“Good Shepherd Sunday: Gathered In and Sent Out”

John 10: 1-10

May 3, 2020

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

First Congregational UCC of Manhattan, KS

Each week throughout the season of Easter, we’ve started our worship service with these words from the 2nd chapter of Acts: “day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts.” 

Like those first followers of the Way, we’ve been gathering together week after week, spending much time together, creating little temples in our hearts and homes. Despite being unable to gather in one place, we continue to bring our spirits together across the distance to join in give thanks and remember Christ as we gather at the Table for Holy Communion. Even as we long for a time when we can look into one another’s eyes in our sanctuary and share the meal together….we also know and trust that our God is able to make any table into Christ’s table. A place where we come to be nourished and fed - both physically and spiritually. 

Jesus taught his disciples to celebrate the Eurcharist (which means thanksgiving) both as a way of feeding them and modeling for them how they were to gather after he was gone. We know that early followers of the Way continued to gather at tables and remember what Jesus had taught them. We also know that they lived in communion with one another. They sold all they had and pooled their resources to care for everyone who was a part of their movement. We can only imagine that early observances of Communion weren’t just about the ritual but were also important feeding ministries, making sure everyone had enough to eat. 

In that same way, gathering for Communion in the 21st century isn’t just about being fed ourselves...it’s also about the way this meal invites us to go forth and look for ways we can feed others. How can we, as Christians, make sure everyone has both the tangible and spiritual food they need so that they, in turn, can reach out with generous hearts and fill others?

Following the way of Jesus is always, always about looking outside, beyond ourselves. And gathering for worship is one of the ways we get our own cups filled to overflowing so that we can share God’s abundance and goodness with those around us. In worship, we come to practice building a temple in our hearts and being the Beloved Community together...in this way, we learn how to live as One with the hope that we can share this vision with everyone we encounter. 

Communion is one of the ways we remember who we are and whose we are. 

Another way we remember is by sharing stories. 

The one we heard this morning from the Gospel of John is one that I’ve heard many times in my life. In fact, we hear it EVERY year on this particular Sunday in Easter because this is “Good Shepherd Sunday” in the lectionary. 

Most sermons I’ve heard on this text center on the image of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and the way he lovingly cares for his sheep. Jesus calls out to them and the sheep know the sound of his voice. The lesson for us, the sheep, I suppose, is to tune our ears and hearts to the sound of Jesus’s voice...to let him lead us and make sure we don’t wander off and follow someone else instead. 

That’s not a bad lesson. 

But guess what happened when I read the text this week? I found out that Jesus isn’t just the good shepherd. It’s true. Go back and look it up in John 10. Jesus spends the first 5 verses weaving this story about the shepherd’s voice. But THEN we are told no one understood what he was talking about, so he made it plain for them. “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.”

Lest we miss it (as I’ve been doing for almost 40 years now) he repeats himself two verses later: “I am the gate.”

Jesus is the gate. The one who creates spaces within our hearts for us to protect and care for what matters most. Jesus is the one who holds us together and creates a safe space for us to land. Jesus is the one who guides our coming out and our going in, bearing witness as we move through each day of our lives. Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the gate.

And if we are followers of the Way, then we are also invited into the honorable work of following in Christ’s footsteps. 

We are also the ones who do the hard work of caring for the sheep, guarding one another and caring for all who are precious in God’s sight...which means everyone. As we follow in the Ways of Jesus, we are called to protect - our jobs is to help one another find nourishment and safe spaces to graze. 

I invite you to pray with me:

God who gathers us in and spreads your wings over us like those of a mother hen, bring us close to your heart now. 

Holy One, help us to be the kind of shepherds you would want us to be. 

Help us, through our relationships to build a more just world for all people and all creation. Keep us and challenge us, O God. Help us to be the kind of shepherds who always go after the one lost sheep even if the 99 others are bleating loudly for our attention. 

Help us to knit together communities of care where we know one another’s voices because we’ve taken the time to listen to one another. Help us to be the kind of shepherds who look around and see when other shepherds might need a break. And don’t let us forget your commandment of Sabbath rest, for we know it is good to rest from our labors and trust in your care. 

God, be with us as we use our gentle, loving, firm voices in our families, our friend-circles, our places of work, and our communities. Help us to be the shepherds who cry out loudly for justice...so that others might hear our voices and listen. So that others might join with us as we try to build your Beloved Community of justice and peace for all.

We pray all this in the name of Jesus, the shepherd, the gate; the still point of our turning world. [1]

Amen. 

NOTES: 

[1] With gratitude to the Rev. Gayle Engel for “the still point of our turning world,” a phrase I love.