St. George's Episcopal Church
Roseburg, Oregon
Fourth Sunday After Easter Day
7 May 2006
Go To St. George's Home Page
Note: This page is optimized for a display size (screen resolution) of 1024 x768 or higher. How to change display size.
St. George's Episcopal Church |
|
Acts 4:5-12
Psalm 23:1-6
1 John 3:16-24
John 10:11-18
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 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.” (John 10:11-18)
Life Matters
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
Revised 10 May2006
[sung by preacher]
“Gunna have a break today at McDonald’s!”
Remember that? That was the advertising slogan for McDonald’s restaurants first promoted in 1971 and then re-issued in 1981.
How about this one?
[sung by preacher]
I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love,
Grow apple trees and honey bees, and snow white turtle doves.
I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,
I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.
And while “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company” repeated twice, the announcer came on and said, “It’s the real thing; Coke is what the world wants today.”
“It’s the Real Thing” also launched in 1971. It had its origins when the plane carrying Bill Backer, the creative director of the Coca-Cola account was heading to London to record some promotional songs. His plane got diverted to Shannon Airport, Ireland due bad weather in London. The irate passengers were obliged to share rooms at the one hotel available in Shannon or to sleep at the airport. Tensions and tempers ran high.
The next morning, as the passengers gathered in the airport coffee shop awaiting clearance to fly, Backer noticed that several who had been among the most irate were now laughing and sharing stories over bottles of Coke. As Backer himself recalled in his book The Care and Feeding of Ideas (New York: Times Books/Random House, 1993):
In that moment . . . Backer began to see a bottle of Coca-Cola as more than a drink. . . . Backer began to see the familiar words, “Let’s have a Coke,” as . . . actually a subtle way of saying, “Let’s keep each other company for a little while.” And Backer knew they were being said all over the world as Backer sat there in Ireland. So that was the basic idea: to see Coke not as it was originally designed to be—a liquid refresher—but as a tiny bit of commonality between all peoples, a universally liked formula that would help to keep them company for a few minutes.
In some ways, the gospels are like that kind of marketing literature: they describe a product worth learning about; worth owning. And like good advertising, they contain catchy phrases that grab and hold our attention.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Jn 1:1)
“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.” (Jn 3:16)
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6b).
These verses from John are perhaps the most familiar in that gospel. Not only are they memorable, they also transmit the theology of the Johannine community that Jesus – the incarnate word of God – was absolutely central to salvation.
Good marketing – or evangelism as we like to call it in the church – is also characterized by good imagery such as pictures or situations that are not only memorable, but capture the essence of the value of the product.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11).
This verse from our gospel reading today is clearly among the most well known images of Jesus. Think of the number of stained glass windows you have seen in churches depicting Jesus surrounded by his flock, or holding a sheep in his arms.
John’s view of Jesus as shepherd reminds us of the value of life – all life – to God. There is much in our world that can and does cheapen human life. When people are killed in vast numbers, it is hard to think of them as individuals. The genocide in Darfur is a recent example.[1] That conflict is mainly between the government-backed Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from local Arab tribes, and the non-Arab peoples of western Sudan. Estimates vary, but between 180,000 and 300,000 people have died since the conflict began in 2003, and more than 1.8 million people have been displaced from their homes. Those numbers are so large it is hard to visualize a single individual face.
In our culture we are even further desensitized to death by the frequent depiction of murder and mayhem in the media. Depictions of violence are so accepted in our culture that there is a market for it. eBay, for example has a category called “violent movies,” which on 4 May had 135 items for sale.[2] Not only does violence in the movies and on TV desensitize us to hurtful behavior and death, two psychological studies indicate that gratuitous violence actually makes people meaner. James Weaver of Virginia Tech and the author of one of these reports says “… films with gratuitous violence make people less civil, more willing to say things in a meeting or in a classroom that were inappropriate a few years ago. It seems tied to the role models seen and the lessons learned from different types of films.”[3] The media are not only desensitizing us to violence they are teaching us that it is okay to break the rules of civility. It is somehow acceptable to use guns or swords to settle a dispute.
But John’s view of Jesus as the shepherd lies in direct opposition to this kind of insensitive or callous view of life. The Good Shepherd can restore our sense of divine worth present in all life. The shepherd is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. Those are clearly very valuable sheep! And that is exactly John’s point: Jesus was willing to die.
John dscribes Jesus as the good shepherd as opposed to a bad one – the hired hand. This is not to say that hired hands are always untrustworthy – it is dangerous to over generalize anything – particularly scripture. John tells us that Jesus wanted to place himself in relationship with the sheep, and thus bring him closer spiritually, psychologically, and emotionally to us than a mere employee. We are assured that our welfare is in the hands of someone who cares so much for us that he is willing to personally know each one of us. He is willing to die for each one of us. Jesus is telling us that our individual lives are worth the life of another. We matter to God that much.
Barbara Crafton is an Episcopal priest and author. She related this story recently.[4] “There was a fire at a horse farm in New Jersey in April. Twelve mares died that night, each with her foal beside her. When day broke, even the weather-beaten farmhands wept at the sight. Ever since the fire, people have been stopping by to put flowers next to the barn where the horses died.
“It wasn’t the case that the hired hands didn’t care, not at all. You don’t work with animals for years and years without loving them and developing a relationship with them. This is true of pets, as many of us know, but it is also true of farm animals, whose lives have a financial as well as an emotional value to their owners. To a farmer, an animal is a complete being: beloved for its beauty, its humor, valued for its usefulness – everything.
“Of course, an animal’s usefulness can crowd out the grace of its loveliness, if there is a lot of money involved. We read about it all the time: unsanitary puppy mills; cruelly crowded, windowless chicken coops in which a hen spends its entire life and never walks; a chaotic crowd of terrified cattle prodded toward their slaughter – a far cry from the bucolic image we have of a devoted shepherd walking the hills with his flock of sheep, fluffy, safe and free.
“Life and death are always close together on a farm or a ranch. Both are facts. But anonymous life, life that doesn’t matter – that is a foreign concept to a farmer or a rancher. Each one matters. Not one can be spared.”
And so Jesus is a good shepherd. Not one of us wanders outside his care. If we do, he comes and finds us. And, having raised us, he weeps at our sorrows as if they were his own. Because in the real sense of the divine connection that binds us all together – our sorrows and hurts and frustrations and pains are Jesus’ own.
But this story does not end with Jesus’ frozen in a church window with a sheep on his lap. The call is to all of us – you and me – to be good shepherds too. The prayer for the day says this so very well, “Send us as shepherds to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, and to feed one another with knowledge and understanding.” The shepherd has work to do. So do we. The only hands Jesus has on this earth right now are the hands at our sides. And we can do amazing things when we take the frozen image of Jesus out of the church window and feel it take life in our soul. We become shepherds like Jesus. And we are willing to work to better our flock, and to protect each and every one of those entrusted to our care. Not only that, we hear Jesus say to us that we too are responsible for the others who may not belong to our particular fold. In other words, we are called to protect and respect the dignity of all persons, in all situations.
On June 22, 1996 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Ku Klux Klan held a rally at City Hall. They had a permit for the event and it was advertised in advance. Not only did the Klan show up, but so did more than 300 protestors. One of the Klansmen showed up wearing clothes that displayed the confederate flag. He was swarmed by protestors and pushed to the ground. He was being kicked and punched by men and women who had turned to violence in their rage.
Appalled, 18 year-old Keisha Thomas threw herself over the fallen man, shielding him with her own body fro the kicks and punches. Keisha is black. And when she was asked why a black teenager would risk injury to herself to protect a white supremacist, she said, “He’s still somebody’s child. I don’t want people to remember my name but I’d like them to remember I did the right thing.
The good shepherd is a good image. It says a lot about who and what we are as Christians. But nothing will speak about our faith more than acting upon it. So go. Be a good shepherd too.
Note: The Back to Top button above requires Macromedia Plug In.
Click here to download Macromedia Player Version 7.
COMMENTS? E-Mail Me
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
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.
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 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. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 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. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 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.”
God of all power, you called from death our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep. Send us as shepherds to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, and to feed one another with knowledge and understanding; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[1] Information about the Darfur conflict was downloaded 4 May 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict.
[2]http://search.ebay.com/violent-movies_W0QQfclZ4QQfnuZ1.
[3] “Science from Virginia Tech.” Accessed 4 May 2006 at http://www.research.vt.edu/resmag/sciencecol/media_violence.html.
[4] Barbara Crafton. “The Good Shepherd Weeps.” Copyright © 2006 Barbara Crafton - http://www.geraniumfarm.org.
The Mission of St. George’s Episcopal Church is to lead people to love Jesus, and, through worship and scripture, to become empowered as a servant body – to each other, to our community, and to the world. For information about St. George’s Episcopal Church and its life and mission, please contact us at 1024 Southeast Cass Avenue , Roseburg, OR 97470 or by phone at (541) 673-4048 or (541) 680-3465. Contact Bill by email at wgstroop@earthlink.net and visit our church at http://www.roseburgchurch.net |
To Bill Stroop's Sermon Index Page
To Bill Stroop's Current Year B Sermon Index Page
Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2006, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
4 May 2006
This publication, ie. this page and the preceding document that has a link to this page, are copyrighted. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part of it may in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other means be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be broadcast or transmitted without the prior permission of the publisher.