Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Pascha / Easter (RCL – Year B)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17
A very old man went out one day onto the land beside his house, and began planting fruit trees. A young man walked by.
“What are you doing?” the young man asked. “Planting fruit trees,” the old man replied. “But you will not see the fruit in your lifetime,” the young man said.
“The fruit that I have enjoyed in my lifetime,” the old man answered, “has been from trees that people before me planted. So to express my gratitude for them, I am planting trees to give fruit to those who come after me.” (Celtic Parables by Robert Van De Weyer, 1997, p.59.)
This brief parable expresses the kind of attitude that God has intended to dwell in all of those who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We love because he first loved us. Because we have received so freely, we give thanks and we can now give freely to others. This is the fruit of agape love.
We all know this to be true, but you and I as a community must wrestle with this question: how do we in reality love one another? What does love look like in action?
In our Gospel readings of these Great Fifty Days, we have been reading through our Lord’s “commencement address”: his long farewell address to his students, his friends who are preparing to “graduate” to the next level. Now it is the time for them to take what they have learned and to put it into practice in real life situations.
We know now that one of them failed right away. I think we tend to forget that Judas was there with the twelve. Judas had his feet washed by our Lord, and Judas listened to these amazing words.
When Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you”, he was speaking to Judas along with the others. And I want to suggest to you that Judas intended to love our Lord in return.
None of us on this earth can ever know what was transpiring in the mind of Judas during these last days with Christ, but there is no reason for us to think that he did not intend to love the Lord by his actions. Remember: he too had left everything to follow Christ. He too had walked with Christ for 3 years and had seen all of the marvels that he had done.
When they finally entered into Jerusalem, and as the tension mounted between Jesus and the powers-that-be, it seems that Judas was so eager to see our Lord justified, that he took matters into his own hands to force a confrontation with the rulers in Jerusalem. Then, all the people would see and know how powerful the Messiah really was! No one, not even Pilate, could stop Jesus. And the money that the Sadducees gave to Judas would be part of the new king’s treasury. He was King of Israel and he would force the Romans out!
It seems clear, however, that Judas never asked Jesus about this great plan of his. He never asked Jesus about his intentions for the future. In fact, it seems that Judas did not listen to what our Lord clearly stated about his impending death on the cross.
Listening is an act of love. Asking is an act of love. To not act, and to not listen – this is betrayal. This is the betrayal of Judas.
There is, in fact, a fine line between love and betrayal. This, I believe, is the message that Judas brings to us. There is a fine line between love and betrayal, and we can cross over that line easily if we fail to heed our Master’s teaching.
Love listens to the other, without the desired answer already in mind. When we think we know better than the other, when we push forward and act on the other’s behalf, when we force our solution onto the other, then we are not acting in love. Then we betray the other. Love asks, and love listens.
There is a legend that has been told about the apostle John. It is said that the apostle only preached one sermon. In the liturgy, when the time for the sermon came, he stood up and addressed the gathered community and said, “Beloved, love one another.” When the people asked the apostle why he continued to repeat this over and over again, he answered, “As soon as you begin to do it, then we can move on to other things!”
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” It is a simple and clear and direct message. It is the command of God. But it is not so simple to do, is it? In our day and time, I wonder how we really can love one another.
Life is so busy, and we are all so fragmented, and separated. How can we really spend time listening to one another? Do we here in this congregation – do we really love one another? But how can we love one another if we don’t even know each another, if we don’t have time for one another?
I’m not speaking here of loving the members of our family. That is to be expected. Not that loving anyone is easy. But in the family, it is easy to ascribe a measure of self-serving motivation to loving our family. For instance, I have learned that if I do not show my wife the appreciation that she needs, then my life will be lacking in certain things, such as clean clothes and a good dinner, and the possibility of a back massage at the end of the day will be out of the question. To love her is God’s commandment to me, but it is also a wise act of self-preservation.
Instead, I am asking about loving those who are not part of our flesh-and-blood family, but who are sisters and brothers with us in the Body of Christ. Jesus intends for his church to be a community that loves each other with a love that is deeper and more practically real than that which is known among any other human society. And so my question is this: do we embody this? Do we love each other in the body of Christ as Christ loved us?
It is a miracle of grace that the apostles were in fact able to bear fruit that has lasted. Even since her earliest days, the foul beasts of pride, greed and envy have reared their ugly heads among the members of Christ’s body. But our Lord appointed them to go and bear fruit that will last, and that is in fact what they have done. They received abundantly, and so they planted trees that continue to bear fruit even to this day. You and I are the fruit of the apostles. Thousand of years later, we continue to cherish the words of Scripture that they treasured; we continue to break bread together as they gathered at the Lord’s table; we continue to pray together as they prayed. And by the grace of God, we continue to try and love one another as our loving Master has loved us.
Because the task for this body of Christ today remains the same as it was then. To love one another with the agape love of God, and in this way to share with the world around us a glimpse into the new life that is possible through Jesus Christ.
May God give us grace to listen to each other and so to love one another as we have been loved. Amen.
Reports, musings, sermons, happenings from a Presbyter (Priest) of The Episcopal Church who loves Jesus, the natural world, ice and snow, and is raising 3 children with his artist-wife, Erin McGee Ferrell. (This photo is of the Presidential range in NH taken from Vermont.)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Total Home Renovation
When I am not working on CertaPro or a sermon, this is my life. This 1889 Victorian house that is in need of a complete over-haul. Most of the interior is done, so now I am focused upon the exterior. I am taking down the old asbestos siding and aluminum trim wrapping, and restoring the original clapboard and re-building the detailed trimwork. It's fun, but it's a shame that is has to take years and years to complete!
Here's a glimpse of the inside. It is a very visually stimulating place.Bright colors, traditional African handcrafts, original artwork and Victorian trimwork. At least it's interesting!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Make It Bear More Fruit
Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Pascha / Easter (RCL - B)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:25-31; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8
In the mountains of North Carolina, the McGee’s lived a simple and humble life, but one that was filled with lots of joy and love. These folks are my wife’s grandparents and if you’ve heard me talk, then you likely know that they have been very important people in her life. One summer in college, she went to live with them in order to learn a bit of their wisdom.
Erin recalls one day early on in that summer when she was out in the massive garden that old Reverend McGee planted and tended. She was out to help Grandpa with his weeding. Now, Erin grew up in the city, and so she was not too familiar with gardens. Grandpa McGee was the Master Gardener, and he took great pride in his amazing vegetables. And so you can imagine how quite frustrated he was when he found out that Erin, who thought that she was being helpful and pulling out weeds, instead actually had spent the day pulling up all of his newly sprouted bean plants!
Trust me: it’s best to let the Master Gardener handle the garden, and it’s best for those who don’t know what their doing to just stay out of the way!
Our Lord Jesus reminds us today that God is the Master Gardener, and God has a plan for shaping our lives so that they can become beautiful, lush gardens that produce bumper crops of fruits and vegetables that can be shared with family and friends and neighbors all around.
But, in order for these gardens to be fruitful, they have to be weeded! In order for the grapevines to produce more grapes, they have to be pruned.
Who likes the idea of being pruned? I mean, really! Do any of us really welcome change in ourselves?
In the Greek, the word translated here as pruning has the same meaning as cleansing.
Kathairo – to prune, to cleanse, to make clean.
Jesus teaches us that God intends to do this in our lives: “[My Father] removes – literally, carries away – every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that [does bear] fruit he prunes – he cleanses – to make it bear more fruit” (John 15:2).
Can you see the plan? If you bear fruit now – if you are open now to the Holy Spirit - then God’s plan and intention is to change your life so that every year you bear more and more fruit.
But what really does it mean to “bear more fruit”? It means that my actions – and your actions – become increasingly more and more in line with the actions of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It means that we become his disciples, his students who are learning from him how this life is meant to be lived.
As our Epistle reading stated so clearly today: “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” So that we might through him, in him, for him, with him.
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:8).
You see, we all imitate someone else. Each one of us is a disciple of at least one other person. We all learn how to live from others.
We need to be careful about who we emulate. This is why I cannot simply agree with others when they say that all religions are basically the same and they teach the same things. Are they really? Do they really teach the same things?
Muhammed is claimed to be the prophet of God. His followers claim that he is the final and most perfect of all of the prophets. And yet, Muhammed was a wealthy slave owner.
Muhammed violently attacked and killed those who opposed his teaching.
In contrast, our Lord Jesus Christ was a common, humble man who never displayed violence against anyone. And when he was attacked and opposed, he responded with love and compassion and was willing to sacrifice himself rather than to attack.
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter…”
What kind of fruit would you expect to see in the lives of those who follow these two very different men?
In the real world that you and I live in, choosing which one of these men to follow has an enormous impact upon our lives.
It is our choice to make. God has given us a mind and we are to use it. We must be careful in our choice of who to imitate. It truly can be the difference of life and death.
On this past Friday, the Church celebrated and remembered the Feast Day of blessed Dame Julian of Norwich. Some of you may know her story. Others of you may have heard of her amazing visions, the most famous of which is the vision of the hazelnut lying in her hand.
This nut symbolized the world resting in the loving hand of God. Small and fragile though the world is – small and insignificant our lives may be – yet God created us in love, sustains us even now in love, and is redeeming and cleansing our lives now in love.
After this vision, Dame Julian wrote down a remarkable prayer which summarizes her vision of God’s redeeming love:
Only in you, Lord, do I have everything. For God is love, and that is enough for me.
-Someone very wise once said that “faith is the direction your feet start movin’ in when you know that you are loved.”
-God is love, and God has loved us with an amazing, everlasting love. When we truly can embrace that love and carry it in our hearts – in the center of our being – all the time, then our feet start moving. Then we begin to love others as we have been loved. “We love because God first loved us.”
The invitation to each one of you here today is to make yourself at home in the love of Christ. There is no better place for your heart to dwell. And, my friends, don’t fight with the pruner. Don’t argue with the Master Gardener. Let God cut out of you every little hint of bitterness or anger or greed or jealousy. Every hint of that spirit that grabs and takes, and let that be replaced with the open hand that receives, that receives every good thing as a gift from our loving Father who surrounds us at all times.
This is true and abundant life. This is the fruit of love. Amen.
Blessing of Mothers for Mother's Day
Father, we give you thanks for the many gifts you have given us;
the gift of life, the gift of those who love us.
We thank you today for the gift of our mothers and grandmothers.
We give thanks for our Mothers and Grandmothers who have diedand for the unique way they have revealed for us your love.
We ask that you Bless them and keep them in your careuntil the time comes for us to join them in the heavens.
We ask your Blessing upon the Mothers and Grandmothers who are unable to be with us here today.May they know how much we love and care for them.
We pray for birth mothers who have loved their children so much they have shared the gift of their child with those who could better care for them and their needs, and give them a secure home.
And we pray for adoptive mothers, that they may always know their special role of being a true mother, a revelation of God's love for their children.
We ask your blessing upon Mothers who have lost childrenthrough miscarriage, stillbirth, crib death, accident and tragedy, that theymay know your continuing strength and courage.
We ask your blessing too, upon those who would very muchlike to be mothers but who are having trouble having a child.
And we ask your Blessing especially upon the Mothers and Grandmothers standing before us here +. Give them the strength to live the faithful and loving lives you call them to live.
Protect and guide them. Keep them in your care.
We ask this Blessing in the name of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:25-31; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8
In the mountains of North Carolina, the McGee’s lived a simple and humble life, but one that was filled with lots of joy and love. These folks are my wife’s grandparents and if you’ve heard me talk, then you likely know that they have been very important people in her life. One summer in college, she went to live with them in order to learn a bit of their wisdom.
Erin recalls one day early on in that summer when she was out in the massive garden that old Reverend McGee planted and tended. She was out to help Grandpa with his weeding. Now, Erin grew up in the city, and so she was not too familiar with gardens. Grandpa McGee was the Master Gardener, and he took great pride in his amazing vegetables. And so you can imagine how quite frustrated he was when he found out that Erin, who thought that she was being helpful and pulling out weeds, instead actually had spent the day pulling up all of his newly sprouted bean plants!
Trust me: it’s best to let the Master Gardener handle the garden, and it’s best for those who don’t know what their doing to just stay out of the way!
Our Lord Jesus reminds us today that God is the Master Gardener, and God has a plan for shaping our lives so that they can become beautiful, lush gardens that produce bumper crops of fruits and vegetables that can be shared with family and friends and neighbors all around.
But, in order for these gardens to be fruitful, they have to be weeded! In order for the grapevines to produce more grapes, they have to be pruned.
Who likes the idea of being pruned? I mean, really! Do any of us really welcome change in ourselves?
In the Greek, the word translated here as pruning has the same meaning as cleansing.
Kathairo – to prune, to cleanse, to make clean.
Jesus teaches us that God intends to do this in our lives: “[My Father] removes – literally, carries away – every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that [does bear] fruit he prunes – he cleanses – to make it bear more fruit” (John 15:2).
Can you see the plan? If you bear fruit now – if you are open now to the Holy Spirit - then God’s plan and intention is to change your life so that every year you bear more and more fruit.
But what really does it mean to “bear more fruit”? It means that my actions – and your actions – become increasingly more and more in line with the actions of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It means that we become his disciples, his students who are learning from him how this life is meant to be lived.
As our Epistle reading stated so clearly today: “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” So that we might through him, in him, for him, with him.
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:8).
You see, we all imitate someone else. Each one of us is a disciple of at least one other person. We all learn how to live from others.
We need to be careful about who we emulate. This is why I cannot simply agree with others when they say that all religions are basically the same and they teach the same things. Are they really? Do they really teach the same things?
Muhammed is claimed to be the prophet of God. His followers claim that he is the final and most perfect of all of the prophets. And yet, Muhammed was a wealthy slave owner.
Muhammed violently attacked and killed those who opposed his teaching.
In contrast, our Lord Jesus Christ was a common, humble man who never displayed violence against anyone. And when he was attacked and opposed, he responded with love and compassion and was willing to sacrifice himself rather than to attack.
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter…”
What kind of fruit would you expect to see in the lives of those who follow these two very different men?
In the real world that you and I live in, choosing which one of these men to follow has an enormous impact upon our lives.
It is our choice to make. God has given us a mind and we are to use it. We must be careful in our choice of who to imitate. It truly can be the difference of life and death.
On this past Friday, the Church celebrated and remembered the Feast Day of blessed Dame Julian of Norwich. Some of you may know her story. Others of you may have heard of her amazing visions, the most famous of which is the vision of the hazelnut lying in her hand.
This nut symbolized the world resting in the loving hand of God. Small and fragile though the world is – small and insignificant our lives may be – yet God created us in love, sustains us even now in love, and is redeeming and cleansing our lives now in love.
After this vision, Dame Julian wrote down a remarkable prayer which summarizes her vision of God’s redeeming love:
"God, of your goodness, give me yourself, for you are enough for me, and I can
ask for nothing which is less which can pay you full worship. And if I ask
for anything which is less, always I am in want; but only in you do I have
everything.”
Only in you, Lord, do I have everything. For God is love, and that is enough for me.
-Someone very wise once said that “faith is the direction your feet start movin’ in when you know that you are loved.”
-God is love, and God has loved us with an amazing, everlasting love. When we truly can embrace that love and carry it in our hearts – in the center of our being – all the time, then our feet start moving. Then we begin to love others as we have been loved. “We love because God first loved us.”
The invitation to each one of you here today is to make yourself at home in the love of Christ. There is no better place for your heart to dwell. And, my friends, don’t fight with the pruner. Don’t argue with the Master Gardener. Let God cut out of you every little hint of bitterness or anger or greed or jealousy. Every hint of that spirit that grabs and takes, and let that be replaced with the open hand that receives, that receives every good thing as a gift from our loving Father who surrounds us at all times.
This is true and abundant life. This is the fruit of love. Amen.
Blessing of Mothers for Mother's Day
Father, we give you thanks for the many gifts you have given us;
the gift of life, the gift of those who love us.
We thank you today for the gift of our mothers and grandmothers.
We give thanks for our Mothers and Grandmothers who have diedand for the unique way they have revealed for us your love.
We ask that you Bless them and keep them in your careuntil the time comes for us to join them in the heavens.
We ask your Blessing upon the Mothers and Grandmothers who are unable to be with us here today.May they know how much we love and care for them.
We pray for birth mothers who have loved their children so much they have shared the gift of their child with those who could better care for them and their needs, and give them a secure home.
And we pray for adoptive mothers, that they may always know their special role of being a true mother, a revelation of God's love for their children.
We ask your blessing upon Mothers who have lost childrenthrough miscarriage, stillbirth, crib death, accident and tragedy, that theymay know your continuing strength and courage.
We ask your blessing too, upon those who would very muchlike to be mothers but who are having trouble having a child.
And we ask your Blessing especially upon the Mothers and Grandmothers standing before us here +. Give them the strength to live the faithful and loving lives you call them to live.
Protect and guide them. Keep them in your care.
We ask this Blessing in the name of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
We Know Love by This
Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Pascha / Easter (RCL – Year B)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18
My friends: this is Good Shepherd Sunday, the one Sunday in the Great Fifty Days when the Church reflects together upon our life under the care of our Lord who is the Good Shepherd.
All of us who are gathered here today have thought about God’s care for us personally as proclaimed with such beauty in the 23rd Psalm, one of the most widely known passages of Scripture. But this Sunday is much more about what it means to live together as one flock under the loving watch of Christ.
It has been said that “the church is a society of sinners. It is the only society in the world, membership in which is based upon the single qualification that the candidate shall be unworthy of membership” (Charles Clayton Morrison).
The Church is the flock of wayward, stubborn sheep who seem to always be looking at greener grass farther away and yet who the Good Shepherd has brought together and keeps together through his own personal sacrifice.
And yet, how quickly we forget why we are here. How quickly we forget that love is the reason for our gatherings and that unity in love in this one flock is God’s plan.
Do you know why geese fly together in V-shaped delta wing formations? We have seen many in the past 2 months, migrating
back to the north after the winter. Do you know why they fly together as they do? An individual goose, going alone, can fly roughly 100 miles in a day. But when they are in formation, flying together, they can fly up to an amazing 1000 miles a day. 10 times farther every day!
This is a metaphor, a parable that the Creator has given us to display the power of brothers living together in unity, the energy that God designed to be at work among humanity gathered together in the one flock which is the Church.
God designed the Church to be one. Through our human pride and greed and selfishness, we have completely destroyed that unity. Right now there are over 10,000 separate Christian churches and associations in the world, all paying homage to Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd, and each one laying claim to be the “true” and “correct” Church. How ridiculous, and how sad!
And of course, as any of you know, we in The Episcopal Church are right now in the midst of a struggle where the battle lines are being drawn and groups are dividing into their own tidy little corners with all of those who think and act like themselves.
Even right now, for the first 2 weeks of May, the Anglican Consultative Council, with members – lay and ordained – from across the globe, are gathered together to consider the creation of an Anglican Covenant. This Covenant is likely to be approved and passed along to all of the member churches of the Anglican Communion as a framework for our life together. I have seen the draft document. It is quite vague, with very little detail, but the Covenant does speak in beautiful theological language about the life of the Church gathered together under the care of the Good Shepherd.
It’s lovely, but to be frank, I cannot see any good reason why we need to spend our time and money on these things when we have all the guidance we need right now in the Scriptures. Aren’t these texts clear enough? Let’s look again at that reading from the 1st letter of John for today, and let’s read that first sentence together – in unison! “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another” (1 John 3:16).
Is this not clear enough?
Two tourists are hiking in the Himalayan foothills in India, making their way through the thick jungle, when they spot a tiger in the bush. This tiger is eyeing them and looking hungry. So one on the hikers quickly reaches into his backpack and takes out a brand new pair of Nike sneakers, and begins to put them on. The other asks him, “Do you really think those will make you run faster than that tiger?” “I don’t have to run faster than that tiger,” the first says. “I just have to run faster than you!”
Sadly, unfortunately, this attitude has been all too characteristic of the church when dealing with one another. Even into our own day, with our conflicts and disagreements, our instinct seems always to look out only for our own interests. What do we need to do to protect ourselves?
But this is precisely what the Church of Jesus Christ is not about. We should know better, for we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us. “For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6) – for those who did not care about loving God nor their neighbor. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for us, to bring us into his flock.
And so what is the proper and correct response to receiving this amazing, loving care? “We ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
The questions being asked right now by our church leaders all across this country are: Who owns the property? Who holds the deed to the building? Who gets to stay here and who has to leave? How sad! Wrong questions!
The questions that we need to ask as the community living under the care of the Good Shepherd are these: Are we laying down our life on behalf of others? Are we serving others in the name of Christ? “Freely you have received; freely give.” This is the way of our Master.
Our Lord speaks to his people in parables, and we can be pretty sure that his students at that time had no idea what this meant. “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.”
I have other sheep that do not look or think or speak like you, but they belong to the same flock as you, and they will listen to my voice.
And this, my friends, this is the crux of the matter: “They will listen to my voice.”
To whose voice are we listening? Factions, schisms, associations, splinter groups – so many clear evidences that we are in fact listening to a different voice. The wolf scatters the one flock.
In the 1940’s, in a Nazi German prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had this to say about the unity of the Church:
Offered by Nathan Ferrell at HS, Bellmawr & St. Luke’s, Westville
Texts: Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18
My friends: this is Good Shepherd Sunday, the one Sunday in the Great Fifty Days when the Church reflects together upon our life under the care of our Lord who is the Good Shepherd.
All of us who are gathered here today have thought about God’s care for us personally as proclaimed with such beauty in the 23rd Psalm, one of the most widely known passages of Scripture. But this Sunday is much more about what it means to live together as one flock under the loving watch of Christ.
It has been said that “the church is a society of sinners. It is the only society in the world, membership in which is based upon the single qualification that the candidate shall be unworthy of membership” (Charles Clayton Morrison).
The Church is the flock of wayward, stubborn sheep who seem to always be looking at greener grass farther away and yet who the Good Shepherd has brought together and keeps together through his own personal sacrifice.
And yet, how quickly we forget why we are here. How quickly we forget that love is the reason for our gatherings and that unity in love in this one flock is God’s plan.
Do you know why geese fly together in V-shaped delta wing formations? We have seen many in the past 2 months, migrating
back to the north after the winter. Do you know why they fly together as they do? An individual goose, going alone, can fly roughly 100 miles in a day. But when they are in formation, flying together, they can fly up to an amazing 1000 miles a day. 10 times farther every day!This is a metaphor, a parable that the Creator has given us to display the power of brothers living together in unity, the energy that God designed to be at work among humanity gathered together in the one flock which is the Church.
God designed the Church to be one. Through our human pride and greed and selfishness, we have completely destroyed that unity. Right now there are over 10,000 separate Christian churches and associations in the world, all paying homage to Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd, and each one laying claim to be the “true” and “correct” Church. How ridiculous, and how sad!
And of course, as any of you know, we in The Episcopal Church are right now in the midst of a struggle where the battle lines are being drawn and groups are dividing into their own tidy little corners with all of those who think and act like themselves.
Even right now, for the first 2 weeks of May, the Anglican Consultative Council, with members – lay and ordained – from across the globe, are gathered together to consider the creation of an Anglican Covenant. This Covenant is likely to be approved and passed along to all of the member churches of the Anglican Communion as a framework for our life together. I have seen the draft document. It is quite vague, with very little detail, but the Covenant does speak in beautiful theological language about the life of the Church gathered together under the care of the Good Shepherd.
It’s lovely, but to be frank, I cannot see any good reason why we need to spend our time and money on these things when we have all the guidance we need right now in the Scriptures. Aren’t these texts clear enough? Let’s look again at that reading from the 1st letter of John for today, and let’s read that first sentence together – in unison! “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another” (1 John 3:16).
Is this not clear enough?
Two tourists are hiking in the Himalayan foothills in India, making their way through the thick jungle, when they spot a tiger in the bush. This tiger is eyeing them and looking hungry. So one on the hikers quickly reaches into his backpack and takes out a brand new pair of Nike sneakers, and begins to put them on. The other asks him, “Do you really think those will make you run faster than that tiger?” “I don’t have to run faster than that tiger,” the first says. “I just have to run faster than you!”
Sadly, unfortunately, this attitude has been all too characteristic of the church when dealing with one another. Even into our own day, with our conflicts and disagreements, our instinct seems always to look out only for our own interests. What do we need to do to protect ourselves?
But this is precisely what the Church of Jesus Christ is not about. We should know better, for we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us. “For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6) – for those who did not care about loving God nor their neighbor. The Good Shepherd laid down his life for us, to bring us into his flock.
And so what is the proper and correct response to receiving this amazing, loving care? “We ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
The questions being asked right now by our church leaders all across this country are: Who owns the property? Who holds the deed to the building? Who gets to stay here and who has to leave? How sad! Wrong questions!
The questions that we need to ask as the community living under the care of the Good Shepherd are these: Are we laying down our life on behalf of others? Are we serving others in the name of Christ? “Freely you have received; freely give.” This is the way of our Master.
Our Lord speaks to his people in parables, and we can be pretty sure that his students at that time had no idea what this meant. “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.”
I have other sheep that do not look or think or speak like you, but they belong to the same flock as you, and they will listen to my voice.
And this, my friends, this is the crux of the matter: “They will listen to my voice.”
To whose voice are we listening? Factions, schisms, associations, splinter groups – so many clear evidences that we are in fact listening to a different voice. The wolf scatters the one flock.
In the 1940’s, in a Nazi German prison, Dietrich Bonhoeffer had this to say about the unity of the Church:
“Christian brotherhood is not an ideal that we must realize; it is rather a
reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. The more clearly
we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our
fellowship is in Jesus Christ alone, [then] the more serenely shall we think of
our fellowship and pray and hope for it” (Life Together, p.30-31).
And so, my friends, the way forward for us here in this community and in the larger Church is quite simple: let us love one another, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. Let us love another as the Good Shepherd has loved us. Amen.
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