“Sheep Need Shepherds”

April 22, 2018 + Easter 4B

John 10:11-18; Psalm 23

“Sheep need shepherds,” that’s something that all the commentaries on biblical texts that mention “sheep” will tell you.  They all point to the fact that sheep are not exactly the smartest of God’s creation, that sheep can be stubborn, even to their own detriment, and consequently they need help, - they need shepherds.

I had read this time and time again but being a “west coast boy” I had never really experienced sheep, so I never really thought twice about it.  Stories of sheep simply did not impact my life.  Such information about sheep never made it into my sermons.  And then it happened, a number of years ago I finally had a “sheep experience.”  And now every time I read about sheep in the bible, and every time “Christ the Good Shepherd Sunday” comes around, I have a story to tell.  A great story that opens up today’s text in a way that most people never forget.  So it is, I am excited to share with you my one and only, my true life, honest to goodness, sheep story!

My “sheep experience” happened in North Dakota, the place where both my parents were born and raised.  We were visiting the small town of Kindred, North Dakota for a family reunion.  A few members of the family came in R.V.'s or brought camping equipment to camp out at my grandparent’s old “homestead site.”  Now this farm had not been lived on for many years, so the family had decided, a few years before, to allow a neighbor to put his sheep out to pasture on the grounds.  Their grazing kept the grass and the weeds from taking over the place.

Well one morning I went over to the farm to visit everyone who had been camping out and as we were visiting we noticed that the sheep had put themselves into a rather interesting predicament.  Up to this point the sheep were always just roving around the yard in a pack, following each other here and there

grazing as they went along, but somehow, somewhere - they really got off track.  One of the sheep, the leader of the pack, (the one whom everyone seemed to like to follow,) wandered over to a rather large “outhouse” and went inside.  That sheep was followed by another, who also went inside.  And then another sheep followed along, and then another, and then another somehow squeezed his way in, until there were four sheep inside, two stuck in the door, and five more trying to force their way in.  It was a sigh to see, a “traffic jam,” “gridlock at the outhouse.”

And they were stuck!  The ones inside had nowhere to go and couldn't get out because the sheep on the outside wanted to see what was going on inside.  And the ones in the middle just sat there waiting.  Well we all got a big laugh out of this sight, - those stupid sheep.  A half hour later we noticed that they were still there, so we all found our cameras and took some pictures.  (This was all before “Facebook” or I am sure the whole thing would have went viral.)  Those poor stupid sheep, seemingly paralyzed, and hopelessly trapped. 

And to prove my story is real, I put one of those pictures in your bulletin!  My Sheep experience! 

Well another half hour went by and there was still no change, the sheep were still stuck, waiting in line at the outhouse, but we we're now bored with the “stupid sheep show” so the whole family jumped into cars and went into town.  We had lunch, saw all the old hangouts, visited old friends, and at the end of the afternoon we returned to the homestead site and to our amazement we found our sheep in the same exact place that they had been when we had left - hours ago.  Nothing had changed.  They were still stuck. 

What a day they must have had!  Probably similar to my day in the very small town of Kindred North Dakota.  Eventually the sheep did get out, not because they finally got wise and figured it out, not because one of them finally had an “aha” moment, but only because one of my uncles finally came to their rescue. He patiently prodded and coaxed, pushed through, and somehow created a path which enabled the lead sheep to get out and on his way. And as he did, so the rest of the sheep simply followed him to freedom.

“Sheep need shepherds.”  They really do!  For without shepherds, sheep get into trouble; they wander off away from good pasture and into the “outhouse” of life.  Not a bad picture of the human condition.  “Sheep need shepherds!”   And now the hard part, the part that can be hard to admit, as the scriptures tells us, we too “are like sheep who have gone astray.”  We too have followed the leader to our own detriment, we too have wandered away from good things and lost ourselves in bad things, we too have become stuck and lost, and sometimes we too are not the brightest of God’s creation.

However, there is good news, today’s Gospel reading reminds us that we sheep, we sheep have a shepherd, a good shepherd, one that watches over us, one that will rescue us, one that leads us to those good pastures where we will hunger no more, to the springs of the water of life where we will thirst nor more, and to a banquet table that has been prepared for us, prepared to overflowing. 

The Psalmist reminds us, “He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters” “He prepares a table for us.” A place where “our cup overflows.”

When we find ourselves lost and alone, confused and stuck, paralyzed by fear, even when we find ourselves in the “outhouse of life,” God seeks us out and calls to us. 

And we are blessed to know his voice, the voice of the Good Shepherd, and so it is when God calls; we gather here on Sunday mornings, we gather to serve others, we gather to proclaim God’s peace, we gather as friends to share life’s highs and lows, we gather to walk through even the darkest valley, we gather to comfort each other, we gather to silence the voice of fear, we gather to be blessed.  We are sheep who know the voice of our shepherd, sheep who have been blessed with a good shepherd, a very good shepherd, Jesus the Christ.

So, what happens next?  We have been led to these wonderful pastures, and we have been fed and nurtured here in this place, now what? 

Last Sunday’s Gospel reminded us that we are now Christ’s presence in the world, the body of Christ, and more importantly the feet and hands of Christ in this world.  In one of his last post resurrection appearances Christ will tell his followers very clear what comes next.  He will ask of Peter, his disciples, his followers, “Feed my Sheep.”  In grace sheep become shepherds!

The Good Shepherd invites us to take up the call to shepherd those around us.  We are called to go out into the world and to gather up those sheep who are still stuck in fields that are dry and barren, sheep that need to be led to green pastures, and the waters that give life.  We are called to be like my uncle, who took the time to pull those poor North Dakota sheep out of that outhouse.  We are called to take the time to stop and invite, to lead people to those pastures that we cherish so much, those places that give us life, to places like this place, First Lutheran Church.  Places where we are blessed with faith, peace, hope, grace and love. 

So, let us go from here and find them, let us desperately search and seek them out, let us dare to help rescue them.  The Good Shepherd is gathering up those lost sheep even now, and we are invited to be a part of it; to move with our “much needed feet” to gather up with our “much needed hands,” and in doing so become a dynamic part of the kingdom of God that is breaking into our world.

Let us pray.  God, we give thanks for the many shepherd in our lives.  For Pastors, teachers, family members, and friends who have led us to safety, helped guide us on our way.  And we humbly pray that you would make us shepherds too.  That you would inspire us and send us out to those people in need, that we might, with You, bring the lost and forgotten into Your fold, into your abundant pastures.  Amen.

John 10:11-18

11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father." 

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. 

"Ghost Test"

Easter 3B + April 15, 2018

1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48

Today’s appointed Gospel reading from St. Luke is immediately preceded by “The Emmaus Road” story.  In that story, two of the followers of Jesus are traveling from Jerusalem, following the death of Jesus, to the city of Emmaus.  Along the way they encounter a stranger, and as they travel along together, they share the news of how Jesus, the one in which they had put all their future hope, had been arrested and executed by the civic and religious authorities.  And they wonder aloud about the strange news that Jesus may have risen from the dead.  As they continued traveling together the stranger tries to open the scriptures up to them concerning “all these things.”  Finally, at day’s end, they arrive in Emmaus, and the two disciples invite the stranger to stay with them.  The stranger accepts the invitation, and as they break bread, as they practice hospitality, the stranger is revealed to them as the risen Christ.  And then in a moment, he vanishes.  The story ends with these words, “That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. …  Then they told what had happened on the road, and how (Jesus) had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

Today’s appointed Gospel begins at this point, “While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’"   Jesus shows them his hands and his feet, he eats a piece of fish, and commands them to be a witness “to these things.”

It’s been a couple of weeks since Easter Sunday, “What have you been thinking and praying about?”  And on this day, “Where do you find yourself in this story, the “Emmaus Road” story?”

Perhaps you find yourself on the road to Emmaus?  Perhaps the “fear and amazement” of it all still overwhelms you?  Perhaps “Post-Enlightenment Doubt” keeps you from being able to fully and truly understand just what might have happened on that first Easter morning?  Perhaps you are simply running away from death and resurrection, just as those two disciples did some 2,000 years ago. 

Or maybe you are on that “Road to Emmaus;” to that place where we go when things aren’t working out, that place where we go when we need to clear our heads, that place where we go when we need to start over again.  Maybe you are on that “Road to Emmaus,” but not alone, perhaps someone has come up along-side you and you have become engaged in that “holy existential conversation” about faith and life, your faith and your life, your sense of who God might be, looking for a greater meaning in things that surround you, and wondering what you might be called to do in this life, with your one great life?

We “break bread” around here all the time.  It could be that’s where you find yourself in this story.  As those two disciples practice hospitality, as they invite the stranger to stay with them, as they prepare a meal, as the meal is served, they suddenly find themselves in one of those “aha-moments.”  Suddenly the resurrected Jesus is revealed to them in “the breaking of the bread.”

And maybe, if you’re like me, you have been able to see yourself in all these parts of the story, you experienced the “fear and amazement,” you’ve been blessed with holy conversations, and in living out your faith in service to others you have experienced Christ present in “the least of these,” and now you’re on the road headed back to Jerusalem to share the good news with others!

And finally, maybe you can’t find yourself in any part of this “Emmaus Road” story?  Maybe you still see yourself with those disciples who never left Jerusalem, those who are hiding away in fear behind locked doors.  You’ve heard the rumors that Jesus is alive, but you were also there when he was arrested, condemned, crucified, and you saw his lifeless body placed in a tomb and sealed shut with a very large stone.  You’ve heard the Jesus story, but you haven’t really experienced it, not in the same way you’ve experienced the broken realities of life in this world.  And so it is, that you find yourself hiding away in fear behind locked doors, hoping for something more but unable to truly live out your life.

So, where do you find yourself in this story?  Where are you in your faith journey?  Where are you two weeks after Easter?  Where has the “fear and amazement” of “all these things” left you?

“While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’"  Hear the good news, no matter where you are in the story, Jesus appears with the gift of peace.  Not just a “passing peace,” but the kind of peace that transforms your life and gives you direction, meaning and purpose!

Jesus comes with the gift of peace, but his sudden and unexpected appearance startles the disciples.  They think they might be seeing a ghost!  According to Dr. Mark Hoffman, from United Lutheran Seminary, in antiquity there were actually “ghost tests,” some things you could check to ascertain if you were in the presence of a ghost or a real person.  Ghost don’t have bones, so you could check the extremities where bones are evident (namely the hands and the feet); you could also check to make sure that the person’s feet were “touching the ground” and that they were not “hovering” or “floating;” and finally it was important to check for teeth and “the ability to eat food.”  Interestingly enough Jesus offers them the ghost test, “Look at my hands and my feet,” Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have."  "Have you anything here to eat?"  “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”  However, it strikes me that Jesus does more than just pass a ghost test. 

By showing the disciples his “feet,” he reminds them of all the places they traveled together; the incredible journey of faith that they shared together, and the many conversations they shared along the way.  Those feet led them over the imposed boundaries that separate people, out and beyond the margins of life, and into the homes of those who were considered both worthy and unworthy.  They were also reminded of that night when he kneeled down and washed their feet, demonstrating what it truly means to love one another as I have loved you.  

And on those many journeys and in those many places his “hands” reached out in such love; to heal, to comfort, to hold, to wipe aside tears and to fully embrace. 

And as always, he chooses to break bread and eat with them, not so much to prove that he was real and not a ghost but rather to remind them to care for those in need, to feed people body and soul, with grace, mercy, justice, and love. 

Jesus shows the disciples his hands and his feet, he eats a piece of fish, to remind them where and how the heart of God abides.

And while the Gospel of Luke does not mention it, The Gospel of John reminds us that the resurrected Jesus’ hands and feet still bear the wounds of his crucifixion.  The disciples are reminded (in the words of Barbara Brown Taylor,) that Jesus went “through the danger and not around it.”  “Jesus humbled himself even unto death – even death on a cross.” “For God so loved the world.”  “For God so loves each one of us.”  For God so loves each and every one of our neighbors.”

Today’s Gospel concludes, “You are witnesses of these things.”  And so, we are, witnesses to the love of God, for now we are the Body and the Image of the Risen Christ in our world today.  Or, once again borrowing from Barbara Brown Taylor, "Not our pretty faces and not our sincere eyes - but our hands and feet--what we have done with them and where we have gone with them."

May God find you wherever you are, hiding away in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus, on the road to Emmaus in deep conversation with a stranger, in Emmaus breaking bread and practicing hospitality, back on the road leaving Emmaus to share the good news of the resurrection.

And may God continue to bless our hands and our feet, taking us places where we can make a difference, places where we can practice hospitality.

And in all these things may God bless us with that peace that passes all understanding, that peace that changes everything, the peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

1 John 3:1-7

1 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 3 And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 4 Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Luke 24:36b-48

36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 

New Wine and Old Wineskins

Mission Sunday at First Lutheran Church

April 8, 2018 + Mark 2:21-22

No one puts new wine into old wine skins.  Why?  Because they burst open and the wine is spilled, and it makes a mess of things.

As you all probably know, in the time of Jesus wine was not stored in bottles but in leather skins made from animals (most likely goats).  And if you ask any chemistry professor they can tell you that “new wine” or “grape juice” becomes an “old wine” or an “alcoholic beverage” because it is going through the process of fermenting!  And that process involves a chemical reaction, the emission of gases, and a building up of pressure.   So if you put that new wine into an old wineskin, a wineskin that has already been stretched out, a wineskin that has become dried out, hard, and maybe even brittle; you can imagine what the consequences would be once the new wine begins to ferment.  The old wineskin just can’t take the pressure, and it bursts open!  So, in order to prevent that from happening, wise makers of wine, put their new wine into new wineskins and in good time, along with the miracle of chemistry, they produced great wine!

It’s a great analogy, especially for the folks who lived in the time of Christ, people who made wine, agricultural people who lived closer to the land, who worked the land, who turned seed and earth into food and drink.  But we get our food from the store, and our wine comes processed and labeled in a bottle.  What do we know about wineskins?

So, I came up with another way to look at this text!  I found my old High School Letterman’s Jacket.  I wonder if it still fits?  (Put on jacket) As you can tell, it still fits!  Well kind of, if I don’t move, or reach for anything.  I remember the day that I bought this jacket.  I was a freshman in High School, I weighed about 120 pounds, and this jacket was huge.  I told my mom that it was too big, but she assured me that, I would grow into it, that it need to last me a long time.  Well she was wrong, I didn’t grow into it, I grew out of it!

Today Jesus reminds us that we grow out of things, that things change, that people of faith are by nature dynamic.  God declares, “Behold I am doing a new thing!”  St. Paul reminds us, “that in Christ all things become new.”  “Put away your former life, your old self, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, clothe yourself with a new self, in the likeness of God!”

I had some great times in this jacket.  Times that have shaped me, but the jacket’s only so big.  And today not only does the jacket not fit, it doesn’t represent my current passions for life, the ways I want to live out my faith, my identity in Christ that is “always changing,” being “made new,” being “raised up!”

I still love this jacket.  I had some good times, and some great friends when I was in High School.  I’ll keep it forever, but it won’t keep me in High School forever, it won’t keep me from becoming the person God intends me to be - today, it won’t hold me back from being part of the kingdom of God that is being raised up all around me, right here, right now!

Jesus reminds us all, “No one puts new wine into old wine skins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins   New wine has a life of its own, it’s dynamic, and as it matures it grows.  Old wineskins can’t stretch, they can’t contain the new wine.  You are new wine, and you need fresh wineskins.”

Believe it or not, you are new wine, together we are new wine, and we are on the way to becoming a great wine. (a full body round wine, not too sweet, with a nice bouquet and a hint of fruit and nuts) God is at work, “turning water into wine,” at good old FLC.

Today we gather to celebrate “Mission Sunday,” to share the passion for faith and service that God has raised up in each of us, to dream about “what’s next” at First Lutheran, to take leaps of faith, trusting that God is at work in each of us, and once again “making all things new.”

And finally, in the midst of all the changes, all the transformation, all the letting go and jumping in; I invite you to remember the one thing that never changes.  You are the beloved of God!  In the waters of baptism, joined to the death and resurrection of Christ, God claimed you, redeemed you, and holds you forever in love.

May God’s love for us, and for all of creation, give us peace and lead us together into “the living out of our mission” here at First Lutheran Church.  Amen.

Mark 2:21-22

“No one puts new wine into old wine skins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins   New wine has a life of its own, its dynamic, and as it matures it grows.  Old wineskins can’t stretch, they can’t contain the new wine.  You are new wine, and you need fresh wineskins.”