Fifth Sunday of Easter: Good Shepherd Sunday

Sermon 4/16/16

Thanks Russ for the great bulletin design!

It’s “Good Shepherd Sunday” again. Why? Because this is the essence of the Risen Christ? Jesus answer to Peter last week:  the proof of love? Feed my sheep. (Cue: Jorma Kaukonen and the Jefferson Airplane’s "O Good Shepherd, feed my sheep…”)

"Good Shepherd"

If you want to get to heaven
Over on the other shore
Stay out of the way of the blood-stained bandit
Oh good shepherd
Feed my sheep
One for Paul
One for Silas
One for to make my heart rejoice
Can't you hear my lambs acallin
Oh good shepherd
Feed my sheep

If you want to get to heaven
Over on the other shore
Stay out of the way of the long-tongue liar
Oh good shepherd
Feed my sheep

If you want to get to heaven
Over on the other shore
Stay out of the way of the gun shot devil
Oh good shepherd
Feed my sheep

In Jesus' days, shepherds were suspect. They were the only ones who slept outside the gates. They were subject to stop and frisk when they came to town.  The connection back to David was  already nostalgiac at best.

It gives us warm feelings…few of us have any real connection to real sheep. Maybe street fair petting zoos. Wool usually holding sawdust and other detritus…what images serve us?

When we first moved to the city, our apartment building had a lot of school age children. Our porter Kenny would watch the children  on their way to and way back from school…until they were safe.

Jesus is into a q & a with the Pharisees again. Let’s consider that  maybe they’re actually  serious…Are YOU the one? They ask. And his response: I have. I do. I am. Once you are in his hands, you can never be snatched away.

Perhaps the best known passage in the Bible is the 23^rd psalm. We used to have a walk around Bible.  Verses we had memorized. Many of us clergy have had the nursing home experience . A room full of resident with Dementia.  Completeley out of it. And then the 23^rd Psalm is recited and everyone is joining.in.

We use it for funerals. Memorials. And baptisms.

Why does it comfort us so? Once you’re in his hands? 

What are your memories? Which image comforts you the best?

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

I want to close with Bobby McFerrin’s Psalm 23. Written for his mother..

The Lord is my Shepard, I have all I need,
She makes me lie down in green meadows,
Beside the still waters, She will lead.

She restores my soul, She rights my wrongs,
She leads me in a path of good things,
And fills my heart with songs.

Even though I walk, through a dark & dreary land,
There is nothing that can shake me,
She has said She won't forsake me,
I'm in her hand.

She sets a table before me, in the presence of my foes,

She anoints my head with oil,
And my cup overflows.

Surely, surely goodness & kindness will follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I will live in her house,
Forever, forever & ever.

Glory be to our Mother, & Daughter,
And to the Holy of Holies,
As it was in the beginning, is now & ever shall be,
World, without end. Amen

PSALM 23:1-6

¹The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

²He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;

³he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths

for his name's sake.

⁴Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff-

they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

⁶Surely 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.

Benediction REVELATION 7:9-17

⁹After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" ¹¹And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹²singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen."

¹³Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" ¹⁴I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. ¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; ¹⁷for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

GOSPEL JOHN 10:22-30

²²At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. ²⁴So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." ²⁵Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; ²⁶but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. ²⁷My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. ³⁰The Father and I are one."

The 4th Sunday in Easter: Mother's Day. Good Shepherd Sunday.

5/11

Debra brought beautiful flowers for Mother's Day. And her guitar.

On the other side of the door, Debra is already there waiting for me to open up. She’s got a big vase with beautiful flowers for Mother’s Day. And her guitar. We get to work setting up and Dion arrives and then Deacon James and soon we’re getting  it together and Debra and I have time to practice the King of Love My Shepherd is to the tune of O Waly, Waly and as we’re practicing Joey arrives with Rachel and Dion helps her into the sanctuary.

As a prelude for the service, I play O Good Shepherd Feed my Sheep by the Jefferson Airplane. We sing Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us to open the service. As it is every 4^th Sunday of Easter, it is Good Shepherd Sunday.

The first lesson is Acts 2: 42-47

Here we find the 4 marks of community (42):

1.     Devoted themselves to apostles’ teaching

2.     Fellowship

3.     Breaking of bread

4.     Prayer

The fruit of this community is that (44) They were together and held all things in common and gave to  any as they had need . When  I ask what this sounds like, John R of course responds From each according to his ability, to each according to his need . Someone asks Didn’t Marx say that? And I respond that it started with 19^th century French philosopher Louis Blanc and then Marx. And now scholars feel that Blanc got it from Acts.  So that classic formulation had its origins in the Bible.

It’s been hard  to talk about socialism in the US for a long time, but Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty seems to be opening up room for conversation. I remember my friend David when he and his garin first reestablished the kibbutz at Gezer. I am finally living this, he said, From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. And to a great extent they were. When last I saw him, 32 years later at the same kibbutz, that dream, as well as a lot of others, was long gone.

Last night there were over 150 communists here. There’s a thirst out there for something. Little would they suspect it could go back to the Bible.

And the result of this sense of community was that they lived with (46 ) glad and generous hearts… This is also also part of a progression that leads to hope and what I’m now learning is an equally essential spiritual gift, joy. What I have so often seen in African-American worship. And More Light worship. The joy that sings forth from a community of struggle committed to each other with mutual love and accountability.

We proceed Psalm 23 by singing Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life.

And we say the Psalm, both in the King James version, you can’t really do it any other way, and in Spanish. And then Debra and I do our King of Love My Shepherd is and it feels very good.

One of my clergy colleagues said that Psalm 23  is the  Mona Lisa of the psalter…It’s images, even in a  tense and troubled time (David being pursued?) is that of  abundance over  scarcity…the overflowing cup, the anointing with oil, the banquet in front of enemies…

The truth of the world is that there is enough. It is a lie that there is not enough. It is ultimately a question of distribution, not production.  In urban ministry we have learned that it is better to start with not a  needs assessment but a capacity assessment. When we start with needs, we get overwhelmed. Depressed. Ready to give up. Believe that our salvation  must lie in someone else’s hands. Someone else’s power. But when we begin with capacity, with what we already have, then possibility, hope begins to emerge.

The theologian Walter Brueggemann once said that  Resistance begins with doxology. We begin with giving thanks for all we have to be thankful for. When  I felt most alone, that turned me around.

This psalm, more than almost any other Bible passage, fills us with comfort. Helps us feel protected. Cared for. Loved.

And the end can be read ...my whole life long….or I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

In 1 Peter 2: 19-25, we’re back to joy again. And also a reflection on as Dr. King said it and Andre reminds us, the redemptive power of unmerited suffering. While I don’t completely understand it, James Cone makes the same point in Black Theology.

Sharon Welch has said that cynicism is a prerogative of privilege. Only the privileged liberal middle class can afford to be cynical, ultimately  a justification for abdicating oneself of responsibility for the struggle. Of breaking solidarity, abandoning those who are oppressed, excluded, marginalized.

Finally we come to the Gospel, John 10: 1-10. We are now half- way to Ascension, half way through Easter. Maybe we do this every year to show what the ministry of the risen Christ is all about.

We forget that at the time of Jesus, all the  shepherd/shepherding language was already nostalgic. A romantic memory of a long gone nomadic past, part of the mythology of King David. Most everyone, even farmers, lived inside the gates of the city and only shepherds lived outside in the hills coming in only to trade.

Likewise, very few of us have any real contact with sheep outside of street fair petting zoos, scruffy as they are. When  my kids were little, we tied to come up with urban images .They thought of Kenny the porter of our apartment building who took it on himself to walk all the building’s kids to the bus in the morning  and see them safely home when they got back in the afternoon. That works for me.

Who else? Do you have your own images?

So it is Mother’s Day. And those images work for our mothers. Or those who have been mothers for us. Recognizing that not all mother relationships have been good and that often, others have played that role.

As I close, I’d like to share with you Bobby Mc Ferrin’s setting of the 23^rd Psalm, dedicated to his mother. Listen closely to the words:

The Lord is my Shepard, I have all I need,
She makes me lie down in green meadows,
Beside the still waters, She will lead.

She restores my soul, She rights my wrongs,
She leads me in a path of good things,
And fills my heart with songs.

Even though I walk, through a dark and dreary land,
There is nothing that can shake me,
She has said She won't forsake me,
I'm in her hand.

She sets a table before me, in the presence of my foes,
She anoints my head with oil,
And my cup overflows.

Surely, surely goodness and kindness will follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I will live in her house,
Forever, forever and ever.

Glory be to our Mother, and Daughter,
And to the Holy of Holies,
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,
World, without end. Amen

 We pray. Andre sings for us Blessed Assurance. We take up our offering. Sing the doxology. Do a half way decent job of singing Go with us Lord... to the tune of the Tallis Canon, as a round.

The join hands, sing Amen. And clean up as we prepare for our own afternoons.

The Session approves a candidate for the porter position. And people to serve on the pastoral evaluation committee.

Outside, the sun is shining.It is warm.

For other Good Shepherd Sundays:
http://west-parkpress.blogspot.com/search?q=good+shepherd+sunday

Feed my sheep

4/21

Remembered from yesterday...young person in the south portal...a sign outside sleeping bag...Hungry. Homleess. Looking for a miracle. I don’t have the heart to tell him we don’t allow signs....

                               * * * *

As I arrive at the church, Rachelle is in animated conversation with Stephen on the steps.  Pastor, I wanted to help your congregation, I was going to come to services, bring other people to services, but not now, not because of this man, this man..indicating Stephen. The issue is she wants to bring her SUV cart inside. I explain that’s not going to happen. She continues to argue. Listen I say, there’s not a single congregation that would let you put that in the sanctuary. 

Oh but pastor, they all make  room, every time I go to schul....

Her voice has that dental drill tone again....I break my own standard  and say, Rachelle, it looks like a garbage truck, empty bottles, papers.....and so she begins to explain the value and worth of each treasured  item....I want to give up.

As always, my friend Mark from the UN ministry is here early and ready to help.  Anna has brought a suitcase filled with clothes from a former occupier. Stephen puts it beside the garbage can on the street. Mark’s UN interns are arriving. One a Columbia undergrad the other, a third career seminarian from the Bay area. 

I start out by sharing the religio-socio history of West-Park with those who have come as visitors.  I begin the service by playing Good Shepherd, by the Jefferson Airplane. Seeing who’s old enough to remember. Our prayers are filled with  remembrances of Boston, including the surviving suspect, Dzhokar Tsamaev and his family. There is reference to the explosion in Texas. And Mark and Don speak of the earthquake n China. 

I reflect that this is Good Shepherd Sunday. Regardless of how liturgically, lectionary wise, we got here, it’s perfect for this week.  I start by asking people’s feelings. Some feel  vulnerable. Some wondering about our mental heath system. others simply the random uncertainty  of our lives. Yet none see this as a call for more access to weapons..Instead there us anger towards the Senate and their failure  to act...

Our scripture is John 10: 2-30. Lots going on this week. The Boston Marathon, the vote of the senate on gun control, the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.......

In the midst of all of this, it is Good Shepherd Sunday. It happens every year on the the 4th Sunday of Easter. The very middle of Eastertide, halfway between Easter and Pentecost.Why? No one is exactly sure. But this year, it’s especially appropriate...

 We remember how after 9-11 we read, sang, and prayed the 23rd psalm....even though it wasn’t the appointed psalm for the week. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall; not not want. The  Lord is my shepherd, I shall  not want we chanted and then André took off improvising off the verses. 

This is the most requested psalm for funerals.one we  carry  around in our  hearts...Why?

It must strike us as essential some how, somehow inherently true, beyond our heads, deep into our hearts.  Last week in our neighborhood lectionary group, I misheard one of our members translate a passage as darkest ALLEY not darkest valley...an urban image ....we agree, it’s about living with courage ....It’s about finding your way home in the dark....

The actual Hebrew says. Goodness and mercy shall PURSUE me all my days...As for the end, I like Eugene  Peterson’s take on the psalm: 

in his The Message : I'm back home in the house of God for the rest of my life. Back home....

In community organizing, we are taught that  leaders are those who have  have followers..and that we need to differentiate between organizers and leaders. What was amazing in Boston as in New York before it, was how the people organized themselves,without  directions  from authorities, to deal with what was going on...

So in Boston, where was God? In those who jumped the fences to staunch wounds. In those who kept running two more miles after finishing the marathon to the hospitals to give blood. Those who organized the medical tents. Those who kept heir heads and helped others to keep theirs. These are the heroes. The everyday heroes.

There is nothing dumb in these sheep.....

After the service, we share the cake that Arcadia has brought as well as the coffee that Jamie brings. The session gathers and gets up to date as to where we now are.  Outside, to police cars, lights flashing, pull up to gingerly examine Anna's suitcase left by garbage.  Berik, from Kazakhstan, is concerned that all the suspects's relatives sound like him...

after worship

After visiting the art exhibit  at SPSA by Angelo Romano, including his angel talisman, I return. The Sanctuary NYC new play reading performance is  still going on.

And much later that night, I return. Rachelle, with her SUV cart, is at the corner. Waiting.