Texts:

John 10: 11-18

"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."

1 John 3: 16-24

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.

Sermon Text

Isn't that a beautiful stained glass window! I've seen few to equal it in beauty even in grand French cathedrals. The whole colorful expanse is breathtaking, but particularly the central figure, Jesus the Good Shepherd, with a lamb in his arms. Jesus in dazzling white and crimson garments with gold brocaded borders appears so serene. His right knee is raised as if he were walking, slowly walking, bringing the lost sheep back to the fold. His gaze is downward upon the tiny lamb, and so, his eyelids appear to be almost shut. It's as if Jesus were sleepwalking; that's how serene he appears.

Of course, this is an idealized version of shepherd. A real shepherd's clothing would be simple and worn. He would not likely appear serene, but rather, weary from searching. His chest, and legs would be filthy from climbing over rocks, his forearms and hands scratched bloody by briars. In this more realistic mental picture we're much closer to the Good Shepherd we hear about in this morning's reading from John. A good shepherd, he writes, is one who is ready to lay down his life for the sheep. He loves them, and will not abandon them. Something of him must run in their veins, for when the lion has them cornered in a canyon, he will not climb out and run for his life, as a hired hand would. No, he will give up his life instead.

John, of course, was explaining by metaphor the passion of Jesus. In the hour of grave danger Jesus was a good shepherd, John alludes. But he was not like the idealized Good Shepherd depicted in the glorious window behind me. For Jesus was not serene then. He sweated blood in the garden. Tough as it got, Jesus stayed. He saw the thing through.

Our passage from the first letter of John ends by saying that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, abides in us, because he has given us his spirit. Christians have the Good Shepherd's spirit within. What does it mean to affirm this: that we have a courageous spirit, a true-to-the-end spirit, if not always a serene one?

I like the honesty and the realism of our second reading, because it reveals that sometimes-faithful Christians are troubled by doubts. They are not always serene. Sometimes they wonder whether they're on the right track. Sometimes "their hearts condemn them," as our passage puts it. Maybe their hearts condemn them because of something they've done that it's hard to feel forgiven for. Maybe their hearts condemn them because they don't think they're working hard enough for the right cause. Christians should not let such doubts disable them, the text continues, because God knows everything, and God knows us even better than we know ourselves. We can keep going even when we're not totally confident that we're on the right track. The text affirms that we can keep going despite our self-doubts so long as we keep believing in the name of Jesus and do our best to follow his commandments and example. Jesus did not run away when the going got very tough and he was anything but confident, let alone serene. (Remember, he cried out on the cross: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?). Jesus stayed the course, even while he was unsure.

We can do that too, by trusting in God's love as the most powerful force in the universe, as Jesus did when he prayed: "Into thy hands I commit my spirit."

The passage from 1 John adds, we can carry on by doing what Jesus did throughout his ministry: showing love through acts of mercy and kindness. In times of doubt the way to get through is to stop taking our spiritual temperature every time we have a misgiving, stop worrying about how we're doing in the Lord's eyes, and focus our attention instead on practical ways to help our neighbors. Dorothy Day is a fine example of this kind of robust Christian spirit. She wasn't a pious person. She wasn't worried about the state of her soul. But she sure did care about the poor and the outcasts, and she did her best to help them.

I hope that this sermon may have been of some help to the individual sheep of this flock, but also to the flock as a whole. The Hanover flock is going through a time of trial, a time of considerable stress. The world has changed so much, and we are being challenged to reinvent who we are as a church in order to keep serving Jesus faithfully and effectively in this very different world. This is a formidable challenge, one that may cause us to doubt whether we're on the right track or not. None of us has sure answers about what God wants us to do. But, as Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, no one hopes for what he can see, does he? Why? Because if one can see the goal clearly, one has little doubt that it can be grasped with some effort. No, one hopes for what one cannot see. We can hope because God is faithful, and sticks by seekers, so long as they put one foot before the other and walk in faith. Seek and you will find, Jesus promised. Knock and it will be opened to you. Brothers and sisters, I trust that this will be as true for us as a community as it is for individual seekers. Neither certainty nor serenity are necessary for our journey, but trust will surely be. Shall we trust the spirit of the Good Shepherd, the spirit that we have within, to guide us?