feely kind of thing. Love takes some work and some energy. I always hear that from couples that have been married for a long while. If we know that love in a marriage is going to take work, then why should we expect love in the world to be any different?

When we think about love between two people, we know that there will be sacrifices: Someone may have to do without so that the other can get what he or she needs. If one person is making all the sacrifices and the other is just reaping the benefits, would we call that love? I highly doubt it. In a family, if one child is showered with gifts and the other is left with hardly anything, would we call that love? No, in love, both parties are seen as equals. In Love, if there is an inequality, we would expect the one who has been benefiting more to back off from the one who have been giving more.

In our society, we are very unloving people. We tend to take and not think very much about those who are supplying our wants. And this is not to say that we are bad people. This is to say that we are unaware people.

Part of loving is knowing about the beloved. I know that Nick loves antique glass and has an affinity for American Presidents. I also know those signs that tell me that he is tired and that I should leave him alone for a while. It is in knowing these things that I can show my love for him. I can find gifts that he would like or even give him the gift of some solitude when he needs it. It is in knowing these things that helps me to show my love.

As Christians, if we want to show our love to the world, we need to become aware of the world around us. We need to know what the world wants, what the world likes, and what the world needs. We need to be willing to sacrifice some of our comfort so that others may become more comfort. We need to give a little of ourselves to that we can ease some of the demands on the world. And we also need to be willing to give so that we can spread our good fortune to others.

Jesus commands us to love one another. Not to “Not Hate” one another or even to just ignore one another. We are commanded to LOVE one another. And John in the epistle reading pushes us to love everyone! If we say we love the Father, then we must also love the child. God so loved the world, you know! So we are called to love the world also. And this requires some action on our part.

Christ loved us enough to give himself as an atoning sacrifice. Even when we were not deserving of this gift, it was given. And even though we will probably never be asked to show that level of love, we are still asked to be mindful of our place in the world and to follow our savior by showing the world God’s love.

To quote the old song, “The WILL know we are Christians by our love!” Let’s not just tell the world that we have the love of Christ, let’s show them!

Easter 5 Year B

Easter 5 Year B Acts 8:26-40 The Rev. Benton Quest

“My, God certainly cooks in some strange pots!”
I had a professor in seminary who would look out over his classes and kind of shake his head. Then he would say what I just said, “My, God certainly cooks in some strange pots!”
The first time this would happen, most of us were kind of taken aback; that was not a very nice thing to say! This was seminary! People were supposed to be nice here. But that was his comment, and to it he would stick. And every class he would say the same thing.
But, you know, after some thought, and really getting to know the people in my classes, I came to realize the truth in that statement. We really were a strange set of pots. In my class, we had a homicide detective, a patrol cop, a newspaper journalist, some folks who just graduated from college, me, a psychologist, some teachers, a few nurses, a lawyer, and hog farmer. We came from all walks of life from all parts of the country. The only thing that really was a common denominator was that we all felt a call to be workers in the church.
And, for the most part, all of us are still working in some aspect in the church. We were not the best, the most righteous, or even the brightest. We were just everyday people. Yes, we were a strange set of pots. But it was with this set of pots that God chose to lead the church.
When I look out upon you today, I see a strange set of pots! I see all kinds of pot! Some of you are pressure cookers; you can function well when the pressure is on. Some of you are saucepans; ready for any purpose that is needed. And some of you are specialized pans; not for everything, but what you do you do extremely well!
You are the kind of people that Christ draws together to spread the word to the world. Christ calls all kinds of people to bring the message to the world. Not just the famous or powerful, but the meek and the humble.
Today’s reading from Acts demonstrates God’s love for strange pots quite nicely. Phillip, a deacon, was preaching to a large group of people when God pulls him away from the crowd and tells him to go along the wilderness road. I would assume that Phillip had no idea what God had in mind but Phillip got up and went.
The person Phillip encountered was probably as different from Phillip as just about anyone could be. There are a couple of translations of the word “Ethiopian.” One is from the country of Ethiopia. Another is that of being darkened by the sun. Either of these translations would lead us to believe that the Ethiopian was very dark skinned, very different from Phillip. The Ethiopian was also a eunuch. Without going too deeply into this term, we can assume that his sexuality was different from that of most other people. The Ethiopian was also the head of the treasury in the queen’s court; in other words, he was of the nobility. He was almost totally different from Phillip, but Phillip was sent to him.
It would seem odd that Phillip would be pulled away from the large crowds and be sent to this one man, but to think that would be shortsighted of us. Some scholars have speculated that the Eunuch is responsible for the spread of Christianity into Africa. This one man, so different from those around him, so different from the people who would be found in Jerusalem, is the one used to spread the message to the people in Africa.
What I think is interesting to note is that when Phillip started talking with the Eunuch, he started with the passage that the eunuch was reading. If we look at that text, it is Isaiah’s song of the suffering servant, a passage that can readily be applied to the suffering of Christ. That seems like some pretty heavy theology to jump into and I probably would have liked to start with something easier, but one of the truths we can derive from this is that we are called to begin our outreach not from where we are but from where the hearer is. We need to meet people where they are, not wait for them to change, to be “good enough” or “worthy.” All that we need is that the person simply be open to listen. AND I believe that if we meet folks where they are, they will be open to listen.
This truth seems to have been borne out in the relative lack of success of early foreign mission efforts. Instead of going to uniquely different cultures and sharing Christ within those cultures, the missionaries often felt that they had to “civilize” the culture – that is – to change the entire structure of the lives of the peoples they wanted to reach. They wanted to “westernize” them and then preach Jesus to them as if Jesus somehow uniquely belonged to a certain class or culture.
There are churches today where people are expected to get their lives in order and only then would the people be considered worthy of acceptance into the body of Christ. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Instead, perhaps, we need to learn and understand something of the culture we want to reach, and once we connect to them in their familiar surroundings and their lives, then we can bring Christ to them: The Christ whose love transcends culture, the Christ who died for ALL people, the Christ who gives himself for us at the table. When we understand those who are different than us, we can bring Christ to all people, even those we talked about last week, the sheep that are not of this fold.
God cooks in all kinds of strange pots, and it is in all kinds of strange pots that we often find the tastiest food. But when we limit ourselves to the tried and the known, we may get fed, but it is not very satisfying. But when we go out, when we move beyond our comfort zones, it is then that we begin to experience the wonders of life.
Phillip could have stayed where he was, or he could have forced the Eunuch to follow a preconceived plan, but then the message of Christ in all of its richness would not have been shared. Phillip could have waited for the Eunuch to show up, but Phillip was sent to the Eunuch. Phillip could have turned the Eunuch away because he was so very different, but God sent Phillip directly to this man, just the way he was.
We have been called and we are sent to spread the good news of Christ’s love to others. We never know, we may be sent to the exotic people of Cascade or maybe to those even farther away, like Bernard! We don’t know. But the one sure thing here is that WE ARE BEING SENT! God has started something great here with St. Swithia’s in the Swamp, but I don’t believe it is supposed to end here. And we can sit here and talk it to death, but I think I will finish now so we can continue with worship and then get out into the world to spread Christ’s love to all those people God should happen to have us meet!

Easter 4 Year B

Easter 4 Year B John 10:11-18 The Rev. Benton Quest

Today we have another of the Bible reading that has its own title. Although these are some of our favorite readings, they also present a problem: All we have to do is say something like “The Prodigal Son,” or “The Good Samaritan,” or “The Good Shepherd” and people say “Oh! That one!” and draw their conclusions and move on. And when I say this, I am not counting myself out of the group; clergy are just a capable of glossing over these readings as anyone else.

So the challenge becomes: How to make a story such as The Good Shepherd live again? It didn’t become a favorite because it had nothing to teach us, but it often becomes tired just because of the message and the repetition.

In times of difficulties, this passage has special meaning. It is a great thing to know that we have a good shepherd that is watching over us. As anyone who has been around sheep would know, sheep are not very bright; they do a whole lot of things that can get them in trouble. But in the person of the shepherd, the sheep have someone that will watch after them and keep them safe. Even if the sheep don’t realize that the shepherd is watching, the shepherd is still there watching after the sheep and keeping them safe.

We also have the promise of Christ as our Good Shepherd. Even if we do not realize it, we have the promise of Christ to watch over us and to care for us. We have the promise of Christ’s voice to speak to us and to even lay down his life for us. In the midst of fear and uncertainty, we are reassured that we are not traveling through the world alone. Christ knows us! And through our faith and our baptism, we know Christ.

This is all good stuff. But this is also a very American way of looking at things. I say “American” because, quite frankly, we tend to be a very self-centered people. We like this because we can feel the protection of Jesus and have peace in our lives. But there is something kind of weird in the reading, something about other sheep. “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.”

What are we supposed to think about this? There are other sheep out there; other sheep who need to hear the sound of the Shepherd’s voice. How are these other sheep going to hear? How is the shepherd going to speak to them? Humm…. I wonder.

We have seen over the past couple of weeks how Jesus comes to the people and gives them what they need to believer. The risen Christ came to Thomas and allowed Thomas to see him and to touch him. The risen Christ came to the disciples and ate with them to prove that he was alive and real. Jesus comes to his sheep in the way that they need; not only so the sheep will hear the Shepherd’s voice, but so that the sheep will UNDERSTAND the Shepherd’s voice. Christ has shown us that he does not present the message in only one way, and then hopes that everyone will understand; no, he keeps presenting the message in whatever form is necessary so that his followers may come to understand and believe.

What we seem to forget is that over the past weeks, Jesus provides us with an example of this fluidity of forms. The message the risen Christ presents does not change; the message is that Jesus is alive and active in the world, but what does change is the method in which the message is presented. Jesus tools the message to the different people he is trying to reach.

There is still a big problem here: How will these other sheep hear the words of Christ? Since Christ’s ascension, he is not walking on the Earth, he is going to have difficulty finding all those other sheep. This is similar to the problem we discussed last week; how do we see Christ in the flesh here today? And if we remember, the other sheep will hear Christ’s voice the same way we hear Christ today: The Church (with a capital “C”) in the world. Christ’s voice will be heard by the other sheep when we go out and spread that word!

If we take this challenge seriously and try to apply it to our lives, we have a few challenges before us. The first challenge is making sure we really do know what the message is! If we do not understand the message, then how are we to spread the message? Since we are the hands, the heart, and the voice of Christ in the world, we become the representation of The Shepherd to the world. I would hope that we would want to present the very best of The Shepherd to the world. To know the message, we need to continue to study the message. Coming to church each Sunday is a beginning, but it is continued study and conversations with others that help us to learn the truth.

The second challenge is to go out and find those other sheep! When the risen Christ walked the earth, he did not just wait for people to find him, he went out and actively sought people. He was where the people were and it was there that he presented his message.

Where are the people who need to hear The Shepherd? Where do we find them and how do we bring the message to them. How do we present the message so that others can understand it? Jesus tailored the message for the various people who were listening, how do we make the message accessible to the people we encounter? As you may have guessed, this is one of the things that keep me awake at night. We have something wonderful in Christ, so how do we spread this message?

If we listen to some, we would be led to think that only the good and special sheep, I mean people, are acceptable: That we only need to invite those people who are of proper moral character. But what we need to remember is that the sheep are NOT in the Shepherd’s flock because of anything the sheep did or didn’t do. We don’t hear about Shepherd choosing only the best sheep or the prettiest sheep or the best-behaved sheep. In fact, the Shepherd seems to go out of his way to keep those sheep that are a little more “difficult” safe and in the flock.

And it is these sheep, these sheep who are outside the flock that Jesus calls us to go to. We are to be the voice of the shepherd to these sheep. We are to reach out to them. We are to speak to them. We are to love them with the love the shepherd showed to us!

That is what we often forget, we are part of the Shepherd’s flock, not by anything we did, we are part of the Shepherd’s flock because of the Shepherd’s love for us. The Shepherd gave his life for us, but the Shepherd also gave his life for those who are not here among us. The Shepherd calls us to the table, but the Shepherd also calls those who are outside our walls.

We, the church, are Christ’s presence in the world. We are called to be Christ’s voice in the world. We are called to spread Christ’s love to the world. This is not an easy thing, but it is not up to us alone. Even while we are called to be the voice of the Shepherd, we are also being protected by the Shepherd. Christ has called us, and now Christ sends us. The Good Shepherd is not just here for us, the Good Shepherd is here for all