out of something ordinary...

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday August 12, 2012, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.



2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Psalm 130

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

John 6:35, 41-51

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

On Wednesday evening, I was at Sullivan’s Funeral Home at the visitation for Miss Adra.[i] When I got to the chapel, right next to the book there were several pictures; including a picture from Adra and Albert’s wedding. They were standing right down here where the table is right now. They had just said their “I do’s” and were about to spend the first night of over fifty years together as man and wife.

In the midst of all of this, what drew my attention were the brass candle holders behind them. I saw those candle holders and wondered how many people had been married under their light. On Thursday morning, I was sitting next to Tom Malcolm during the funeral. When he saw that picture he drew my attention to it. I smiled and mentioned the candle holders. He saw them and remembered his daughter’s weddings.

When I asked Tom for permission to mention this he wrote me back:

The immediate memory that came to mind was the organ pipes in the background of the picture. The flash moment left only a wisp of time to take in the candleabras and regret that I was, as you say, “flooded” with instant memories of a setting long ago and I remember little else from the photo. Sad to say, I would have to see it again to know what event it saved. The mind says, “We were there, twice, and in this special place and time.”  I could say with some certainty that the candleabras are the same… perhaps in the mind's eye the entire setting was the same. That was the moment of value and for a second, my thought was “Thanks for the memory.” That happens a lot.[ii]

Well, I don’t think Tom should as he said “regret” being flooded with those memories. I believe it’s amazing and it’s wonderful how the split second the appearance of something familiar, like organ pipes and candle holders, can bring back memories. With a simple glimpse, a world of reminiscing begins. Suddenly thoughts of weddings and marriages, children and grand children and now great grandchildren flood our minds; all from pieces of metal.

With the look in his eyes, I was able to share that moment with Tom and in the midst of the sorrow of Miss Adra’s funeral was a different kind of moment. It was a moment that became more than the sum of its parts.

Organ Pipes and Iron Candle Holder in the chancel of the
First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas.
Photo by Paul Andresen

Behind me is an iron candle holder. This is one of the candle holders we currently use during weddings. In this congregation today are people who have been married under its lights. There are brides, grooms who remember these lights. There are wedding party members who remember these lights. Some of you are parents of children married under these lights. Some of you are children whose parents were married under these lights. These are special for me too because they are the lights that shined during the weddings I have celebrated in your midst.

Out of brass and iron, wax and wick come memories. These are just ordinary things, and like all ordinary things they will come and they will go, I don’t know where those brass candle holders are, but what they represent is not lost.

On a more difficult note, let me take off my rose colored glasses. I know that not every moment in every marriage is light and joy. That’s the nature of marriage. That’s the nature of life on Earth. And those memories come back with these candle holders too. They’re important to remember too.

Jesus said “I am the bread of life.” “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” “He who comes to me will never be hungry.” “If anyone eats this bread he will live forever.” Now that’s some bread. That’s the most special bread on Earth. It’s the most important bread on Earth. But if there is one thing that needs to be said, it’s that our relationship with bread is different from those living in the Holy Land. One of the best understandings I have found was this from Bill Hinson in “The Power of Holy Habits”:

I heard an Armenian describe the bread of life. He said that Westerners do not understand what Jesus was saying when he said, 'I am the Bread of Life.' In the Middle East, bread is not just something extra thrown in at a meal. It is the heart of every meal. They have those thin pieces of pita bread at every meal.[iii]

This isn’t so different from traditional Mexican cuisine. Substitute “tortilla” for “pita” and you are on your way. Many Middle Eastern cultures today do this with naan, another kind of flat bread made with yogurt. As for me, I can’t imagine a hamburger without a bun. We don’t have the same relationship with bread, but there are still echoes in our meals today. Continuing Hinson’s words:

Those strict people would not think about taking forks and putting them in their mouths. To put an object in your mouth defiles it. You certainly would not take a fork out and put it in again and go on defiling yourself like that. Instead, you break off a piece of the bread, pick up your food with it and eat it.[iv]

So where we often use bread as a side dish, in the time of the Lord bread was instrumental to the meal. In Jesus’ time meat was rare for regular folks. Fruits and vegetables had their seasons. Grain kept so bread was available. Bread was a staple.

So out of something ordinary, out of something people ate at every meal, out of the most basic component of every meal, Jesus made his point about who he is. Again, from Hinson:

Indeed, the only way you can get to the main dish, he said, is with the bread. Jesus was saying that the only way you can come to life is through him. That is why he was saying - I am the Bread of Life; I am the only way to come to life.[v]

When choosing something to compare himself to in John’s gospel, Jesus chooses the most important things in the lives of the people of Israel, bread and water. Jesus chose things the people could not live without. It’s as easy as that. We can’t live without Jesus; he is the way to life eternal. He made that point clear to the people who heard and he tries to make that point just as clear to us.

In his most recent book, the Rev. Dr. Michael Jinkins writes of the great German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Jinkins writes, Bonhoeffer “protests against our tendency to let the decisive theological question ‘Who are you?’ dissolve into questions about ‘how’… The how questions are the fragmenting mechanical, manipulating questions, the debilitating questions about mere techniques and technologies.”[vi] Bonhoeffer makes a point that is abundantly clear from our reading.

Jesus never once tells the people “how” he did what he does. He never shows us how a miracle happens. He never shows us that, as a friend of mine once told me he suspected, the feeding of the 5,000 happened because everyone stopped being greedy for one moment, opened their lunch pails, and shared their meals with one another leading to a surplus of food. (As if that wouldn’t be a miracle!)

Jinkins goes on to make a very astute observation: Good answers only come from good questions. He tells us that the right questions the church needs to answer have nothing to do with how and everything to do with who. The right questions according to Jinkins are “Who is Christ? and Who does Christ want us to be?”[vii] The answer to this first question is what we hear today, Christ is the bread of life that fills us. Christ is the one who satisfies our thirst.

The answer to the second is our vocation.

The Jews (As I’ve said before; John used the phrase “the Jews” to mean “the leadership” not “the people on the street.”), these leaders begin to grumble about his claim. “How can he say ‘I came down from heaven’ if we’ve known him since he was a baby born in Jerusalem?” Their grumbling makes Bonhoeffer’s and Jinkins’ point. When the “how” question gains traction the “who” question gets lost.

When we focus on what we know and understand and try to fit everything into our understanding; we grumble, we complain and we try to fit our square pegs into God’s round holes just like these Jewish leaders did. On that day, they failed to ask “Who is this?” and instead went for “How does he make this claim?” What they don’t realize is that the answer to the first question is the answer to the second.

The answer to “who” is the answer to “how.”

In John 4 Jesus calls himself the living water. In this passage Jesus calls himself the bread of life and the drink that ends thirst. Jesus shows us all that out of something ordinary something extraordinary comes. Many didn’t understand. That’s nothing new. This was true in the day of Jesus. It was true before the day of Jesus. It is still true today. In our over-enlightened “How does it work?” world, we won’t understand as long as our understanding is shrouded in human sin.

It is only when we begin to answer the questions “Who is Christ? and Who does Christ want us to be?” that anything else comes into place. As Jinkins says, these questions drive all of our other questions. These are the questions we must ask if we are to have any future as the Church Christ called to be his body.

The PC(USA) Directory for Worship says this about the bread we are to use for the Lord’s Supper:

Bread common to the culture of the community should be provided to be broken by the one who presides. The use of the one bread expresses the unity of the body of Christ.[viii]

What this meant when we lived in the Ozarks was that the bread we broke was a loaf of French bread from Wal-Mart because in Northwest Arkansas there is no bread more common to the culture of the community than something you get at Wal-Mart. For us, this means Al and Bonnie go the store and pick up a pack of rolls. There is nothing wrong with either of these breads.

Because of who we are, we aren’t required to go to Rome or Louisville or Dallas and get special church-approved bread. Jesus used the loaves of the community. Jesus was referring to the bread that everyone ate, not some special bread that is blessed because of what it is or who makes it.

What makes the bread special, what makes that meal special, is that it is the sign and seal of eating and drinking in communion with the crucified and risen Lord.”[ix] It’s not the bread that’s special; it is who instituted the meal and what he said about it that makes the bread special.

With the candle holders, brass and iron, wax and wick stimulate memories. These are just ordinary things, but what they mean to us makes them more than ordinary. In an even better way, Jesus took something ordinary; something used everyday, and made it holy.

Jesus does the same with us. When we ask “Who am I?” the answer is “I am a child of God.” What makes us special is not what we make ourselves but what God makes us. It’s the “who” question again and the answer is “God makes us who we are.” From there we must answer the next question Jinkins asks, “Who does Christ want us to be?"

Jesus said “I am the bread of life.” “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” “He who comes to me will never be hungry.” “If anyone eats this bread he will live forever.” In the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion, out of something ordinary comes the sign of God’s promise to us; the visible sign of God’s invisible grace. Now that’s some bread. That’s the most special bread on Earth. It’s the most important bread on Earth.

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[i] Adra Marie Abraham, September 27, 1925-August 4, 2012, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/marshallnewsmessenger/obituary.aspx?n=adrah-marie-abraham-ryan&pid=159010370

[ii] Personal correspondence with this permission: You may use anything of the incident you wish…

[iii] Hinson, Bill, “The Power of Holy Habits.” Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1991, page 39. Found at “Living Bread,” HomileticsOnline.com Animating Illustrations, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?item_topic_id=1652, retrieved August 7, 2012

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Jinkins, Michael, “The Church Transforming: What’s Next for the Reformed Project?” Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012, page 20-21

[vii] Ibid Jinkins, page 21, italics in the original text.

[viii] W-3.3610, Bread, PC(USA) Book of Order, Directory for Worship, 2011-2013.

[ix] W-2.4001.a., Jesus and the Supper, PC(USA) Book of Order, Directory for Worship, 2011-2013.

Our Mission, His Vision

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on Sunday August 5, 2012, the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

2Samuel 11:26-12:13a

Psalm 51:1-12

Ephesians 4:1-16

John 6:24-35

May the words of my mouth and the mediations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen

Last week’s sermon “His Vision, Our Mission,” was about how God is faithful even when—especially when we are not. I also said as God is faithful it is our mission to share God’s loving faithfulness with the world. This week, it’s a look at “Our Mission, His Vision.”

Our reading begins the day after Jesus feeds the 5,000 when everyone awakens finding the disciples and Jesus gone. Now, the people remembered Jesus sending the disciples on their way before retreating to the mountain. So the people would have fully expected Jesus to be near by in the morning, wouldn’t they? But if Jesus did not leave with the disciples and he was not near, then where is he?

Keep in mind they had Jesus’ itinerary from the prior evening. They knew when they had last seen him; and when he went away. So once they deduced the only place he could be was across the sea, they took their boats and went looking for him. When they found him, they asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” I’m guessing this question may have been a little insincere. What Jesus sensed from them was they were glad to find him… and their meal ticket.

Jesus senses what’s happening here. He knows they want to know where breakfast is. So Jesus tells them “you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

This is where we take the first lesson from our reading. To quote Kurt Vonnegut, “Leave it to people to always look at the wrong end of a miracle.”[1] Don’t get me wrong, in any time and day a free meal is a gift, a gift from God. In a time like first century Palestine it was a gift. In our current time it’s a gift. But what’s better, a free meal or the one who provides it?

This gets us to our second lesson, the subtext of the people’s question is “where’s breakfast?” With this the people ask that age old question of song and story, “What have you done for me lately?”[2] Yeah, dinner was great, but we’re hungry again. So Jesus asks them “What’s better, one free meal or the food that endures?” The people get this, sort of.

They ask, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” What they don’t do is finish the question, “What must we do to do the works God requires so we can get us some of that food that endures, the bread that bears the Father’s seal of approval, the food that doesn’t spoil?” It’s as if they’re asking if this bread is a Kroger exclusive or if it is at an artisan baker somewhere in Jerusalem or Shreveport.

Like the Samaritan woman at the well in the fourth chapter of John, the crowd seems to get past their desire to fulfill their earthly needs and asks about the works of God. At the well, Jesus offers the woman the living water and she asks about its source. The people ask about the bread that doesn’t spoil which in a time before refrigeration and vacuum packing is a miracle all by itself.

Jesus tells the crowd that the work they need to do is have faith in God.  Jesus’ answer to the woman is in John 4:34, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.” In 6:29, Jesus answers the crowd, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”  Yet neither the Samaritan woman nor the people in this story realize Jesus is the living water, the food that lasts. This lesson wasn’t so easy for the disciples either. Then again, this lesson isn’t so easy for us.

Often, the question that lies beside “what will you do?” is “what do I have to do?” We know that we have to have faith in God, believe in the One God has sent, Jesus Christ the Lord. Now, how do we do that?

Now there’s a special little nuance to the word “believe” in Greek and Hebrew that’s different from English. We define believing as knowing and accepting a fact, a concept, or a truth. This is part of what it means to the ancient Greeks and Hebrews too, but to them there is more. Believing with our hearts and our souls and our minds is not enough. To truly believe we have to do something about it. By this aspect of believing we become the hands of God. Only when word and deed come together do we believe.

So here’s the third, and maybe the most difficult realization, God is with us and this relationship all by itself is the miracle, a miracle greater than breakfast. God wants us to accept the invitation join in relationship with the Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. This is what God wants us to do.

Genesis tells us that we were created in God’s image. God wants us to join in this relationship not as slaves but as heirs; not as dumb animals but as partners. Jesus teaches us God wants us to join in Christ’s redemptive work in the world.

Let’s face it, if God had wanted simple adoration, creation would have been populated by puppies—and I do mean puppies. Grown and trained dogs work. Some are in the military and others are in police work. Some guard homes and businesses while others help with the hunt to bring home food. A grown dog is a companion; a puppy is not, not yet. If God just wanted his face licked and something to tell “who’s a pretty puppy?” this could have been done without us. Instead God created us, a being who can and must choose to love and choose to respond to love received. That’s why God created us. We were created out of God’s overflowing love to share God’s overflowing love.

God created us not to receive signs and miracles, but to join in being the miracle. Real miracles are not the signs and wonders he is capable of providing.  The miracle is that Jesus breaks through our misconceptions and expectations to reveal the new age he ushers in, an age which comes through the miracle of faith in him and relationship with him. Since the beginning this has been God’s vision. It must become our mission.

In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the central event of the meal in the upper room is the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Today we celebrate this meal, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. But John uses this passage to radically redefine this meal. In our passage today, in 6:35 Jesus tells the world that he is the bread of life. 

Matthew, Mark, and Luke seemingly place the gift of this meal in one event, one place in time. John uses this passage to institute the Lord’s Supper in the life of Jesus and his death. The gift of the life of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, is the focus of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus, his entire life from before the beginning until after the end, is the bread of life. 

Our understanding of the bread of life is called to change too. We begin like the Samaritan woman and the crowd by seeking Jesus for the gifts he gives, gifts we need for survival. And we do receive these gifts of bread and water from our God. But we also are called to a better life, a better relationship. We are called into communion with the Lord our God through the life and ministry of Jesus. We are empowered to this relationship through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This is how we fulfill our mission in God’s vision; how we live with God and with the Body of Christ.

There is a lot being said these days about what a Christian is and what it takes to be a Christian. Often these things desired come off as signs and miracles, wonders and phenomena, thoughts and deeds; what God wants is relationship. Our relationship must begin in three places, word, worship, and prayer. It begins in the smallest places and grows into the most wondrous of lives together. It’s a gift of God’s love and it is God’s love we are called to share.

There is something I need to add here, that as we pursue this relationship, from time to time we will get it wrong, dead wrong. We will be like the people who crossed the lake to get breakfast. We’ll think we understand what’s happening when we couldn’t be further from God’s truth.

So as we approach the Lord, we need to come to the Lord as Paul told the Ephesians to come” completely humble and gentle; being patient bearing with one another in love; making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. We need to come seeking a relationship with the Lord and with one another, not looking for what the relationship can do for us.

To carry on God’s reconciling work in the world, we need more than TV news sound bites and facebook posts that tell the world what we believe inviting like minded people to share. The tweet hasn’t been tweeted that has brought the world to the throne of glory.

The proof of this is in an email Harriette sent out last week saying “it’s easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.” Let me tell you, preaching ten sermons is not easy, and living one is more difficult.

We need to reach out to all in Christ’s faithful love and reconciling work. We begin this work by breaking bread, sharing the cup and praising God together as the Body of Christ.

Today we mark this relationship celebrating the Lord’s Supper. We share this meal not to remember or commemorate one particular event, but to share in all of Jesus’ life including his death and resurrection. Taking this meal of grace identifies us as those who participate in his life and death until he comes again in power and glory. This is the sign of our relationship with Christ, with one another, and with the Church universal. This is the meal that feeds and strengthens the Church to do the reconciling work God requires. This meal is the most glorious way we can begin celebrating our mission founded in his vision.

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[1] From the essay “Palm Sunday” in Vonnegut’s book “Palm Sunday.

[2] I have the Janet Jackson song of the same name in my head right now. If you are thinking of another, that’s fine.

Remembering

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday March 15, 2009, the 3rd Sunday in Lent.

Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Scholars teach there are three sections to the Ten Commandments, this morning’s reading from Exodus. The first three commandments, verses 4-7, tell us how humanity is to relate to the Lord our God. Verses 8-11 teach us how to relate to creation by the Sabbath. Finally, verses 12-17, the last six commandments, address social relations, how we deal with and take care of one another. Most of the Ten Commandments teach us using action verbs, though usually through their negative. We shall not make; we shall not bow; we shall not take; we shall not murder; we shall not steal; and so on.

The only commandment that seems less active is “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” But this is not true, the command to remember the Sabbath is not just a mental exercise, it’s active too. Verses 8-11 instruct us not only to remember the Sabbath but how to remember the Sabbath. We are instructed not to work, not only us but everyone and everything in our household is not to work. We are to remember that the Lord made heaven and earth in six days and on the seventh the Lord made, blessed, and consecrated a day of rest for all that was created.

In English, often we think of remembering as a mental exercise, like remembering our multiplication tables or the alphabet. We know to “Remember the Alamo,” but what does that mean? What exactly are we to remember about the Alamo?

For the Alamo, we can be called to remember the bloody military battle and its horrendous body count. We can be called to remember political consequences of this battle to the Republic. We can be called to remember “Remember the Alamo” as the slogan used by the Republic forces at the Battle of San Jacinto, the battle which ended the revolution in favor of Texas.

Remembering the Alamo, I want to remember the words Lieutenant Colonel William Travis wrote about Davy Crockett during the battle. “The Hon. David Crockett was seen at all points, animating the men to do their duty.”[1] Crocket reminded the men of their duty, what they were to do in service to the Republic of Texas. The men were not only to mentally remember their duty; they were to perform their duty in service to the Republic.

This is a very Hebrew way to remember, not only do we remember in our minds, but we respond in our actions.[2] As important as it is for us to bear in mind the Sabbath, it is important that we also respond to the Sabbath. We are to meet the sovereign God and answer the Lord’s call keeping the Sabbath day holy. This is the command of the Lord to Moses and the people.

The reading from John’s gospel is the story of Jesus coming to the temple for the Passover and seeing it turned into a marketplace. It is the story of his acts in cleansing the temple for worship. It is the story of the veiled prophecy of the destruction of the bodily temple Jesus inhabits; and the resurrection of that same temple.

But there are two very interesting pieces in this reading that aren’t common to our lectionary readings. In verses 17 and 22, we are told that his disciples remembered. The disciples not only remembered the events, but they remembered teachings that preceded these events. They remembered not only words and lessons; they remembered the actions that coupled them. The way the disciples remember these events is not so different from how the Alamo was remembered at San Jacinto.

As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief; and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.

We are called to remember our baptism. In the words of John Calvin, “As often as we fall away, we ought to recall the memory of our baptism and fortify our minds with it, that we may always be sure and confident of the forgiveness of sins.”[3]

Surely those of us who were baptized as infants, as Maddie and Roxy and Suzy were, we won’t remember the events of our baptism. We remember neither the chill of the water, nor the smell of the oil as we are anointed as God’s own. But as these children of the Body of Christ were baptized into the community God calls into existence, we are called to remember the vows of our baptism too.

We are called as the community to accept the responsibility to encourage those receiving this sacrament. The baptismal liturgy in The Book of Common Worship asks the congregation:

Do you, as members of the church of Jesus Christ,
promise to guide and nurture these who receive this sacrament
by word and deed,
with love and prayer,
encouraging them to know and follow Christ
and to be faithful members of Christ’s church?[4]

Answering “We do,” surely as those of us who were baptized as infants will not be able to remember our baptism, we can remember those who are now baptized. And by our very words, we are called to remember the promises we make to them upon their baptism; promises not only of word but deed, not only of thought but action; actions including teaching, serving, rejoicing, weeping, sharing food, and breaking bread together.[5]

From Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday and Ash Wednesday; through Lent and Eastertide; until Trinity Sunday, we here celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Today we hear these words of institution of the sacrament:

On the very night He was betrayed
Jesus took bread and gave You thanks
He broke it and gave it to His disciples,
“Take, eat, this is My body which is given to you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way, after supper
He took the cup and gave You thanks
He gave it to His disciples, saying,
“Drink this, all of you;
this is My blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many,
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this as often as you drink it,
In remembrance of Me.”

If you are thirsty, drink the Fount of Life
If you are hungry, eat the Bread of Life.
Blessed are all who hunger for this Bread
And thirst for this Fount.
Together we remember and proclaim
the mystery of Christ.[6]

Again, this remembrance is more than a mental exercise. This remembrance is a call not only to know in our minds but to reimagine—even recreate the Lord’s last supper.[7] In our remembrance of the Lord, we are not just to imagine as we celebrate the sacrament. We are not to experience remembrance as a solitary event. Remembrance is an event of the church. We celebrate the body and blood of Christ as the Body of Christ. By repetition, we are to take this remembering event into our very beings and into the world. Doing this in remembrance of the Lord is so important to us that these very words are carved into the table.

We are to do this together until he comes again. In an oddly wonderful command, we are to remember into the future. We are to remember what is to come. The same Hebraic understanding of remembrance that allows us to experience anew the past also allows us to experience already the future.[8] The hope that is rooted in the historic past is the source of our Christian hope for the future. It is in remembrance that we connect these things in the present. It is in this sacrament that we are fed, nourished as the Body of Christ for God’s work in the world.

As the last verse in our reading teaches us, they remembered and by remembering they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. They remembered not only in their minds, they responded through belief, and through their belief, through their faith, were able to do many great things in the name of the Lord.

In the waters of our baptism, in the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper, we participate in the life and death and resurrected life of Jesus Christ, the special revelation of God, the Law incarnate, the living Torah. We are called to participate as Jesus did; not in the pomp and ceremony of the temple sacrifices, but in the life of the Church, the Body of Christ on earth and all of God’s good creation.

As the apostles and disciples before us, we are to remember and by remembering believe. By believing and through faith, the Lord is able to do far more with us than we could ever hope or imagine doing on our own.

We are called to remember. In remembering we are called to respond to God in gratitude. In response we are called to share the good news of Emmanuel, God with us.

We are called to share from the very life we are given in Christ. Today let us begin by remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. Let us remember God’s wondrous love and respond.

[1] Groneman, Bill, “Alamo Defenders: A Genealogy, the People and Their Words.” Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1990, page 27
[2] “tskr” entry, Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Electronic Edition found in BibleWorks version 7.0.019k.1 (Print Edition Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907, page 269)
[3] Calvin, John, Institutes of Christian Faith, vol. 4, part xv, section 3.
[4] “The Book of Common Worship” compiled by The Theology and Worship Ministry Unit for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993, page 406.
[5] Boonstra, Henry, “Perspectives: Remember Your Baptism”, in Reformed Worship Magazine, #14, http://www.reformedworship.org/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=243, retrieved March 14, 2009.
[6] Imago Dei Christian Community, a community drawn to Christ, Celtic Communion Liturgy, http://imagodeicommunity.ca/category/celtic-communion-liturgy/, retrieved March 10, 2009.
[7] Stookey, Laurence Hull, “Eucharist, Christ’s Feast with the Church.” Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993, page 28.
[8] Ibid, page 31

The Shepherd Calls Us All

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on April 13, 2008, the 4th Sunday in Easter.

The image at right is a chalk drawing of Jesus the Good Shepherd in the chancel of the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas.


Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10



May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

In our gospel reading today, we heard the first half of what is known as the “Good Shepherd” discourse. There is no more endearing image of Jesus from scripture than the Good Shepherd. You need only look behind me for proof of this. The wonder of this image is not only that the shepherd cares for the sheep, but that the shepherd protects the sheep from predators and thieves.

Imagine if you will a large pen, a stockyard or a sale barn perhaps. In this yard are the sheep of many different shepherds. The gatekeeper recognizes the shepherd, so the gate is opened and the shepherd calls the sheep by name. Somehow, some way, the sheep know the voice of their shepherd. When the shepherd calls, the sheep come.

Saturday afternoon, I was sitting at the computer, looking over this sermon, and one of our cats came into the room. Now, cats are historically finicky. It is said you don’t own a cat, the cat owns you. But Cal is different; he knows his name and responds when called. When I call him he knows he will be petted, he will be loved. We even started a game while in seminary, while he is on the bed I can walk up to him, pat my chest, and he will come up, put his paws on my chest, and I pet him.

Now does that make him well trained or me?

I couldn’t tell you how the sheep know the shepherd’s voice, but scripture says they do. Perhaps it is something like me calling Cal by name. The shepherd develops such a loving and protecting relationship with each sheep that an intimacy develops. Or maybe it is the flock who knows their shepherd’s voice like Israel knows the voice of the Lord their God.[1]

In our Call to Worship we offered the words of the nation of Israel, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”[2] In this Psalm, the Lord is worshipped for the protection of the shepherd and how the shepherd provides for the flock.

We give thanks that we have a good shepherd in the Lord Jesus, a shepherd who protects the sheep from danger. That’s actually what I preached a year ago, the last time this gospel reading was used in worship.

But when I read all of the lectionary readings this time I became more interested in the sheep than the shepherd.

My usual sermon points to Jesus in the word and in the world. But recently I have been thinking not just about Christ but the body of Christ, the church. And while these readings from John and the Psalms wonderfully describe Jesus as the Good Shepherd, today I am drawn to who we are as the sheep and the flock.

As the sheep in the psalm, we shall fear no evil because of the work of the Good Shepherd. We are fed and watered in perfect rest and harmony, not in a terrified and anxious hurry. We have been anointed and set aside; we drink from the cup of many blessings, the cup which over flows with the goodness of the Lord.

We are so loved that we have been given a name, both as individuals and as a holy people. We are a people following the call of the good shepherd. The voices of other shepherds surround us; voices that call us away from the good shepherd and toward a life that is less; voices that tempt us to veer from a holy way of life.

The thief would come to steal and kill and destroy, but the good shepherd offers life, abundant life.

So often, this is where I would say give praise, halleluiah, glory to God. But today, as the church, as the holy people of God, as the flock of the shepherd, I want us to ask the question “what comes next?”

In Acts, we are offered the answer. The Acts of the Apostles is a unique book in the New Testament. It is a sequel to the Gospel of Luke and continues the narrative account of the early church, from the ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, continuing with the spread of the gospel “to the ends of the earth.”[3] In this portrait of the church, the people devoted themselves to the Lord and the teachings of the Lord in the church.

The first of the four characteristics of the church in Acts is holding fast to the teaching of the apostles, as they teach the meaning of the kerygma, or gospel message.[4] Kerygma is one of those fancy words you can drop into conversation to impress or bore your friends, but there is a very important reason to use it. Kerygma by its very definition reminds us that the message is more important than the messenger.[5]

When I was working at the University of Arkansas, one day I was on my way to my boss’ office when I heard a campus preacher on a soapbox. This is nothing new at the UofA; in fact, there had been an article in the campus newspaper about this particular man. As I walked by, he was preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Two hours later, as I returned from my boss’ office and from lunch, he was still there in full voice. But he had gotten off of his soapbox and onto his high horse preaching hair length.

Yes, it is biblical. Paul’s discourse on hair in 1Corinthians 11 is there for a reason. But this young man had gone from the fullness of the Gospel to the narrowness of Paul Mitchell and Miss Clairol. He had gone from the message of sacrificial love and gone to cosmetology school to show what offended him and God. As the early church in Acts, we need to focus on the full teaching of the Gospel, not tiny pieces of it. We are called to focus on the one who is the message, not the one who gives it today.

The second of the four characteristics is koinonia, the fellowship which entails both spiritual communion and the sharing of possessions.[6] The people were called to be together in the community of believers.

There are many who say: “I feel just as close to God in the woods (or on the lake, or with my family, or in bed, or so on) than I ever could in church, and I was once one of them. There is something to be said for solitary time of meditation and reflection, but this alone is not how we are called to respond to the word of the Lord.

We are called to come together to hear the word of God. We are called to come together to be the community of God and it is impossible to be a community of one. I have spoken of Jewish theologian Martin Buber who said, “I cannot be an I without a thou.” In the Lord, if we do not have a relationship with others, we do not have a relationship with the people of God, nor do we have a relationship with God. We don’t even have a right relationship with ourselves. To be God’s people, we must be with God’s people as God’s people serving God’s people.


This point is also elaborated on later in this reading. The author of Acts reminds us that the people would sell their possessions and distribute the proceeds to those in need. Scripture does not say “other members of the community as they had need,” it says “distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Yes, God is alive in the church, but only when the church is alive in the world meeting the needs of all God’s creation.


The sharing of meals and celebration of the Lord’s Supper is the third element of the church’s devotion shared in Acts.[7] Today we will celebrate both beginning with the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We are called to joyfully come together and share the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ. We celebrate this meal that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose for us. [8]

Today we also celebrate Fellowship Sunday. We come together and break bread and drink from the cup of what is in the refrigerator. We will sit around the table and share stories, we will laugh, and we will share concerns with one another. We are called to share the word of God, and we are called to joyfully share the bounty of the Lord’s Table and the kitchen table together.


The last of the four characteristics of the early church is prayer, both in their homes and in the Temple.[9] We are called to share our joys and concerns for the church, the world, and one another. We are called to pray not just for those we love, but for those who would do us harm. We are called to pray not just for the weak, but also for the strong. I am called to pray for you and you for me.

Brian Kolodiejchuk, a member of the Catholic Order of the Missionaries of Charity, collected and edited the letters of Mother Teresa in a book called “Come Be My Light.”[10] In her letters, there is one thing that stood out to me as she wrote of the Sisters of Loreto, the Missionaries of Charity, and the people of India; she ended nearly every letter begging the recipient, “Please pray for me.” The Saint of Calcutta knew the prayers she needed from the people and from the church. In this, we should remember that if Mother Teresa needed prayer, all of us need prayer.

Let me say to you, in the words of Mother Teresa, “Please pray for me.”

We talk about the Good Shepherd, but we also need to talk about our role as the flock; the body of Christ bringing in the Kingdom of God; the kingdom begun before the creation, marked by the crucifixion and resurrection, continuing today. The shepherd calls us all, all of the sheep in the pen. The shepherd calls us to be the flock and follow him, Jesus the Christ, into the assembly and into the world.

We are called together to share the good gifts of God with one another and with the world. We are called to do this as joyful response to the gift of salvation given freely by the grace of God.

We are called to be like the church of Acts spending much time together; breaking bread and eating with glad and generous hearts praising God; having the goodwill of all the people; through kerygma, koinonia, breaking bread and prayer. And by these things, through God’s grace and peace, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

We are called to be the church, the body of Christ in the world today as the church was called to be two thousand years ago.

[1] New Interpreter’s Bible, volume IX, page 667.
[2] This rendering of the 23rd Psalm comes from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship. As this Psalm was from today’s lectionary, we used it as our Call to Worship.
[3] Introduction to “The Acts of the Apostles” from the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, electronic edition
[4] Ibid, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[5] “Kerygma”, BDAB Lexicon, Electronic Edition
[6] Ibid, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid, Presbyterian Book of Common Worship, Communion Setting E
[9] Ibid, New Interpreter’s Study Bible, text note for Acts 2:42-47
[10] “Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta”, Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC, editor. New York: Doubleday, 2007.