Easter 7 B John 17:6-19

Easter 7 B John 17:6-19

We have a kind of charming story in Acts today as our first lesson. The eleven apostles are standing around after the Ascension, once Jesus is gone and they are on their own for the first time and the first thing that they do is decide that there needs to be twelve of them as they start out on the work of building the church. Before, when Jesus was with them there had been twelve but after the betrayal of Christ, Judas was no longer around and there was a void to be filled. So they looked for a twelfth.

They looked among the followers who were with them when Christ was around, who knew Christ and had spoken to him and understood the mission and they chose two potential candidates: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.

So after they had narrowed it down to these two, they all gathered around and prayed that God show them which to choose and then they cast lots to see what they would be shown. They essentially rolled the dice or flipped a coin, assuming that the result that it gave them came from God and Matthais won the toss.

Hurray for Matthias! Imagine being Joseph? the one who wasn't chosen.  Watching waiting knowing that you were about to hear whether God wanted you for his incredibly important work or not?! And then hearing that you weren't the one or anyway that you would have to serve in a different way? That must have been difficult news. It is hard to take rejection at all, but that type of rejection must have really thrown poor Joseph for a loop.

Then again can you imagine being Matthias? All of the sudden at the flip of a coin being at once responsible for taking Judas' place, not a super happy task in itself, and for the work the building and maintaining of God's church? That was really the job that they were giving him. Before Jesus bodily left the earth he gave the disciples instructions to take the good news of the kingdom of God to all people proclaiming God's love, baptism, repentance and above all salvation and new life. Matthias suddenly got the terrifying news that we all share. That we are the new body of Christ on earth whose job it is to take care of the kingdom, to spread the word, to heal and bring peace, to make disciples and to talk to God because that is the task that Jesus left the disciples with and that the disciples commissioned us all with.

In fact that is exactly what is happening in our gospel lesson today. In it, Jesus is talking to God, praying to God on behalf of the disciples, this is just before he is arrested and goes to the cross and he is very focused on sending the disciples out into the world to continue the work that he has done and taught them to do when he is gone. And so he prays these words: as you sent me into the world, Lord so I send them.

As you sent me into the world so I send them, all of these mortals, all of these everyday people with their hangups and their limitations, with their trials and their lack of faith, with their fear and indifference with their good intentions and their tendency to fall short, with their broken relationships and their need for healing. Here you are Lord I'm sending them!

How terrifying! How Matthais must have been shaking in his sandals! Think about the way that Jesus was sent into the world. To be the voice of God, to forgive the sins of all, to heal people to speak the words of God and when he was sent there was a decent chance that he wasn't coming back! Kind of a scary send off for Jesus to then ask upon his own apostles.

But then again think about what Jesus is doing here. He is praying lovingly, tenderly to his Father in heaven asking that we, as we are sent out into the world, go in the same way that he did. It isn't a threat, it is a promise. Think about how parents send children out into the world.

I travelled this week through a few different airports on my way down to South Carolina and back and this is a perfect time of year to see parents sending children off into the world especially in places like airports. There were parents whose children were heading to early sessions for their first year of college, parents whose children were going off on vacations with friends and no parents for the first time, parents whose children had just graduated from college and were being sent off into the adult world for the first time. Even once in a while parents whose children were going off to Iraq or Afghanistan or some other terrifying place to serve their country. So there were many tearful goodbyes and proud mamas and papas at the airports this week.

In fact some of you might know this and some might not be aware yet that we have a student coming here to study in our congregations this summer. Her name is Courtney and she is going to be learning about being a pastor from you all this summer. She is actually the reason that I was traveling. She and I were headed to South Carolina for an orientation to this summer program but she left straight from the south to go to Cyprus, all the way over on the southeastern side of Europe for several weeks of work with a school program and so her parents came with her to the airport in Albany to send her off for this and I got to witness this sendoff first hand.

Now I want you to know that Courtney isn't that young, she is entering her senior year in college, she has lived overseas before, but when you are a parent sending a child to a far off place that has has a rocky history when it comes to war and peace, that really doesn't matter and so her parents came to the airport and they waited with her and they walked her as close to the gate as they could and they checked this and that, do you have your passport, do you have money, do you have a phone card? And they requested certain things, call us when you get there, email us from time to time, take lots of pictures! And the cautioned, don't go to the beach at night or alone, wear lots of sunscreen when you do and so on. And I watched as they lovingly hugged her goodbye, as they helped her gather up her things, as dad helped her get her backpack on, as they hugged her one more time, mom got two this time :)  And as they waved and sent her off into the world to do good work.

They even walked up to the balcony so that they could wave one last time before we disappeared into the terminal after security. It was quite a send off into the world and filled with many things, many emotions, there was pride, there was hope, there might have been a little caution bleeding into mild fear, there was sadness at leaving and letting go but never even as they stood there on the balcony behind glass, separated by security watching their child set off without them was there ever any doubt.

Any sense that they weren't sending her with every, single thing that she needed to succeed. She was prepared for everything and they knew it, they had made sure and they weren't gone from her life, she could still call on them if needed and believe me those parents would find a way to get to her if she did! They sent her off knowing that she could make it and brimming with excitement at what she would learn on the way.

This is how Jesus was sent into the world and this is how he is praying to God in the gospel lesson that we all be sent. And this is how Matthais was sent and how Matthais and the other apostles send us. Not without some fear and apprehension, lots of checks that we know how to call home and how to ask for help but completely sure that we can do the good work that we are sent out into the world to do, that we have the tools, that we have the good news that we are armed with our baptisms and fed at the table, that we are blessed with just with right gifts and filled with just the right spirit and with complete clarity that we are never ever alone in the work that we do. This is how Jesus was sent into the world and this is how Jesus sends us on His behalf. And this is good news! Thanks be to God.     Amen

Easter 4 B

Jesus says in our gospel today that he is the good shepherd. Who came to bring all of his sheep together to make sure that they were part of one flock where they are cared for and protected and watched over.

So in honor of Good Shepherd Sunday, the name we give this day in the church year, I'm going to tell you a story about a week in the life of the good shepherd.

Once there was a shepherd. He was always a pretty good shepherd but it was clear the more that people watched him and the more that his sheep followed him that he was more than just an ordinary shepherd. He was a good shepherd. A very good shepherd. Maybe even the best shepherd. He had thousands of sheep and everyone was always amazed that he seemed to know each one by name.

He would follow along behind his sheep, like a shepherd does, calling out to one here, another there, sending out the helpers and the herding dogs to make sure that all the sheep stayed safe and with the flock. And that is where he spent most of his time, back behind the flock, leading them, nudging them, encouraging them with his voice. Whistling a little tune when things were goings well. Generally just loving his flock and his life out on the hillsides with them. Or at least that was his idea of where and how he ought to spend most of his time but he walked behind the flock for another reason too. From back there, always up a little higher than the flock on the hills, he could see them all very well. And he knew the moment one slipped away.

Which happened pretty often, but remember we are just talking about one week here today.

On the first day of our week he was back there singing a little song that calmed the sheep and kept them happy as they trotted along. And as he sang along "Have No Fear Little Flock"...he frowned, the words turned to a hum...and he looked like he was counting, scanning the flock faster and faster, over and over again.

JoAnna Sheep had wandered off. She wasn't with the others anymore. And so he called to the helpers and he called to the herding dogs and let them know it was time to lead the sheep to rest. There were green pastures nearby, a good place to wait while the lost sheep was found and so off he went.

Now JoAnna sheep wasn't a bad sheep, but she was rather reckless sometimes and she never did anything halfway. He easily found the path that she left behind, all trampled down as she had followed some wild boars off into the trees. He followed and he noticed as the path got less and less clear, some turned up dirt here, a sharp turn there. He worried for JoAnna and what she had gotten herself into and he walked faster.

He saw some torn wool in the path, perhaps she had gotten caught for a while in some snares or worse she had been hurt. He saw the marks of some kind of scuffle and now the good shepherd was running to find His lost sheep, Joanna, and then he saw her, crumpled on the path. All alone, so exhausted that she couldn't get up, broken and sore, confused and ashamed. And she looked up at him with pleading eyes, eyes filled with regret owing him an explanation, an apology, but he shushed her, shhh, quiet, rest now. And he gathered her up and together they made their way back to the flock, as he sang (singing)"Have no Fear, Little Flock...".

And they all started walking again, Joanna got stronger and stronger and before anyone knew it she was lost in the flock, frolicking with all the other sheep. And everyday when the shepherd counted his beloved he gladly counted reckless Joanna among them.

So they continued on for a time without incident. Picking up stray, wandering sheep here and there along the way, singing and humming together when all of a sudden the good shepherd stopped. He didn't even have to count this time, he knew who was gone. It was George Sheep.

George was getting on in years and had been lagging behind for a while but he was never just gone. The shepherd called to the helpers and the herding dogs and let them know that they should make the sheep to lie down for a while, there were nice still waters nearby and it was a good place to wait as he went back for their lost companion.

This time he didn't have to search, he knew just where to find George, right in the path that they had all walked on. In his mind's eye he could see George, stumbling, losing his balance, gasping for air but falling to the ground anyway, not able to muster the strength to get back up. George was very sick, who knew what was wrong, it didn't matter really, he knew the end was near and he might have just given up. George thought he wanted to give up but then night started to fall and the wind was cold and the wolves were howling and he longed for the warmth of the flock and the sound of the shepherd's voice singing. He was laying there alone, shivering in the cold when the good shepherd came rushing back to him. His eyes filled with relief that he wouldn't have to spend his last hours by himself, he tried to stand to show his gratitude and joy, but he couldn't quite manage. No matter, the shepherd scooped him up and held him gently over his shoulders as they walked back to the flock. The sun was high over the hills when they got there and the lambs were playing in the still waters and the young sheep were ready to go, but the shepherd stopped beside a tree and set George Sheep down and sat beside him and sang gently as George closed his eyes.

Then, with a tears streaming down his face the shepherd got up to lead the flock on. He called to everyone and they started off again. Missing George but celebrating that they had been able to share the warmth of their wool with him during his last hours. And so they were clipping along at a good pace now, all together, all safe. The Good Shepherd singing behind them as they went when all of a sudden the flock stopped. On its own. In great fear. Everyone knew at once who was gone and it wasn't just one or two sheep it was many of them, mostly the young, eager ones. They had gone off all together and the shepherd was pretty sure he knew where they had gone.

Earlier they had passed another flock and the two flocks, though really just the same, had looked at each other with suspicion, lack of trust, outright hostility. The Shepherd and the hired hands had done their best to push the flocks along to prevent any trouble, even to point out how similar they were but to no avail as it seemed a band of sheep from each flock had slipped away to meet on some hillside. It was with great unease that the good shepherd called to the hired hands and the herding dogs and and bid them follow the path that they were on, even though the valley was getting dark, they would find safety and he would meet them there. 

And with terror at what he would find the Good Shepherd went, found a high peak to stand on and looked down at the valleys below. He quickly spotted his sheep and some poor other misled sheep as well, they might have started out baaing at each other and kicking up dirt but they were having an out and out battle now. Wool being torn, hooves being broken, lives being shattered. Who knows what started the battle, they were all stuck in it now and so the shepherd walked down toward the sheep he walked right into the middle of the fighting.

He took the blows that his own herd would have delivered to the others and he took blows that would have hit his own and he stood peacefully in the middle until all were calm and and the fighting stopped and then one by one he went up to the sheep those from his own flock and those from elsewhere and he healed them where he could. He tended their wounds, he changed their hearts, he showed the stronger ones how to care for those who were too weak or injured and together they all walked back to the flock. New sheep from the other flock and original ones and they gathered around, followed by goodness and filled with mercy.

They joined the other sheep and started out on the journey again. The good shepherd walking behind singing..."Have Good Cheer little flock"...and as they were just about to the top of a great, tall hill the shepherd stopped and he scanned the flock, his singing died off as he counted his sheep over and over again. Someone was missing...But this is where we have to stop for today because we've only made it to Tuesday night and I think you get the point. The Good Shepherd never slumbers nor sleeps but is always in search of his lost and misled sheep, always seeking to bring them back, to make them whole, to calm their fears and fill their hearts with peace. And we each take turns being the hired hands who are entrusted with the care of the flock and being sheep who wander but are always found by the Good Shepherd and this is Good News, Thanks be to God. Amen.