Luke: We are Your Good Shepherd

Circle me, Lord:
Keep protection near
And danger afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep hope within.
Keep doubt without.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep light near
And darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep peace within.
Keep evil out.
Amen.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Luke: We are the Church of The Good Shepherd and we will lay down our lives for you. For we are the Body of Christ and it is our joy to bring you fully into this Body today.
Welcome, welcome to the household of God, welcome to our family. We will be there for you, and your parents, no matter what.  To use the vernacular—Ken, Jessica, Luke---we’ve your back.

In the 1st century , in the Holy Land…as a matter of fact, in the 21st century in the Holy Land… shepherds physically lie down to serve as the gate to a sheep fold,  to protect their herd.
Jesus tells us, in today’s Gospel, that he will do the same, that he will lay down his life for us, his sheep. And of course he did—Jesus is our  Good Shepherd. And throughout his life, his actions as that Good Shepherd give us an example, a template, a formula for how we are to live in community.
A model beautifully expressed  in today’s epistle from the first letter of John:
 “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another…Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” In this quotation John is describing Community—and it’s the community of the Good Shepherd, both literally and figuratively, we have here.
Yes Luke, we have your back. No matter where you go, no matter what life brings you, we’ll always be here, you can count on us. For by signing the baptismal certificate, by saying, as you all will in a few moments, “we will”—we’re doing more than being polite church members doing what your Rector asks you to do….we’re committing ourselves, individually and collectively, to Luke and Ken and Jessica. We are saying: We Will Help. We will be there. Whenever Luke stumbles, whenever he falls. Whenever Jessica or Ken stumble, whenever they fall: we will be there for them. Because that’s what communities of faith do, that’s what the members of Christ’s body do: they watch out for, care for, adore, cherish and protect one another. Just like the Good Shepherd.
So although this is a GREAT day—I mean who doesn’t love a baptism---it’s a sobering day as well. For we are making a solemn vow. A solemn vow to this precious little boy and reinforcing the one we have already made to each other—we are vowing to be faithful to him and to each other, come what may.
It is a vow we make and a vow we reinforce all the time…just as I said last week….we make and reinforce this vow each and every time we exchange the Peace, each and every time we share communion. The Peace and Communion reinforce this vow but a baptism?----Baptism is the vow itself.
Baptism is the root of our faith. Baptism is the bond which connects us all---across socio economic, racial and gender lines; across political, parish, diocesan and  denominational boundaries--we are joined through the fundamental statement of our faith: The Baptismal Covenant. There maybe a phrase here and there that we would re-word, there might even be moments of time when we don’t believe parts of it, but the Baptismal Covenant is our guidebook. The church can function without Bishops, without Priests, without Deacons. The church can function without provinces, dioceses and deaneries. The church can function without a building to call it’s own. The church can do without a lot. But the church absolutely positively must have two things: people and principles.
The Baptismal Covenant lays out our principles and then the action of baptism and all that comes after baptism is the work of the people. The work of being the Body of Christ in the world. The work of being there for one another, strengthening our resolve and our resources so when we go out into the world we are able to do so knowing that there is a cadre of people behind us, supporting us, encouraging us. Loving us.
There’s a wonderful Celtic Prayer, I used it at the beginning of this sermon:
Circle me, Lord:
Keep protection near
And danger afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep hope within.
Keep doubt without.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep light near
And darkness afar.
Circle me, Lord:
Keep peace within.
Keep evil out.
I used it because it’s a great description of just what a good and competent shepherd does for his or her sheep: a Good and Competent Shepherd keeps hope, light and peace within the sheepfold.  And it is a great description of Jesus, as The Good Shepherd. It’s also a good description of what the Body of Christ does for all of us, what we do for each other, what we are committing to do for Luke, all the days of his life.
Luke,  no matter where you go, no matter how far you stray, there is a community of people, gathering at the corner of Jewett and Summit each and every week keeping hope alive and doubt at bay, working to keep the darkness waning and the Light of Love turned on. Praying for you, praying that Peace will always and forever, be in your heart. For we are the Good Shepherd in this world and you, our precious Luke? You’re our newest sheep. +

One Bread, One Body, One Easter Message

When in training to become a psychotherapist, the instructors assured us not to worry about missing a client’s main issue, because no matter how often we missed the point, the client was sure to steer the conversation back to their main issue—to the point.
I think we can apply this theory to our Gospel writers as well—there is an Easter message, and the gospels are going to keep reminding us of this, throughout all of these Great 50 Days .
Christ Rose from The Dead. This resurrection serves as the ultimate proof of what is possible through God.
And each week we remember his death and resurrection through the Holy Meal—through the breaking of the bread. This is important because we need to be reminded and we need to be nourished. Reminded that all things are possible through God and strengthened, strengthened to do the work, of being Christ’s body in the world today. —
So this Easter point, this Easter message begins with the Resurrection. With Mary Magdalene, Peter and John on Easter morning, Thomas and the rest last week, Cleopas and his companion on the Road to Emmaus, the story which occurs just before this weeks Gospel reading about Jesus sharing some fish with his friends back in Jerusalem one point is clear: the fact of the Resurrection was and is UNBELIEVABLE. And absolutely true. Unbelievable and true: yes this resurrection thing is awfully difficult to wrap our heads around, but we must try. As I reminded you last week, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH DOUBT, there’s nothing wrong with questioning or wondering. But, at the end of the day, each and every Christian needs to make some type of uneasy peace with the fact of the Resurrection. In modern lexicon we call this living with the tension. Jesus did indeed rise from the dead….but he didn’t do this to be some kind of carnival side show. Jesus Christ rose from the dead to prove the unprovable. He appeared to his friends to prove that all things are possible through God .To prove that no human inflicted wound, no matter how lethal, can keep us from the love of God. That’s the message within resurrection.
But it doesn’t stop there—it’s clear from what we read in the Gospels that we need to do more with that message of God’s Love as witnessed through the Resurrection than just proclaim it. We can’t just say it. We need to continue to wrestle with it. Wrestle with what this means for us today, for us tomorrow, for us next week…..and beyond. We wrestle with it just like those 1st century disciples did, by coming together in community—right here, every week---gathering around this altar, this table of the Lord to share in the breaking of the bread. For when that bread is broken, when we share this meal, our eyes will open, our hearts will be set afire and our minds will race with possibility, with the desire  to spread this Ultimate Gift of Love to all whom we encounter. This Breaking of the Bread nourishes us to do the work Jesus has given us to do. The work that lies at the core of the Easter message.
This Holy Meal energizes and emboldens us to go out and be the church, to be Christ’s Body in the world. This is the work and it’s what we do Monday through Saturday in our daily lives. And just what is that work? Well it’s the same work as we the disciples did, the same work we hear about in the acts of the apostles: we preach, we heal and we just may do a little rabble rousing here and there.  Now, you may think, I’m no preacher or I can’t heal people. But you see you are and you can.
We preach, we heal and we rabble rouse when we give a smile to a downtrodden person, when we offer a shoulder to a hurting friend or co-worker. We do that when we take a young person under our wing, giving them something they can’t get at hone. We do that by taking stock of our political opinions and actions, our charitable giving and volunteer work and say: there are hurts in this world, that need to be healed, there are wrongs in this world which need to be righted and this is how I’m going to address these things.
This is tough work. And to do it, we must be strong.  Which takes us right back to this altar, to this table, to this meal and to this church. Bu showing up every week, by partaking in the breaking of the bread, by joining in fellowship , we are nourishing one another. Hear me: we don’t just GET nourished, we nourish, we strengthened each other.
There are two distinct points in the service when this nourishment of each other is most evident: The Peace and Communion.
At the Peace we don’t just say “Hi, nice tie,” or, “Hi how’s your sick aunt?” but we look at one another, we shake hands or offer a hug and say “Peace. Peace be With You,” just as our Lord did at each and everyone of His post-resurrection appearances: Peace be with You.” For what this offer of peace means is this: The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding , is yours for the taking. So look—REALLY LOOK at each other and offer this Peace.
The second instance is Communion. Many of you come to communion with your spouse, your partner, your parents, your children, your friend. But you are actually coming to communion—sharing this Holy Meal with everyone here—so as you come up to receive take a good look around: for we are one Bread, One Body. Our weekly celebration is eating together, praying together and then going out into the world sharing the Love that is Jesus Christ.
This is the Easter Miracle, this is the Easter Message: Jesus did indeed rise form the dead. Jesus does offer His peace to us. And Jesus expects us to be so nourished by this miracle, this peace that we are able to vibrantly and boldly carry that message to the world.
[Which brings us back to this work. I say it all the time: Go out and do this work.
But what I fail to make clear, I think, is that this work begins and ends RIGHT HERE. So I ask you to take stock of this community: ask what you can do to further spread the Good News of Christ through the Church of the Good Shepherd. I’ve sent a challenge to the vestry, a challenge they will soon present to you. This challenge is, simply put: to find a place for each and every person here in the nourishment of each other. Whether it’s pastoral care, helping set up and clean up for Sunday’s, reading a lesson, singing in the choir, pulling weeds, balancing check books, assisting in the food pantry, cooking a meal for the community, setting up coffee hour or something else none of us have even thought of, I want all of us here to be able to say to our friends: “You’ll never guess what I get to do at my church.”  What would you like to do? What can you do that we don’t know about? You see, there’s plenty to do here but I don’t want us to be task driven, I want us to be joy driven. In other words, if you’re a dancer, I don’t want you bean counting. And if you’re a bean counter, I don’t want you dancing. So stay tuned, there’s more to come.]
Easter continues, and the message stays the same: we are one bread, one body, one community of faith rejoicing in the Love of our Risen Savior.

Be Like Mary: Go and Tell Easter Sunday April 8, 2012

+Alleluia He Is Risen!
Alleluia He is Alive!
Alleluia the strife is o’er!
Alleluia, Easter has come again!
“So what? So What” is clearly the response of most people in the world…..the mystery of the incarnation, the miracles of Jesus’ ministry, the laments of Lent, the emotional journey through Holy Week holds little or no meaning for the world. Heck, relatively few of us attended our services this past week. Most of us prefer the new life of resurrection over the inevitable death that leads to this glorious day.
So, so what….what do these shouts of Alleluia REALLY mean? What does this account of events over 2000 years ago in a land half way across the globe mean for us, here, in 2012? In Buffalo NY?  At the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Church of the Ascension?
Alleluia. What DOES it all mean?
Well, to understand—I mean to really wrestle with this question, we need to look back. Back to that breaking dawn 2000 years ago, on a hill just outside of town, when Mary Magdalene—so long misunderstood and misrepresented---screwed up her courage and went to finish the anointing she began three days before..for the very least she could do for this man she loved, this God she revered, this leader she followed, was to give him a proper burial.
And so through the lightening sky of the First Easter morn, she walks out of town and up Calvary’s hill to The Tomb.
It was a foolish mission—after all, the tomb had been sealed—she’d watched Joseph of Arimathea roll the stone himself. But, Mary soldiered on, not because this made sense, but because she was compelled, driven, drawn to that tomb—against all common sense, against all reasonableness, against all propriety, Mary went. She saw. And She told.
Mary believed.
Mary wondered.
Mary went.
Mary saw.
Mary told.
Yes, Mary believed.
And it’s this… THIS is what it all means. This is what we’re called to do. It’s in this—the emulating of Mary of Magdala—where we find the meaning of these alleluias, the meaning of this Easter Sunday come again:
Mary believed. All the Mary’s did—you see in all of the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion and resurrection one thing is clear: the men—Peter, James, John and countless others fled.
They left. They ran. They denied. They hid.
They even betrayed.
But the women—Mary, the mother, Mary of Magdala, Mary Clopas, sister of Mother Mary, Salome and others unnamed stayed. From the foot of the cross to the mouth of the tomb, they stayed. They watched, they waited, they wondered.
They believed.
These women did what women have been doing for millennia: they did what needed to be done.
They did what needed to be done while the men argued, betrayed and denied.
The women? They took care of business.
Just as we should.
You see, that’s the meaning for us, here in 2012, in Bflo NY, in this church on this Easter morning:  we need to take care of business; the business of the empty tomb.
We need to follow the mandate Jesus gave us around the dinner table on that very first Holy Thursday—we are to do unto others as Jesus did unto us: we are to Love as we have been Loved.
You see, the empty tomb isn’t about a miraculous resurrection.
The empty tomb is about going and telling, going and doing, going and being.
Jesus tells Mary—“don’t hold onto me: go and tell my brothers”—
Go and Tell. Go and Show.
So, my friends, I have news for you: Easter isn’t the end, it’s the beginning.
By virtue of Jesus’ death and resurrection, by virtue of our Lord’s mandate to love others as we’ve been loved, we must follow Mary’s example.
We must go and see.
We must believe and tell.
We must do what needs to be done:
Clothe the naked, feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted.
We must challenge the status quo, we must ask the tough questions, we must pursue righteousness.
We must, above all else, demand dignity for every single human being , no exceptions.
Because when we do that, we’re loving as we’ve been—as we are---loved.
Because when we do that we’re going and seeing, we’re believing and telling—
 we are doing what must be done.
Alleluia.
The Lord is Risen , indeed.+