Sermon on John 10:1-10

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year, we read a section of John 10 and dwell on the image of Christ as our good shepherd. Or this year, Christ as the gate—Jesus doesn’t call himself the shepherd until the verse after our reading today ends.

The image of Christ as the good shepherd is generally a comforting one. So much art portrays a gentle Jesus cradling a lamb. We so often read Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” at funerals—for good reason. It is lovely to imagine ourselves and our loved ones being cared for by a nurturing, protecting God.

And, it’s important to look at the context of this passage in John 10 to see why Jesus is using this metaphor at this point in his ministry.

This teaching comes right after the lengthy story of the healing of the man who had been born blind. Or, if you remember from about a month ago, we can also understand it as his call story—Jesus calling a new disciple into the Beloved Community.

Jesus gives sight to this person, and then the community doesn’t believe it’s really him, so they interrogate him, then his parents, and then him again. Then they get so mad that they kick him out of the community. So, Jesus finds him and invites him to be part of his community of followers—taking in someone who had been cast aside.

But some of the religious leaders are listening to this conversation, and they’re confused by Jesus’ sight and blindness metaphor (which is present throughout the Gospel of John and equates physical sight to spiritual understanding, which is unfair to the visually impaired community and something we have to reckon with as Christians).

The end of John chapter 9 says this:

38 [The man] said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Then, (and remember that chapter breaks and verse numbers were added to the Bible much, much later) chapter 10 launches straight into the shepherd metaphor.

This shepherd teaching is a response to the religious leaders who had excluded the new disciple, and Jesus said it in the presence of the new disciple also. So,Jesus’ audience is the religious leaders and this new disciple.

It’s easy to read the shepherd teaching as exclusionary: that Jesus is creating an “in-group” of sheep versus the “out-group” that is outside the gate. And when you remember that Jesus is talking to Jewish religious authorities, it can also be easy to read some anti-Jewish messages into it. But, as always, please remember that Jesus was Jewish and so any critiques are coming from within that tradition. Jesus is holding his own religious tradition accountable, just as we all should. Institutions, whether religious, political, or something else, are made up of flawed human beings—there is always room for reform.

So, Jesus is painting a picture of what the Beloved Community is like.

The Beloved Community is like a lush field where its inhabitants are nourished abundantly. And there is safety from anything that threatens its vulnerable creatures. The sheep are cared for, protected, and nurtured.

That picture of the Beloved Community is good news to the new disciple, who had not been believed by his community and then ultimately was kicked out. He was not protected or cared for by his community, but Jesus found this vulnerable sheep and invited him into a community of care. What a relief that must have been!

And within this picture of Beloved Community, Jesus is declaring that he is the gate: the protection of the vulnerable sheep. He’s siding with the vulnerable against everything that threatens them.

It is not about an “in-group” and an “out-group.” It’s about shielding the vulnerable against those who have mistreated them. It’s not about creating an elite “in-group,” but about creating an abundant, safe community for those who don’t find belonging anywhere else.

In our lives today, it’s easy to fall into that in-group and out-group mentality that divides people into either friends or enemies or “thieves and bandits,” as our story puts it. And then, it doesn’t take much to start dehumanizing those we deem as “enemies.” And dehumanization in any form denies the image of God that is present in every person.

Christians in the US sometimes fall into this trap. We read the New Testament, especially passages like the part in 1 Peter we read today, where it talks about persecutions, and we read ourselves into it. But where Paul was talking to a fledgling religious sect that was actively being persecuted by the government—as in Jesus followers being executed—Christians are still the most powerful religious group in the US in both numbers and influence. Though the numbers of people who name themselves as Christian in the US is decreasing, one of the beautiful values of this country is the freedom to worship in our own ways instead of there being a state religion.

Sometimes when Christians read the New Testament, we read about persecutions and start to interpret a secularized culture as pushback against our Christianity instead of a way to account for the increasing diversity of beliefs.

So, passages like the shepherd teaching start to sound exclusionary—like we have to protect ourselves against thieves and bandits and people who say things we don’t like.

The problem is, Jesus doesn’t call us to protect ourselves in this passage. He invites us into the Beloved Community that seeks the well-being of the most vulnerable. He is its protection. He is the nourishment.

His way is not about separating us from them, but about creating a community of care and abundance for all. Let’s look again at the passage from Acts from today’s reading—it’s a gorgeous picture of what the Beloved Community is like:

[The baptized] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
 43Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

In the Beloved Community, its members are devoted to gathering and sharing. Everyone’s needs are met by each other’s generosity. We don’t see it as much in this text, but a theme throughout Jesus’ parables, teachings, and behavior is caring for the vulnerable. We don’t see it in this text, because the people in the Beloved Community are no longer isolated, shamed, or cast out.

How are we as followers of Jesus creating community like this?

How are we caring for each other?

How are we finding out what our neighbors’ needs are?

How are we generous with our time, resources, and compassion?

If we as a congregation could be 1% more like the Beloved Community today, what would that look like?

Jesus has always been about creating the Beloved Community.

He is the gate that protects the most vulnerable.

He is the shepherd who knows us by name.

He leads those who have been cast out, like the new disciple who had been born blind, to lush fields and life abundant.

The Beloved Community is for you and for your neighbors—all of them.

Let’s listen to our Good Shepherd and live life abundantly, generously, compassionately today and watch the Beloved Community grow in our lives.

First Lutheran Church

April 23, 2023 – Earth Day

Exodus 3:1-6 + Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 

John 3:16-17 + For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Sermon

“Earth Day”

Pastor Greg Ronning

Every year around Earth Day it is not uncommon to see this quote from Martin Luther, "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars."  Here’s a meme that I recently discovered on Facebook. (See Worship Screen) It’s a wonderful quote, and a great quote for Earth Day.However, there’s a problem with it, according to Luther scholars, - Luther never said it! 

Don’t worry about it if you’ve publicly shared it, I must confess that I have mistakenly used the quote more than once over the years.  The truth that Luther probably never said it, was something I just learned this year!  Luther may not have said it, but it’s still a great quote, and I believe it still is the truth.  Anna Madsen, a self-described Freelance Lutheran Theologian, believes, I bet Luther wishes he would have said it.  It’s nice, to the point, and it fits his theology.

Here’s something Luther did say, regarding God and creation, using quite a few more words, “The Scriptures teach us…that the right hand of God is not a specific place in which a body must or may be, such as on a golden throne, but is the almighty power of God, which at one and the same time can be nowhere and yet must be everywhere. It cannot be at any one place, … On the other hand, it must be essentially present at all places, even in the tiniest tree leaf.  The reason is this: It is God who creates, effects, and preserves all things through God’s almighty power and right hand, as our Creed confesses.  For God dispatches no officials or angels when God creates or preserves something, but all this is the work of God’s divine power itself.  If God is to create or preserve it, however, God must be present and must make and preserve God’s creation both in its innermost and outermost aspects.”

A goodsolid theological quote, but not something that might easily become a “meme” on Facebook!  (A bit wordy, and a lot of run on sentences.)

Anna Madsen sums upLuther’s teaching more succinctly, “Therefore, indeed, God must be present in every single creature in its innermost and outermost being, on all sides, through and through, below and above, before and behind, so that nothing can be more truly present and within all creatures than God with God’s power.”And even more succinctly she declares, “Upshot: God is everywhere and in everything.”

In today’s first reading from Exodus, we see this notion that God is indeed present in everything.  God appears to Moses in a burning bush, on “holy ground.”  Dr. Lynn Nakamura, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, invites us to consider this more carefully.  Noting that God, the God of the whole universe, appears in a bush, in an everyday bush, a bush in the wilderness, a bush planted in the dirt, planted in the earth.  It’s all very ordinary, yet Moses is instructed, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  Taking off your shoes is a ritual with ancient origins, an act of humility, performed by one who is about to enter a sacred place.  We are reminded that God is everywhere and in everything, we are reminded that everywhere and everything is holy, and on this day – the earth is a sacred place, a place God dwells deeply and powerfully.  "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars." 

Yet it seems that this understanding of God being powerfully present in creation, this understanding of creation as being sacred, is not something that Christianity has done a good job of proclaiming, or even retaining.  It’s not something that’s really been an important part of our tradition.  It’s certainly not something clearly stated in the New Testament.  It’s not something that early church writers or leaders in the first millennium of the church wrote much in anything about.  And while the principle of “stewardship of the earth” has become more prevalent in recent decades, it’s still more of a - protect the environment response - and not a strong sense of discovering and celebrating the presence of God in nature.

The Early Church was convinced that Christ was going to return with the fullness of the Kingdom God at any minute, “soon and very soon.”  And in that conviction, in that belief, there was no need to develop a faithfuland thoughtful doctrinein regard to creation.  They were preparing for “a new earth,”and “a new creation.”  They were ready to leave the world behind and be welcomed into heaven.  The writer of the book of Revelation writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” (Revelation 21:1). The early Christian focus was not on caring for the earth but the anticipation of a new one!

Anna Madsen concludes, “I’m not entirely sure that we Christians have ever recovered, either from the texts that diminish our relationship to the Land, or, come to think of it, that Jesus hasn’t returned when expected!Heck, too often enough we can’t even get the interpretation of the Jewish texts about creation right, like,- no, “have dominion” does not mean “dominate,” but very much rather to care for, love, steward.Truth is, Christians’ future-fixation, and its spiritualization of the present, has harmed the earth, and it’s harmed us.”

So where does all this leave us on Earth Day 2023?  As I was contemplating how to bring this sermon to a conclusion, I came across a different meme, while wasting time on Facebook, one that really intrigued me.  It was a quote from Ilia Delio, a Franciscan Sister who specializes the study of the intersections of science and religion.  And I am quite confident she really did say this!  She writes, “God is not the supernatural being above but the supranatural center of everything that exists.”

And here’s what I’ve been thinking, could it be that we spend too much time and energy pondering and envisioning and seeking a God that is absolutely enormous, instead of looking for a God that is incredibly small?  We often challenge, even reprove, chide each other, “How big is your God?”  As if not having a really big God is somehow unfaithful.  But perhaps, especially on this day, the better question to ask is, “How small is your God?”

What would it be like if we were able to find God, present and alive, in the very fabric of the life that is all around us?  What would be like if we found God in an ordinary bush?  What would be like if the dirt we walk upon suddenly became “Holy Ground?”  What if we were able to find the Gospel written boldly,albeit in an extremely small font, in these “things” of creation?  What if we were able to see the divine in the life, the creation that surrounds us?And what if we were able to see “the life that sparks” deep inside of us?  What if God is not the supernatural being above and beyond us, but the supranatural center of everything that exists?

And what would happen if we were able to shrink God down, and begin to see and to understand God fully present in the intimate details of creation?  Would that change the way we treated the earth?  Would we humbly take off our shoes and acknowledge the sacred?  Would we be able to cease our need to dominate the planet and instead begin to care for and love the earth, become good and faithful stewards of creation?  Would we begin to realize that in loving “creation” we would be loving the “Creator?”  Would the earth in turn respond by continuing to provide all the things that everyone needs to live and even thrive?

Just How small is your God? 

Martin Luther never said, "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars."  But it’s true.

Luther did say, “Therefore, indeed, God must be present in every single creature in its innermost and outermost being, on all sides, through and through, below and above, before and behind, so that nothing can be more truly present and within all creatures than God with all God’s power.”  God is everywhere and in everything!

And Moses found “Holy Ground” in the wilderness, in an ordinary bush made alive by a fire that revealed the presence of God.

I suppose God can be both big and small, but on this Earth Day Weekend, I am challenged and comforted by a God that is small. Small enough to be in every living thing.  Small enough to be in every living thing that surrounds me.  Small enough to be in you, small enough to be in me.  Small enough toremind us that we are all sacred.  Small enough to remind us that we are loved in a very big way!

May you discover this “Small God” in the world around you.May you see the awe and beauty of creation in the details of the world “God so loved,” - both God and the promise of the Gospel. May you find that sacred place to take off your shoes. And in all this may you find a deep and lasting peace.  Amen.

Sermon on John 20:19-31

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Jesus’ disciples had seen him day in and day out for the past three years—but he had been killed.

Since Friday, they had woken up, and he wasn’t there.

As they finally drifted off to sleep at night, the weight of his absence was crushing.

There were some rumors that his body wasn’t in the tomb, and that Mary Magdalene had seen him alive, but that couldn’t be. Could it?

They were hiding out—locked themselves in, lest the authorities (referred to as “the Jews,” but who were the religious authorities who had been threatened by Jesus’ mission)—lest the authorities make them suffer the same fate as their rabbi.

The air in that room was thick with their silence, with the shuffling of feet, clenched fists, and quiet tears.

Then,

Jesus appeared! He was suddenly in the middle of the room—no approaching footsteps or creaking of the door.

He was just…there—he was there!

Their tears of guilt, grief, and confusion turned to tears of joy.

He gave them peace and the Holy Spirit and sent them out to continue his mission of bringing the Beloved Community into the world.

But Thomas wasn’t there.

Poor Thomas, who has gained such a bad reputation for doubting (as if doubting were the opposite of faith, when doubt means you’re thinking deeply about faith).He only asked for what the other disciples had received: an encounter with Jesus.

And Jesus honored his request.

A week later, Jesus again appeared in their hideout. This time, the door was only shut, not locked. Perhaps their encounter with Jesus emboldened them to start opening themselves up to the world again.

But Jesus hadn’t come back to give the disciples more instructions or push them out the door.

Jesus had come back specifically for Thomas.

He returned so that Thomas could have an encounter with him, just as the other disciples had had.

Jesus offered his hands and his side for Thomas to touch—it was Jesus’ wounds that Thomas wanted to see. He didn’t ask for Jesus to shine like at the Transfiguration or perform miracles. He wanted to see Jesus’ wounds—evidence of his suffering and humanity. Perhaps that was the only way Jesus could pierce Thomas’s grief.

And out of that encounter, Thomas declares Jesus’ identity: “my Lord and my God!”

Two thousand years later, we don’t get to have a physical encounter with Jesus like that.

Some over the centuries have had visions of Christ and mystical experiences. If you have experienced something like that, I would love to hear about it—please let me know!

But for most of us, we don’t have physical experiences of Jesus to that degree.

It seems like it must have been so easy for people who actually met Jesus to believe in him. How could you look into the eyes of God and not recognize it?

But for us two thousand years later, with a hefty dose of modern skepticism, it’s much harder to believe that a first-century rabbi and miracle worker was executed by the state and then came back to life.

I don’t blame anyone for having doubts. The Gospels are full of some pretty wild stories.

In fact—this might sound surprising coming from a pastor, but—it doesn’t bother me if you don’t believe in the resurrection.

If that’s too bizarre of a story for you to accept, that’s okay. The way the Gospels record it, even Jesus’ most inner circle had a hard time believing it.

I think what matters a lot more is how you see God working in your life now.

Do you see God in the beauty of nature?

In the resilience of a weed growing out of a crack in the sidewalk?

In the vastness of space as you look at a photo from the James Webb telescope?

Do you hear God in the giggle of a toddler delighting in the splash of a puddle?

In the concern of a stranger really looking into your eyes and asking how your day has been?

In the thoughtfulness of a friend who sent you a card just when you needed it most?

In the compassion of someone like Mother Teresa?

Or the generosity of our Messy Church folks who, after the Easter egg hunt last week, started picking out treats and prizes for cousins and friends?

Do you recognize God in the way a piece of music or art takes your breath away?

In the gratitude and sense of humor from someone at Caring Hands?

We can’t touch Jesus’ hands like Thomas could, but we can see God’s hands at work in our world, if we only pay attention.

I, along with our stewardship team, want to challenge you to pay attention to where you see God this Easter season. Easter is not just a single Sunday when we dress up and sing Alleluias and eat brunch with our family and friends. Easter is a whole season—one week longer than Lent.

We’re already a week in, but we’d like to invite you to log your God sightings for the next six weeks until Pentecost Sunday on May 28 (which is also Memorial Day weekend).

Hopefully you received one of the little notebooks on your way in—if not, be sure to grab one before you leave.

You can use this notebook to jot down notes—doesn’t have to be complete sentences—just a word or two is fine—whenever you notice God in your life during these next six weeks. You can doodle in the notebook, or—even better—take pictures. Log your God sightings however works best for you.

There’s a theme each week for inspiration. This week’s theme is “seeing God in creation.” So, you might take your notebook with you on a walk or snap a picture of a sunset. You don’t have to stick to the theme—the Holy Spirit is notorious for not sticking to human plans—but use the themes however they’re helpful.

As we collect these God sightings, we invite you to post your pictures on social media with our hashtag or send them to Terri Robertson. The details are on the inside cover of your notebook. You can also send in pictures of your doodles or written reflections. The stewardship team will be collecting these photos, and you may see them in worship on Pentecost.

No sighting is too small—God works in both big and subtle ways. What matters is that you’re paying attention to the ways God is at work in and around you.

We may not get to see Jesus in the way he appeared to the disciples in that locked room, but we are the recipients of the disciples’ legacy. They, starting with Mary Magdalene, told others about their experiences with Jesus. Their stories have been passed down all the way to us.

We add to their stories every time we have an encounter with God. And God is always at work. So, whatever you believe about what happened 2,000 years ago, you can encounter God today.

Along with Jesus’ first disciples, we can rejoice when we see our God.

We can marvel at the world our Creator God made.

We can recognize Jesus in the wounds in this world.

We can feel the breath of the Holy Spirit moving us to compassion for our neighbors.

And then, we can tell others, sharing our experiences of God in our daily lives.

The stories of the Easter season are full of Jesus showing up in unexpected places. Let’s practice looking for him together.