Fourth Sunday in Easter (Lectionary Year A)
I worked for a time in a church that had a lay ministry called a "shepherding program". There were about 15 members of the congregation identified as shepherds and each was assigned a "flock," 10-15 other members of the congregation for whom they agreed to pray and with whom they would occasionally communicate through cards, visits or Sunday morning chats. The commitment was that each member of the congregation would have a shepherd and through this program fewer sheep would be left to stray, never to be heard from again. The program worked, it worked wonders, it saved a life at least once (read on) and improved countless others. We singled out Good Shepherd Sunday as a day to honor this ministry and to make it better known to the congregation, this is the sermon that I preached that day believing deeply that sometimes you just have to tell a community about itself!
Shepherding Sermon:
Let's read the psalm for the day. If you could all turn to it, psalm 23 in your bibles on page 464.
Not so long ago one of our members was sick in bed, very sick with an illness that could have killed her and the physical illness that she had was one that leads to a great deal of apathy and depression. So she hadn't seen a doctor and hadn't really told anyone what was going on. No one in the congregation had heard much from her or had the chance to visit. as this woman lay in here bed, prey to the wolves of illness someone knocked on the door, forcing her out of bed. Her shepherd had come to identify the danger and while that shepherd waited in the doorway acting as a gate this member of her flock got dressed and they drove to the hospital where she had a life saving operation.
In our lesson today Jesus calls himself the sheep gate. Do you know what a sheep gate is? Well neither did I. But after some great time spent researching the various herding practices in mountain communities throughout the world
I learned that a sheep gate is a shepherd.
And a sheep gate does a lot more than just letting the sheep in or out. You see at night sheep would be kept in corrals and often the opening didn't have a gate so if there was any sign of danger the shepherd would stand in the opening as a human gate to keep the sheep inside where it was safe and to keep the predators from sneaking in amongst the flock. So when there was trouble the gate provided security. Jesus calls himself the sheep gate in today's text. He will stand in the doorway until we rise up and walk, out to the doctor, into a new friendship etc.
The psalm says: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He leads me in right path's for his name's sake.
There is a young member of the congregation that has cerebral palsy. He can't walk or even lift and arm or leg. He spends most of his time at home with his ever vigilant mother who cares for him night and day with a love and strength that can't be fathomed. For years pastor has been taking him communion at home and he loves it. It makes him so happy to participate in this community feast, and in the church body. For a while mother and son were coming to church fairly regularly but as things became more stressful for the mother they became more isolated venturing out in the community and having las energy and motivation to do so. But one dark, depressed day when she was worried about money woes, saddened by the limited life that her son was leading and heart broken for other families who had lost children to this disease, this lonely mother found her shepherd standing at her door. Now this shepherd had been through some similar stuff. She had also been worked with other children who had cerebral palsy, she knew what this sheep needed and what was possible and she knew the Reformation community very well. She spent hours in conversation and prayer with these special members of her flock and when all was said and done she brought the community to them! She arranged for M----, who owns a barber shop, you know, to have Brain there and give him a haircut, and she enlisted other members of the community, too encouraging them to be extra supportive during this hard time. And finally a few Sundays ago we looked up from the front here and saw them sitting in the back. This great flock was finally able to celebrate communion with two sheep who had been walking in dark valley alone and had found a shepherd with a staff to lead them back into the fold where they are a great, great blessing to us and where the joy on B---'s face to be here lights up the whole church!
The Lord is my Shepherd. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; For you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me- they comfort me.
Think back to November to the bitter cold, You'll remember when November was if you think about when you started to get those high PECO bills because it was 17 degrees out with the wind chill and you had to crank the heat just to keep from seeing your breath inside. Now on those cold November nights a shepherd called a on member of her flock, a young single mother who was so worried about even making payments on her bills that she hadn't even considered being able to make Christmas special for her little children, she cried just looking at the grocery bills. But a couple days before Christmas a knock came on the door. Her shepherd had called the helping hands committee on the behalf of this young woman and they arrived with a basket full of food for Christmas and enough to last for the rest of the week.
The Lord is my shepherd, [Lord] you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
When a shepherd sets out for the grazing season in the mountains of the Ukraine he doesn't just take his own sheep with them, he doesn't just take all the sheep that look the same or act the same. In fact he doesn't even just take sheep. He gathers all of the sheep and all of the goats of all different colors and shapes and sizes from the whole community and he take them all with him up into the mountains. Sometimes he takes extra shepherds too! He takes disciple shepherds, students who are learning how to be shepherds and owners of the smaller flocks that have been gathered into one fold to help him out for a while. So he gathers this great fold of sheep and trainees and they travel the mountains sides all of late spring and most of summer. They start out slow because the helpers are new and the sheep are weak. Some of them have had very little food to eat during the months of scarcity. Some are recovering from injury and illness, some are just new born, some have just given birth. Some are slightly older and very rebellious, they want to run and play out on the fringes of the herd. And the helpers are unsure of themselves, they don't know how to talk to the sheep so that they will listen and they don't know how to ask the shepherd for help. So the whole group stays close by finding the green pastures that are close to the village but as the summer heat comes the flock is stronger, they know their shepherd and the helpers are more confident. So they go far up into the mountains where there are beautiful cool streams and fields of untouched grass. By the end of the summer they have covered many, many miles of the mountain sides. Our shepherds came to be in much the same way. They were hesitant, unsure, afraid and a wiser more experienced shepherd showed up at their doors and said come on this is the season, I see the way you care for my sheep, its time I trained you to be a shepherd. Follow me.
Early in my time here I went on a retreat with the shepherds. I heard one express great anxiety about being a part of people's lives, you know, "getting in their business". As she has grown and ventured more on her own almost every time I see her she has a new story to tell, often with tears in her eyes about her personal interactions with people as their shepherd.
At this same retreat another shepherd was just learning how to pray out loud, getting ready for one of the healing services we have here where shepherds pray for people who come to them in the corners. She was barely able to consider doing this and now she says praying with all different ages and types of people is her greatest joy as a shepherd.
And the other day, with great joy a shepherd came into the office and said "my flock is growing!" She has been able to use her experience as a teacher, friend, mother and grandmother to support many new parents and growing families in her flock.
Truly these, first hesitant disciples have become skilled and loving shepherds, Receiving goodness and mercy from their sheep everyday as they themselves extend the house of the Lord to all of their flock.
The Psalm says: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!
Jesus the good shepherd comes to our door to be a gate for us, to protect us and to guide us, to calm our fears and to comfort us. Sometimes he looks like R-----, sometimes he looks like L-----, Or like:
Sometimes the good shepherd has shown up at a door looking like you. Jesus says he is the good shepherd and he sends us out to lead his sheep beside still waters and give them rest in green pastures and he promises to stand protector, encouraging us at the gate. This is good news Amen
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