What exactly makes the world go 'round?

The old song tells us it is 'love' but I think it is fear. The root of most of our decisions is fear.

We buy a home in the suburbs out of fear of the violence in the city.
We get education so we can get a good job out of fear of living hand to mouth.
We put money in our retirement accounts out of fear of running out of money before we die.
We eat kale out of fear.......well, I have no idea why we eat kale.

And yet!  For some, a simple trip to the local WalMart to buy school supplies turns deadly.  For a 13 year old boy the decision to not remove his cap during the national anthem ended with a complete stranger slamming him to the ground and fracturing his skull.  Add to that the reality that
......some of us will run out of money.
......some will be overwhelmed with medical debt.
......some good jobs will disappear overnight.

On that day when our lives are measured not in years but in the number of breaths we have remaining we will not want to hear how the Dow Jones Industrial Average did that day, nor what the latest medical tests reveal.  We will want to have our loved ones close by and to hear these words

Have no fear little flock.  It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

It is an unqualified promise made to us by the one who from the very beginning of the story has coaxed the beloved creation to give up its fear and to trust the Divine Creator.  This is a promise made by the God who manifest faithfulness to Israelites through manna, quail and water in the wilderness.  This is the promise made by our Lord Jesus as he took on flesh, healed dangerous diseases, repaired the breech in communities and emptied the tomb.  

Have no fear little flock.

And yet!  We pile up our bricks of gold and build bigger barns knowing that when our breath fails we will jettison all the stuff of this world and seek the face of the one who has implored us to trust.

Henri Nouwen wrote, "You have a short time - 20,40, 60, 80 years - to discover and believe that you are a beloved child of God. It is a short opportunity to say to God 'I love you too.'"

Jesus speaks to his 'little flock' of disciples - both the 12 and the larger crowd that has gathered around him.  At least one of the 12 was overcome with his own fear.  Many of the larger flock fled from any association with his name.  Jesus preached love in the face of fear then, just as he reaches out in love today.

Have no fear little flock.

The Good Shepherd calls.

Roadside assistance

You've seen it a thousand times on the telly:  some celebrity (whether long standing or instant) is walking along with her posse (large or small) and a gaggle of media types with microphones, cameras and questions. How do you feel?  What do you have to say?

So watching Jesus walking along a road with his posse of disciples and a gaggle of hangers on, questions being parried about with at least a few intended to catch Jesus in some kind of embarrassing slip.......isn't so hard to picture.

This time it is a man born blind.  He is the one who was just minding his own business when suddenly he becomes a media darling and the flash point for everyone's 'uninvited' opinion.  Here's the question of the day  "Whose fault is it that this man was born blind?"  Never does it say that Jesus rolled his eyes, but that kind of response wouldn't surprise me.

Instead, Jesus heals him - an occasion for rejoicing if ever there is one since (as the writer of John points out repeatedly in this episode from John 9) 'never in the history of the whole world has anyone healed someone who was born blind'.  Instead it becomes an occasion for casting blame, arguing theology, rejecting the power of the healing in the first place and ends up throwing this newly healed man out of the synagogue!

....which leads us to the Good Shepherd.  All of this is the prequel to that wonderful passage known as the Good Shepherd discourse......that place where Jesus paints for us a picture of his job, his role, his love, his care, his commitment.........even his sacrifice......for the sake of the sheep.  I am the good shepherd, Jesus says, and he goes on to explain that he is not there to judge the sheep or lock the gate to the sheep fold.  His calling is to seek those sheep who are lost on the side of the road and to guide them to the safety of the flock.  He teaches them the sound of his voice so they know who to follow, who will provide and protect them.  He works so that all can become one flock under one Lord.

He also gives us a template for our calling as followers of Jesus.  We too are to walk in the places of shadow and loss and speak with the voice of Jesus.  We are to bring light into the shadows, to guide those who are outcast to the safety of the flock.  It is about love and care and commitment and even, as needed, laying down one's life......so those who are lost in the shadows may now find life in the light.  We who follow the Good Shepherd are to mimic the Good Shepherd. There is work for us out there - and it won't always be easy.

We are the Divine Roadside Assistance crew, the 911 of the outcast set.  Let others sit at Starbucks and drink their latte - we are called to be the ones who mirror the glory of God for the sake of all those sheep who don't yet know the Shepherd.  It is hard, dusty work....

...which is why, occasionally, we need to rest in the green pastures and drink of the still waters.  Our souls will need to be restored.  We will need rest for the journey, nourishment for the work.  We need a rest stop so that when the time comes for us to 'walk through the valley of the shadows' we are strong, and the voice of the Good Shepherd is ringing in our ears.

One day, God's Positioning System (GPS) will tell us we 'have reached our final destination' but for now, take a little drink, have something to eat, and rest.  There are folks waiting by the side of road waiting for you to come and offer them healing.

In Christ's name.
Now and forever.
Amen

The Lord is my shepherd.......

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Green pastures.  Still waters.  Rest and respite.  Protection by the Good Shepherd.  These are wonderfully powerful images.  We can picture the Good Shepherd cradling the little lamb (while surrounded by perfectly clean sheep!) in his arms - cradling us in his strong arms, in comfortable safety.


When Jesus says, "I know my own and my own know me: we are flooded with the relief of no longer being alone, out there in the world making our own way, fighting off the wolves for ourselves.  Now we belong to a flock, and not just any flock but the flock that is watched over by the Good Shepherd.  Someone else stands guard; someone else is tasked with being vigilant.  We can, finally, rest.........and have our souls restored.  Both the young and the dying find deep comfort in the promises embedded in this image.....

....although those 'in between', that is, in between the innocence of youth and the final call of death are challenged by the simplicity of it all.  We know that life is a lot more complicated than this.  There are wolves attacking the flock; there are huge patches of dead grass; the waters are polluted and frankly, the shepherd is so busy playing Angry Birds that she has no idea what's going on.  Jesus calls this inattentive, cowardly shepherd a 'hired hand.'  We call her the Congress or our boss or our neighbor or sometimes even a family member.  Disease and disaster, hunger and sorrow are not erased; the green pastures are not paradise.

Today, as we begin the work week, as we take up again the burden of responsibility, as we put one foot in front of the other, let us hold fast to this image of the Good Shepherd cradling us in his arms, protecting us from all harm and danger.  Tomorrow we will do the hard work of considering whether these green pastures are our destination or simply a rest stop along the way.

Today, eat a little green grass, drink from the cool refreshing water, bask in the sunshine, knowing you are his.

and if that wasn't enough...

One of the challenges of the Resurrection Story is the task of living out a new way of being.  How do we take the information of the resurrection and allow it to shift to an actual life of resurrection we can live today?  How does/can the Resurrection of Jesus transform our lives on Monday morning?

Although all of us need the deep assurance and comfort of God's abiding love through Jesus - an image so perfectly depicted in the 23rd psalm, in this fourth Sunday of Easter, we still need to wrap our heads around the impact of God's amazing resurrection of the Son, Jesus.  We need a picture to help us understand the power of the phrase 'I am doing a new thing' and the concept of 'bringing life out of the heart of death'.

A perfect image for this is the story of the raising of Lazarus, good friend to Jesus.  In fact, the Lazarus story bookends the assigned text for Good Shepherd Sunday, appearing in chapter 11 of the gospel of John.

Who is not moved when Jesus weeps outside the closed tomb of his friend?  We have done this, no?  We have had to say final goodbyes to people we love deeply and whose very existence we will miss.  We have had to confront the possibility of living out our lives without this beloved person.  For those of us who are widowed, we have had to figure out who we are now that we are not one half of a couple.  We have to learn how to be single again, but in a new way.

Lazarus gives us all this.  "Lazarus, come out!" Jesus cries.  Humans have rolled the stone away from the front of Lazarus' tomb, but Lazarus himself must respond to the command of the Son of God, the command to walk from death to life, the command to live yet again. He must hear the Lord's voice and follow.

Deep in the damp darkness of death, Lazarus hears the Savior's call and steps from beyond the veil back into the bright sunlight of his old life.  Yet, it will never truly be life as he once knew it, for he has tasted death and come again into the world of the living.  Lazarus has stepped out.

Jesus then commands, "Unbind him, and set him free".  Of course Jesus is talking about the burial cloths that are wrapped around the corpse, the bindings of this world which will forever keep him among the dead and restrict his ability to walk and live and move and jump in this new /old life of his.

"Unbind him and set him free!"  Leave behind all that is death to you - shuck it off and step out into a new life, a new being, a new power, a new relationship with this God who has given you life yet again.  Whether it is addiction or anger or deep wounds or resentment or any other prison of death that holds you captive, step out of your tomb and throw off all that binds you to death.  Live.

Now Lazarus is not a resurrection story in that Lazarus is resuscitated rather than resurrected.  Lazarus will, in fact, die again another day.

But we get it, don't we?  We understand that image of being closed in a tomb from which we see no escape.  We long for a time when all that binds us is pulled away and we can live a life we could never have imagined before.  Lazarus teaches us the possibility of living a transformed life as a transformed person.

Between the healing of the man born blind and the calling out of the dead Lazarus, we get the good shepherd.  Perhaps after these two extra stories of resurrection we are now ready to figure out who it is who is calling us out, what life with him will look like and whether, in the end, we can trust him at all.