May 8 "Shepherd and Sheep"

Readings: Psalm 23: Acts 9:36-43, Revelation 7:9-17, John 10:22-30
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, May 8, 2022

"The Lord is my shepherd - I shall not want - He makes me to lie
down in green pastures - He leads me beside still waters - He
restoreth my soul..."

What comforting words these are. But how well do they apply to our lives?
Jesus said, "My Sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me."

You know, I really want Jesus to be my shepherd . I want Him to be my shepherd because I am told that when I am lost, He will look for me, that when I am in danger, He will comfort me.

I want Jesus to be my shepherd because He promises His sheep eternal life, because He promises that they shall never perish. "No-one will snatch them out of my hand," says Jesus, "For what my Father has given me is greater than all else and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand." As the 23rd Psalm puts it, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

I really want Jesus to be my shepherd. I really want all that the 23rd Psalm promises, all that Jesus promises to be true for me. I know from all the people that who have selected the 23rd Psalm for their funeral services, their wedding services, their times of special need or celebration, (and from all the people that I know who can recite the 23rd Psalm by heart), that many people want the same thing.

A God to watch over them,
A God to protect them,
A God to bless them,
A God to seek them out when they go astray,
A God to comfort them when they hurt,
A God to heal them when they are ill .
A God to walk with them when they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
A God to bring them into paradise when they die.

That's the sort of God we all want. The God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Mary and of Joseph, the God who says to all of us, through Jesus,"These things can be yours; these things are a love gift from God your Shepherd. I am the Good Shepherd, I am the one who looks after his sheep; I am the one who loves his sheep with a love that is stronger than death, the Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep"

As we think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, it is clear to us that He and His Father are, as he said, One. That what is entrusted to Him, is entrusted to the Father, and what is entrusted to the Father, is entrusted to Him. Our God is the Good Shepherd.

The other side of the picture is, that if God is the Shepherd, then that makes us the sheep. And sheep are notoriously stupid and smelly creatures, not really a group in which we'd like to find our identity. Sheep are easy prey to almost any predator that is passing by, they are easily scattered. They have a habit, if they get into death threatening situations, to just lay back and give up.

Isaiah knew what sheep were like when he wrote, "All we like sheep have gone astray." It's not a very flattering image. The Shepherd, well great, there are a lot of positive things you can say about shepherding, but the sheep? Yes, I know they are kind of fluffy and make cute baa-baa noises, but you don't find many positive things written about sheep.

However, one skill that sheep do possess, is the ability to recognize the shepherd’s voice. At least that is how it was in Jesus’ day. They are more likely to recognize the sound of his tractor or the bark of his dogs, than a voice these days, but then it was different. Shepherds did not have tractors and sheep dogs. They lived out in the hills with the animals. They protected them. They nurtured them. And the sheep learnt to trust the shepherd and identify his voice amongst all the other voices.

Now, I know as well as you do, that our lives are not identified with sheep and shepherds, but with computers, screens, and mass communications. The number one occupation in the U.S. was once the farmer. Then it became the laborer. Now, in our time, the number one occupation is the information worker.

The majority of workers in the U.S.A. are people paid to process data or information. Almost half of the U.S. gross national product is generated by information-related activities. It has even been said that the world now has two categories of people. The information rich and the information poor. In today's world information is power.

But the irony of our age is, that the very information technology that is supposed to liberate us, has begun to control us. When I was at Aberystwyth University, in Wales, I used to go up to the National Library to study. A huge building stocked with books on everything imaginable. But it took a while to get at the information. And sometimes it was not quite what you were looking for.

These days we have disks holding libraries full of data. The 'World Wide Web'  has Internet search engines that enable you to type in a word and they find for you, more data than you could possibly use. And it is hard for our minds to deal with all this material.

I am sure those who are in school have to learn to treat information in a different way than many of us older folk did. I remember being given essays to do and all the material was in just a couple of books, so all you had to do was absorb that information, repeat it, and that was that. But these days, to thoroughly research all the data available on any topic is virtually impossible.

In a world with so much available information, it is difficult to discern just what information is central for our lives. In a world with so many voices we are beginning to wonder whose voice we should listen to.

Jesus said, "My Sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me."

The problem we stupid sheep have, is that we are not always sure which voice is the voice of the Shepherd. We do not doubt that God knows all about us. We believe that He knows us and that He knows what is best for us. We believe that life in His hands is a safe way to live our lives. But we don't always identify His voice.

We could complain that it was somehow easier for folk in Jesus’ day to hear and follow. It wasn't. There were conflicting voices in His time as well. Some said he was the Messiah, while others doubted the fact. When the folks from Jerusalem asked Him to state finally if He really was the Anointed One of God, He fired back that they should know better than to ask. After all, hadn't they seen for themselves the works He had done in his Father's name?

 Jesus used language and imagery that needed no explanation, the image of shepherd and sheep. The people knew how flocks of sheep mingled together in the hills until the moment each shepherd called out to his flock with a unique voice.

The quality of our life here and now is affected by whether we have a listening relationship with the living Christ, by whether or not we actually come when the Master calls, by whether or not we identify His voice (among all the others) and strive to do what He tells us to do.

In the eyes of God each one of us belongs to His flock. The Shepherd is calling to the sheep. God is calling out to us. God is searching for us. God is asking us to come to Him, to listen to Him, and to enter His fold. To be sheltered and made secure with the rest of the sheep. As parents call their children to themselves, so that they might bless them, so God is calling us, to know His blessing.

We were considering a weeks ago, wen our confirmands led worship, that God, in an image appropriate for Mother’s Day, is like a Mother Hen who wants to wrap her arms around her chicks. But the sting in the tale in that passage is “But you wouldn’t let me!”

What are some ways we can allow God to embrace our lives – and listen for God’s call?

Listen for the call, through maintaining an active prayer life. Some think prayer is trying to twist God’s arm into getting God to do things for us. Prayer is actually about positioning ourselves into a place where we are receptive to hear what God wishes us to say and finding the empowerment to what God asks of us.

Listen for the call through giving yourself to private reading of God's Word. Most have a bible in their home. Sadly, in many homes, it has a layer of dust upon it, because it is seldom consulted. The Psalmist writes, “Thy Word is a light unto my feet.” But a light doesn’t work if you don’t turn it on. And the way to turn the light of scripture on is by allowing the words to illuminate your life journey.

Listen for the call through joining with others for Bible Study. There are opportunities to meet with others to study God’s word. If that is something you are interested in, we can do that! There are numerous commentaries freely available online.

Listen for the call through opening your life to God in worship. I’ve heard so many times, “I don’t need to go to church to worship God.” A half-truth. From personal experience I can assure you that when we are together reveals God’s self in ways that do not happen when we act as a spiritual lone ranger. There is a reason Jesus tells us, “Wherever 2 or 3 GATHER in my name I am there in the midst of them.”
 
Listen for the call with imagination, and energy, and song. I spent time at a retreat the week before last with a group of wonderfully creative folk. Song writers, poets, dramatists. The power of words… and words linked to melodies or structure is incredible. Whenever Jesus wanted to tell us something of the most importance, He had a habit of telling it by way of a story so carefully worded that even a child could instantly memorize it. The Good Shepherd. The Lost Sheep. We hear the title, and we visualize the whole story.
 
Listen for the call through giving and receiving, reaping, and sowing. Mission is important. It’s not all about what we do inside these walls. It’s about how what we do within these walls changes the world beyond these walls. If leave this place and walk the talk and that changes everything.

I could do a sermon on each of those. But not today! Let me simply offer these three closing thoughts.

Listen and follow - and you shall not want.
Listen and follow - and you will lie down in green pastures.
Listen and follow - and your soul will be restored.

May God help us to discern God’s voice, amongst all the many that surround our lives, that we may learn to be disciples that bring glory to Christ’s Name. AMEN.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.