“My Shepherd”

Meditation on Psalm 23

April 21, 2013

This is a link to hear Pastor Karen preach her sermon from this morning
https://www.box.com/s/4b8ji1l43lvcm0uvy60v

And here is the full text of her sermon.

***

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long. (Psalm 23)

***

     The language and imagery of shepherd and sheep for the Lord and His people is a familiar one for Christians and Jews. It has been used since ancient times, when it was a real life example, something easily understood because many people raised herds of sheep and goats.  

     Though there are too many to list, some Old Testament people who raised sheep include Abraham and his son, Isaac; Isaac’s son, Jacob, and his children, including Joseph, of Broadway’s Technicolor Dreamcoat fame.  You may also recall that Moses, when he saw the burning bush and heard God’s voice, was tending his father-in-law’s flocks.  David, before he felled the Philistine giant Goliath with a single stone and his slingshot, was just a young shepherd boy, still carrying his shepherd’s staff. 

      I don’t recall if my first experience with shepherd and sheep imagery in the Bible was with the gospel accounts of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, or Psalm 23. I do remember, when I was a little girl, having a plaque on my bedroom wall with the words of Psalm 23 and an illustration of a shepherd with his sheep.  

     I remember that the words, “the Lord is My Shepherd” were capitalized and in larger print than the rest of the Psalm.  This helped to inspire me when I was about 7 to write my very own poem that began “The Lord is My Shepherd.” I don’t remember the rest of the poem, but my family was impressed with my rewrite of the verse to tell how the Lord cared for me personally—and was always with me, protecting me from harm.  I understood the main point of the Psalm—that the Lord is MY SHEPHERD. He belongs to me, and I belong to Him.

***

     Unfortunately, Psalm 23, a Psalm that emphasizes foundational beliefs that even a small child can understand, is often associated with death. Why? Because it is so often read at funerals.

     Today, perhaps I am starting a new tradition—the reading of Psalm 23 at a baptism, because Psalm 23 isn’t about death at all. It’s about life!  And not just life in general—life WITH God.

      This isn’t a far off God who created us and then stands back to watch and wait for us to die and go to heaven to be with Him. Psalm 23 assures us that GOD IS WITH US now and forever—with the Church as a whole AND with each one of us personally. And our Lord wants us to live abundantly, without fear, in the confidence of His love, trusting in his goodness, mercy, guidance, and protection. We are encouraged, along with the psalmist, as I was as a child, to call the Lord, “MY SHEPHERD.”

     When I read the Psalm as a little girl, the shepherd was Jesus, without question. Back then, I didn’t know that the Psalms were written and sung hundreds of years before Jesus was born; therefore the writer of Psalm 23 did not know Jesus and was not describing him. Rather, Jesus uses the shepherd language and imagery of Psalm 23 and real life examples to describe his loving relationship to us—His flock—and to God the Father.

    On the other hand, now that I am grown up, I believe the Psalm DOES prophetically describe our Lord, Jesus Christ, just as He is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy of the Messiah of God. It is only natural that Christians would read the Psalm and connect it with Jesus saying,  “I am the Good Shepherd…and my sheep hear my voice.” I believe that it is because of Jesus our Shepherd that we “shall not want”—that we lack nothing! We have all we need for salvation, abundant life and peace with God now and forever in Christ, our Redeemer and Lord.

       What follows “I shall not want,” explains what is needed for salvation, abundant life and peace with God—and how the Lord graciously meets all those needs. At the top of the list is the need for our obedience and submission to His Will.  But we cannot be obedient and submissive without God’s help!  The Psalmist assures us that the Shepherd will indeed help us to obey, saying, “He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.”  He takes us where He wants us to be—a good place for the sheep whom He loves, a place with green, lush pastures and water, symbolizing the Spirit’s nourishment and cleansing.

      Our shepherd also restores our souls—healing what is broken in us and what has been damaged or destroyed in our lives because of sin. He leads us on the right path—showing us and giving us the power each day to live out His loving, righteous ways.

         But the Psalmist, like us, lives in the real world.  He recognizes the presence and danger of evil all around him. Yet he says, “I fear no evil; for YOU ARE WITH ME.” 

       Notice how the language changes from talking about the Lord to talking to Him.  The Psalmist is drawing nearer to God, and beckoning us to come nearer, too. 

        The next line--“Your rod and your staff—they comfort me” used to puzzle me.  I had heard that the rod and staff were used to discipline the sheep and keep them from going astray. This may be true, but I learned this week that the shepherd’s rod and staff had other uses, too.  The rod was the short, wooden club the shepherd used for protection against animal or human enemies.  The staff was longer and could help the sheep struggling up a difficult path or through darkness and wilderness.

        The last part I find particularly encouraging, especially for a Psalm. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me my whole life long.” Most Psalms speak of enemies pursuing the psalmist. Not so for Psalm 23, where goodness and mercy chases after the psalmist! The Hebrew word translated as “follow” in our Bibles is a more active verb closer to “pursue.”

     Finally, the Psalmist confidently declares the best news of all, “And I shall live in God’s house forever.”

***

       Today, we are blessed to baptize baby Jordyn Zieske, welcoming her into the fold. 

       We pray as a community of faith that this little lamb will grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  We pray this little lamb will grow to be a mature sheep of His flock and confirm the vows her parents have made for her this morning—that He belongs to her and she to Him.

       

Will you join me in the prayer that I hope Jordyn will one day pray?

 “The Lord is My Shepherd; I have all that I need in Christ, my Redeemer. He is MY SHEPHERD, who takes me to places that are good for me and helps me to do His Will.  He heals and restores all that is broken in me and my life because of sin. He leads me to live out His loving, righteous ways…And even though evil is all around me, I am not afraid. For YOU ARE WITH ME.  I trust that You will protect me and keep me from harm… Surely goodness and mercy will pursue me all my life.  And I will live in God’s house forever.”  Amen.

        

“If you love me…”

If you'd like to hear Pastor Karen preaching this morning's sermon you can click on this audio link.  The full text of the sermon is found below.


 https://www.box.com/s/hrodp8007gmlde6rfr0u

Meditation on John 21:1-19

April 14, 2013

***

     After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

      Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ They answered him, ‘No.’ He said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’

       When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the lake. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

      When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’

      So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord.

       Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

       When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ Peter said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’

      Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs.’

     A second time Jesus said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter said, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’

      Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’

      He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ And Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ Peter said, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’

        Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’  (John 21:1-19)

***

     Eight years ago, I was in a very different place in my life.  I had three teenagers still living at home.  I was a religion writer for a daily newspaper. And I was engaged to a Presbyterian minister.

     More and more, I felt that God wanted me to do be doing something other than working as a journalist, but I didn’t know what.  I still loved writing and felt my work was a ministry.  Telling the stories of the faithful and God’s work in our world was something I enjoyed and was good at.  I was comfortable with it, but at the same time, I knew God was moving me in a new direction.

     I shared this with my husband-to-be and we discussed my desire to take some courses in seminary in Bible, religion, and Christian history. Jim encouraged me. He assured me that I had other talents besides writing, but I wasn’t ready to hear talk about my “pastoral gifts.”

     I was sure I was not going to be a pastor. First of all, I wasn’t like any of the pastors I knew. The ministers I knew were mostly older men with booming voices and serious expressions.

      Secondly, I was sure I wasn’t going to be a pastor because the thought of it scared me to death! I had seen churches embroiled in conflict, angry with their pastors and one another.  I had seen churches leave their denominations because they didn’t agree on the interpretation of scripture and who should be ordained. I had seen churches split apart over the purchase of a new hymnal, installing air conditioning, or paving a parking lot.

     Thirdly, I was sure I was not going to be a pastor because I wasn’t good enough. I hadn’t always been faithful to the Lord. There were times in my life when I went my own way and made plenty of mistakes. I didn’t always love the Lord more than anyone or anything.

     Why would God be calling such a person to lead a church? 

      It was a preposterous idea.

***

     

    And then we read about Simon Peter in the gospel of John. After Jesus is crucified, Peter and the other disciples are left to grieve and try to make sense of what happened. They attempt to go back to their old lives, but nothing is the same after what they experienced as Christ’s disciples.

     One night, Peter and the others decide to go fishing on the Sea of Tiberius. They are discouraged when the night passes and they catch nothing.  Then a man on shore advises them to cast their nets again, this time on the right side of the boat.  Soon their net is teeming with so many large fish, 153 to be exact, that the disciples cannot haul the net into the boat.

      When Peter realizes the risen Lord has come back and blessed them with another miracle, he is so excited that he dives into the water and swims 100 yards to the shore.  He could have stayed in the boat and come to Jesus with the others, but Peter is the passionate, impulsive one. He is the one who once tried and failed to walk on water when he saw Jesus walking on water toward them in their boat. Peter is the one who declared his love and loyalty, but when Jesus was arrested, he denied him 3 times before the cock crowed. Just as Jesus said he would.

     Though Christ doesn’t bring up the subject, Peter’s betrayal of the Lord is on the disciple’s mind when Jesus eats with him and talks to him on the shore.

     Jesus asks Peter 3 times if he loves Him, and Peter grows more agitated every time the question is asked. Finally, Peter says, “Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you.”

     And each time Peter professes his love, Jesus answers, “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.”

    Peter is obsessing on the question of love, and failing to hear that Jesus isn’t really questioning his love.  He is trying to tell him what he wants him to do now with his life.  He doesn’t want Peter to go back to the life he led before he met Jesus.  He is trying to tell him, “You’re not a fisherman anymore!”

      He is saying, IF YOU LOVE ME, then you will do what I ask. IF YOU LOVE ME, you will have faith that I will guide and empower you.   

      Peter, the passionate, impulsive, fearful disciple who denied the Lord 3 times is the one whom the Good Shepherd chooses to be the leader of His Church—to feed and tend Christ’s lambs. 

     But Peter is stuck in the guilt of his sin.  

     The Lord is telling him that it doesn’t matter what happened before. Your sin doesn’t matter! What matters is that you love me now and do what I ask you to do.

     Peter will be able to pick up His cross and follow Christ, with the Lord’s help! He will have the courage to die the same kind of humiliating death that Christ died for the sins of the world.

     Jesus is talking about crucifixion when he says, “But when you grow old, you will stretch our your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”

    Peter will come to understand, accept, and preach God’s forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.  This knowledge will release Him to walk confidently in God’s will for His life—to share Christ with the world, tend His lambs, and feed His sheep.

***

    

    Friends, you know my story.  Here I am.  I never expected God to call me to be a pastor because I was stuck in the guilt of my sin.

    I hadn’t always been faithful to seek His Will.  And I didn’t always obey—not if He asked me to do something I was afraid to do. Or didn't want to do.

    I didn’t always love Him more than anyone and anything.

    But one day, because I am one of his sheep, I heard his voice. I felt that He was saying to me, “If you love me, you will do this…”

     And I felt myself answering, “Yes, Lord, I love you.  I will obey.”

     I was afraid, but I trusted that He who was calling me to serve would give me what I needed to do His Will. I knew He would help me!

    And He will continue to help us, my friends, when we seek to do His Will together.  If we love Him, we won’t let fear or sin hold us back! When Jesus died and rose again, our sins and guilt were taken away!

    God can and will continue to use us to build His kingdom, to reach the world for Christ, if we love Him…

    We are His sheep!  We will hear His voice!

    We will obey.

     If we love Him….

Let us pray.

Good Shepherd, thank you for calling us to be your sheep and for feeding and caring for us each day.  Thank you, Lord, that we can hear your loving voice and that you want to use us all, despite all our flaws and weaknesses, to build your righteous kingdom.  Thank you for forgiving us for our sins—for every time we haven’t been faithful to you, or have been too afraid to obey, and haven’t loved you more than anyone and anything.  Thank you for your Spirit that guides us and gives us all that we need to do Your will.  Open our hearts, renew our minds, and build up our faith, Lord, so that we may love you more and walk confidently and obediently each day.  In Christ we pray.  Amen.

“Life in His Name”

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Meditation on John 20:19-31

April 7, 2013

***

      When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

        But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

        A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

        Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:19–31)

***

      

   We all encounter them in our lives. People who always see the glass of water as half empty, rather than half full.  People who look up into the sky and see only the clouds and not the sun shining brightly.

       Some people are like Eeyore, the gloomy, old, grey donkey of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. They are convinced that the worst is about to happen—or already has and nothing can be done about it. Eeyore hears Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Christopher Robin trying to solve little problems in the Hundred Acres’ Wood, and the old grey donkey says in his sad monotone, “It’ll never work!” or “Could be worse.  Not sure how, but it could be worse.” 

       When the loveable donkey loses his tail, his friends kindly try to come up with something to attach to his hind end to serve as a substitute.  A donkey can’t go without its tail, right? They try an umbrella, dartboard, and an accordion, among other things.  When these prove unsatisfactory, Eeyore just shakes his head and says, “It’s okayyyyyy… I’ll learnnnnn to live withoutttttt it.”

***

       Thomas, in our gospel reading today, is kind of an Eeyore.  He isn’t a bad guy.  He is one of Christ’s beloved disciples.  For three years, Thomas, who used to be a fisherman, has walked with Christ to learn how to be a “fisher of men.” But Thomas struggles with anxiety and fear. He sees evil lurking around every corner and predicts failure while others expect miracles like those Christ has already done.

      When Jesus and his disciples hear of their friend Lazarus’ death near Jerusalem, the center of Christ’s opposition, Thomas is convinced that it is a suicide mission to go there.  The idea that Jesus could raise Lazarus from the dead doesn’t occur to him. He comments darkly, “Yes, let’s go there that we might die with him.” 

      With Jesus’ death on the cross, Thomas loses all hope. If Christ were the Messiah, God’s anointed one, how could God have allowed him to die—and such a horrible death? Why didn’t God intervene to save Him? Had God abandoned Jesus and his disciples? Or had they all gotten it wrong?  Was Jesus merely an exemplary man of faith and not the Messiah?

     Thomas doesn’t feel like eating or talking with the other disciples when they gather for their evening meal Sunday night. He doesn’t join them.  Maybe he is just too afraid that those who killed Jesus would be coming for him next.

      The other disciples are also afraid.  They lock the door—as if that would keep them safe from their enemies.

      So Thomas isn’t there when the risen Jesus suddenly comes and stands among them, saying “Shalom! (Peace be with you.)”   He isn’t there when Jesus shows them the nail marks on his hands and the hole in his side.  He doesn’t see the others rejoice because the one who had been crucified is now alive! 

        Before leaving them, Jesus charges his disciples to carry out the joyful message of His Resurrection and salvation through Him.  “As the Father has sent me,” Jesus says, “so I send you.”

         Then He gives them the power to do what He commands them to do.  He knows they are weak human beings, after all, so afraid that they are hiding in a locked room.  These men had professed love and loyalty, but then had all run away when Christ endured his darkest hours. Jesus breathes on them now, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

         His final instructions are about sin and forgiveness.  Does this surprise any of you? The Lord knew that not just fear but unbelief would be a problem for them as it had been for the disciples all along.

        Jesus had repeatedly reprimanded them about their unbelief when he was with them in the flesh.  When they wake him because they fear they will perish in a storm at sea, Jesus scolds, “Have you NO faith, yet??!!”

       And Jesus knows what will happen next—that his disciples will run to tell Thomas they have seen the risen Lord—and Thomas will not believe.  The Lord who knows the thoughts and intentions of the human heart knows that Thomas, with his gloomy, Eeyore-like disposition, has fallen into despair. 

     When Jesus says, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained,” he is urging his beloved to have grace for one another—like He has shown his grace for them.  He doesn’t scold any of his disciples for fleeing while he was suffering his greatest pain and humiliation.  With his death on the cross, He has become God’s perfect sacrifice, taking the punishment on his own body for their sin and for the sin of all people—in every time and place.

***

     True to His loving, merciful nature, our Lord forgives Thomas. He has plans to use Thomas and the others to build His kingdom. He comes to Thomas when he is gathered with the other disciples about a week later.   He greets them again with, “Shalom!  Peace be with you.” Then he tells Thomas, “Go ahead! Feel with your fingers the marks of the nails on my hands and reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt. But believe.”

        Thomas is deeply moved by Christ’s visit. “My Lord and my God!” he says. 

       Then Jesus speaks prophetically about future believers—people who have not seen and yet have come to believe.  People like us.

       At the end of this passage, in verses 30 and 31, John speaks directly to his audience of the future.  He says that he could tell us more about the signs Jesus did in the presence of his disciples. But what he has written is enough so that all of us who have not seen may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. And that through believing, we may all have “life in his name”—a life lived for glorifying God and obeying Christ, being sent out like his first disciples, people such as Thomas, a gloomy but loveable Eeyore who struggled with unbelief and fell into despair.

       But after his personal encounter with the risen Lord, Thomas is a changed man.  He becomes a passionate worker for Christ. He carries the gospel to ancient Babylon, near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, where Iraq is today.  He travels to Persia, to present day Iran, and brings more people to the faith.  And he sails south to Malabar on the west Coast of India. Many years later, in the 1600s, people from Portugal will land in India and find a group of Christians, the Mar Thoma Church, who trace their history back to Thomas’ first visit—around 52 A.D.!

     Friends, all of us are Eeyores at some time in our lives.  Every day we are tempted to embrace misery and hold onto fear instead of living in the joy and hope of the living Christ and the promise of our own resurrection with Him.    

     If you find yourself struggling with doubts and fear instead of walking confidently in faith, remember Thomas, whose personal encounter with the risen Lord stirred him to become one of Christ’s most faithful workers.  He lived to obey the Lord’s command, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

     Be inspired by the very human example of a common fisherman whom Christ chose to be his very human but faithful disciple.

    The Lord has called us to be His very human but faithful disciples!

    He has chosen us to have “life in his name.”

     Let us pray.

           

Living Lord, we thank you for your Word and Spirit that empowers, convicts, and guides us as it did for your earliest disciples. Forgive us for holding onto our doubts and fears, when we know it is not the way you want us to live.  Forgive us for when we have chosen gloominess and seen only clouds when the sun is shining so brightly! Come to us, each one of us personally, like you did for Thomas, and change our hearts.  Strengthen us with your joy so that we may obey your commands. Give us confidence and passion to be your faithful workers, showing and telling all the world what it means to have “life in your name!”  In Your name we pray.  Amen.