Sometimes We're Wheat, Sometimes We're Weeds Proper 10 Yr A St John's Youngstown

+Some days we're wheat, some days we're weeds.
Today our Gospel is the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. Or, as it was called in the old days: The Parable of the Wheat and the Chaff.
Parables are confusing because they often don’t mean what they appear to say. If we just stay on the surface of the story we won’t really “get it”-- and I don’t know about you but I don’t want to stay on the top of this parable! On the surface, it suggests there’s an “in group” and an “out group,” that God would take God’s own beloved children and banish them to eternal damnation and hellfire.
I can’t believe that. I just won’t believe that. It doesn’t gibe with how I experience God. And, it makes me nuts to think that someone who has been injured by the church before, someone who’s been demeaned or degraded by someone “in the name of God” would choose today to finally walk back through these doors and hear this parable, without any explanation. Parables need to be dug into…for only in digging can we reach the richness of the dark and fertile soil that makes up this story.
     On the surface, the world seems divided into two camps—the good and the evil. The in and the out. The wheat and the weed. But it just isn’t that cut and dry. As anyone who’s tried to weed a garden can attest, weeds can look like flowers and flowers can look like weeds. At first glance, it’s really difficult to know what you’re looking at: Is it a flowerI? Or is it a weed?
Do you know that hostas, those ubiquitous plants of hearty character and wide variety, were originally considered a weed? But over time and through some intentional taming, we now consider it a viable garden plant.  Which is wheat and which is weed? It’s hard to tell. Today’s weed just may be tomorrow’s wheat. (or hosta!)
    We all have weeds. We all have wheat. We all have both, we all are both. Some days we’re more weedy than others. And, thankfully, other days we’re more wheaty. Some days we’re who we want to be, other days we aren’t.
   This is because the Evil One, the sower of weeds, lurks within each of us-- it's not an outside force—it’s an inside job. As St. Paul says in today’s Epistle: “if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Throughout biblical history are stories of people being jealous of each other, of desperately wanting what another has. Not because we donLt have enough, but because somehow we want the other person to have less. We don’t like this part of ourselves, but this part is within all of us…just looks t what happened between Cain and Abel and then as we heard earlier, Jacob and Esau? Working to live into the fullness of God means that we have to turn away from the deep-seated ways of the past—-of dog eat dog, every man and woman for themselves mentality. We need to lose the old ways of decay and death, and embrace the new way of growth and life.
We can hold on to the old ways or we can let them go. It’s up to us. We can stay as a weed or we can grow into wheat. Weeds are easy—they grow fast, need virtually no tilling, no fertilizing, no encouragement to grow. Wheat—-Gorgeous flower gardens, rows of crops are trickier—they need attention, nurture, and care.
   The theologian Karl Rahner says that in all we do we’re either moving toward God or away from God. When we’re moving toward God, we’re letting the light of Christ nurture us and care for us; when we move toward God we are tilling our souls with faith, belief and hope.
When we’re moving away from God we’re letting the darkness of doubt, the uneasiness of disbelief and the decay of despair rule. These doubts, disbelief and despair are the stuff of weeds, the stuff of Not-God, the stuff of darkness—-blocking us from the fullness of God.
    Sometimes we are wheat…and sometimes we are weeds. Sometimes we do the work of God—-feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, standing up for the abused and the discarded…and sometimes the darkness wins and we serve ourselves instead of our neighbor, we pass by the lost, we dismiss the downtrodden and we fail to respect the dignity of every human being, regardless of the color of their skin, the gender of their beloved or the name they use for God.
     But don’t fear when the weeds infiltrate our life, when our choices lead us astray, when our faith withers, don’t give up on the harvest— focus on the good: the wheat, the flowers, the stuff of God in your life.
Because, when we focus on the Good, the “not of God” stuff will be overcome, overwrought and overthrown by a power greater than any weed, a force stronger than any evil, a Love bigger than any Doubt.
“Let anyone with ears listen:” God doesn’t toss any of us into an unquenchable fire.
We may be weeds a lot more often that we wish. We may move away from God more frequently than we care to admit, but once we settle into the promise of our faith, once we till the soil of our souls, once we dig deep enough into our desire for the Good, we’ll discover that God has always and will always be there, deep within us, ready to toss away the chaff of fear and the weeds of doubt, freeing us to bloom into the bouquet of Love which is God. +

Darkness Almost Wins: The Binding of Isaac Proper 8 Yr A July 2, 2017 Trinity, Hamburg

+I so wanted to preach on the gospel this morning. I wanted to speak with you about how what we do---every single thing that we do----is representative of our faith. How in these few verses from Matthew, Jesus is telling us—what you do to unto others, you are doing unto me.
 I really wanted to preach on that…but because our first reading is one of the most disturbing stories in all the Bible, I have to preach about the attempted sacrifice, the binding, of Isaac.
In this story, Abraham passively accepts what he believes God is calling him to do—kill his son. This is the same Abraham who’s argued with God, laughed at God, and debated with God. Now, suddenly he just blindly accepts that God is calling him to complete this heinous act? He doesn’t argue with God about this? How can this be?
And then there’s God. God is asking Abraham to kill this son that God proclaimed would produce more descendants than stars in the sky? God commands Abraham to kill him? As a test of Abraham’s faith?!
 What is this some bizarre, twisted Divine game?
I don’t know about you, but the God I worship, the God I adore, doesn’t do things like this.
At least, in my better moments I believe that the God of my understanding doesn’t do things like this.
But then there are those other moments.
You know, those moments when a young man walks into an elementary school and massacres first graders.
When a man claiming to want to pray with a bible study group shots them in cold blood at Mother Emmanuel AME Church
When a man spewing hateful rhetoric assassinates party=goers at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.
When my friend Ian, at age 21, takes his own life because the depression that plagued him gathered up enough darkness to, in that discrete moment in time, block out the light and love of God, leading to his suicide.
When a nagging health issue turns out to be a lethal form of cancer.
These moments, the moments when the most faithful among us cry out “where was God? Where is God? How could God?” lead us to ask, “why?” And lead us to perhaps believe that our God actually could have asked Abraham to kill Isaac.
Do we have a bitter God? A vengeful God, a hate-filled God, an arbitrary God?
Of course not.
Then…why do horrific things happen? How? How, with an all powerful, loving Creator can such bad and awful things happen?
Well the answer may sound polly-anish to some, insufficient to others, terrifying to still others, but I think the reason horrible things happen is because while our God is an awesome God, God is not the only force at work in this world. You may call it demons, or Satan, or evil…it doesn’t matter what we call it…but there is a deep darkness in this world and it has been in this world since that infamous disobedience by the first humans. It’s a darkness that, as shown through the cunning serpent in the Garden of Eden story, is incredibly attractive to us. The job of us as Christians is to counter-act that cunning darkness in all we do.
It’s what Jesus is talking about in this morning’s Gospel. We’re the foot soldiers of God in this world. We know the task…we’re to give to those in need, we’re to lift up the downtrodden, help mend the broken hearted, stand up and speak out against injustice. We’re to overcome the forces of darkness with the light of love. We are to do this. Constantly.
Why?
Because the forces of darkness in this world are relentless. They’re constantly re-inventing themselves, they’re cunning, baffling, and powerful. And it’s up to us to defeat them.
What propelled my friend Ian to take his own life three years ago this week? Despair.
What causes madmen to enter schools, churches and nightclubs to kill at will? Cunning Evil.
What pushes a suicide bomber into such a warped sense of faith that they think blowing up themselves and countless others is the work of God? A baffling mis-interpretation of God fueled by the Evil One.
There are forces at work in our world that need to be pushed back. They need to be challenged. They need to be defeated. And that happens through us. With every act of love that we do, darkness takes a body blow. With every act of charity, evil takes a hit, with every act of justice, hatred loses more of its grip.
And the more evil, darkness, hate and despair are pushed back, the closer we are to seeing the Kingdom of God in this world.
But, we still have the nagging issue of Abraham and Isaac.
How could God ask Abraham to kill Isaac?
The clear and certain answer is this: God didn’t.
And as Abraham was binding Isaac, as he lay him on the pile of wood, as he prepared to plunge that knife into him, God was screaming, God was begging, God was pleading with Abraham to stop. For God knew that the voice Abraham heard was not Divine at all.
It was the cunning voice of darkness, the same voice of darkness that propels terrorists, murderers, rapists and yes even my friend Ian. For the forces of darkness in this world are indeed cunning and baffling and can only, will only be forever silenced, through Love. Our love. Given to one another fully and thoroughly. No exceptions.
So.. maybe I did preach the Gospel after all. There is Evil and there is Goodness. There is Hate and there is Love.
And by living our lives as Jesus taught us to live them, Goodness will prevail, Love will reign and God? God will find it good…very very good.
Amen.

1 From Disciples to Apostles, We Can Too Day of Pentecost, 2017 Trinity, Hamburg

+On this day, 2000 years ago, the 12 disciples became apostles. They went from being students, learning at the foot of a teacher to being messengers—sent out, emboldened by the Holy Spirit to spread the Good News of Christ. Today we’re all apostles, for each and every Sunday, we’re sent out from here to do the work of Jesus Christ in the world. The ability to do that work, the drive to do it, the aching to do it is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
And today, the Day of Pentecost is when we commemorate this gift.
The disciples were together to observe the Jewish holiday of Shavuot which, because it occurs 50 days after the Passover, was also known as Pentecost.
So on the 50th day the disciples are once again together---behind locked doors--- when this violent wind, with divided tongues “as of fire” alights on each of them and then--- as if the fire and wind wasn’t enough—they each begin speaking in other languages so that all within earshot could hear the message of God’s Love in their native tongue.
What a show described in our reading from Acts—the wind tossing everything to and fro, the tongues of fire, glistening in red, orange and yellow, the cacophony of voices ringing across the city, the Day of Pentecost was (and is!) a day of sensory overload!!
The Holy Spirit is here and she wants to be sure we notice!!!!
While our reading from Acts gives us the fire and brimstone version of the Holy Spirit’s arrival, the reading from John is more subtle: a gentler, quieter bestowing of the spirit on Easter night.
Jesus, after making his initial resurrection appearance to the group breathes on them, filling them with the Holy Spirit.
It’s curious, isn’t it? The gift of the Holy Spirit being given in two distinctly different ways.
Why?
Why do we get two conflicting accounts of how the Holy Spirit was given?
Well, while I’m sure Biblical scholars have a whole host of explanations for this, for me it seems kind of obvious. I’m not at all surprised that the gift of the Holy Spirit, first given in the quiet intimate way of Jesus on the evening of the first Easter had to, some 50 days later, be given again—with great pomp and memorable circumstance.
Why twice? Did the first time not “take?” Did Jesus’ breath fail to do the deed?
Of course not; what happened is what always happens—the disciples didn’t get it—the disciples, although given the means to be apostles chose instead to hide-out, remaining students of a of a no longer physically present teacher. They simply didn’t take the gift given to them. They stayed put, waiting for “someone” else to do it even though Jesus had empowered, equipped, and encouraged them to become apostles---messengers, teachers in and of themselves, healers, rabble rousers, prophets.
The disciples were acting very disciple like when Jesus, resurrected and ascended, waited for them to put on the mantle of apostles and go out into the world, forgiving sins, healing pain, and spreading Good News. I guess, after 49 days of waiting, even God reaches a limit and so, on the 50th day the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit in all her fire breathing, wind blowing, dancing glory crashes through the locked doors, minds, and hearts of the disciples and, once and for all, makes them apostles.
Not only was the Day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago a big deal it is, today, right here and right now, a Big Deal.
What will it take to free our own locked hearts, minds and souls? Do you need a rush of violent wind and tongues of fire to finally exercise your, as St Paul names them,  God-given gifts of the Spirit?
At this time and in this place---Trinity Episcopal Church in Hamburg, NY---the Holy Spirit is swirling about, empowering you to create something all-together new.
Right here. And right now.
My friends, today is the day that you—long-time faithful members, recent questioning but hanging in there members, previous members who’ve stepped away only to find yourselves pulled back into this fold---all of you---today is the day you graduate from being  disciples to being apostles. Today is the day that each of you find your voice to exercise your unique gift of the Spirit in this place. It will take all of you to usher in the next manifestation of Trinity, Hamburg.
Right outside these red doors lies a hurting and hungry world that longs for love, compassion and hope. You are what they need.God alone cannot bring them through these doors. Jesus, alone, cannot seat them in these pews.  But the Holy Spirit, working in and through you?
She can.
The Holy Spirit can enflame your hearts with the courage, the commitment, and the creativity to develop the type of beloved community where long-time seekers, short-time searchers, and everyone in between can find their spiritual home. But only if you open your doors, unlock your hearts, and engage with the world around you.
Trinity Hamburg is not a priest. Trinity Hamburg is You. I challenge you, I encourage you, I urge you to make this place a reflection of who you are and who you, propelled by the blowing, burning and dancing of the Holy Spirit, desire it to be. Because when you do that, God will smile, Jesus will be delighted and the Holy Spirit? Well, she’ll keep dancing in your hearts.
Amen. And Alleluia.

Ministry of the Baptized is Tough and Holy Work Trinity, Hamburg Easter 6 Yr A May 21, 2017

+I love a baptism. Who doesn't, right? Well ok sometimes children aren't fond of having a complete and utter stranger pour water over their head. Not once, not twice, but three times!!!!
But for any Christian, especially any Episcopalian --- baptism is the penultimate sacrament . Eucharist is awesome, it's a weekly reminder of the never ending presence of Jesus in our very being, fueling us to go out and do the work He's given us to do. Reconciliation, anointing, confirmation, ordination... all really nice sacraments . But the only one that everyone gets--the only one that's needed is baptism. Baptism makes us who we are--- followers of Jesus Christ, committed to his mission of loving everyone everywhere always, no exceptions.
And so that's why a baptism day [even when the baptisms don't happen at this service] is a big day in the church. Not only do we welcome three new members today --- Ryleigh, Vivienne, and Samuel---- we also reaffirm the promises made at our baptism. We're re-upping, as it were, our promises to do the work of Christ in this world, in this region, in this town and in this faith community.
A baptism is a bit of a swearing in ceremony. In the baptism liturgy the parents and godparents make a lot of promises. To renounce the forces of darkness in this world, to rely on Jesus as Savior and Lord, and to do everything in their power to make sure that the child being baptized will be raised in the faith and will know that whenever they find themselves lonely or lost, in trouble or in pain, that God, through Jesus Christ, and this community of faith, will be there for them. And then all those present promise to do everything in their power to support the newly baptized in their life in Christ.
This “swearing in ceremony” is not for the faint of heart.
Which is why, a baptism day is a BIG DAY. For those being baptized, for their family and friends, for the congregation, for the church and, if I may be so bold, for all of humankind. Because, at every baptism and every single time we renew our baptismal covenant, we swear, we vow, we promise to do the work of Christ. Always and forever. This is BIG, folks...when we do that work—really do that work---the world will be changed. It’s a tall order! But it's also an incredible privilege and honor to do this work, the work of Christ, the ministry of the baptized.
So just what is the ministry of the baptized?
Fortunately the baptism candidates are too young to get scared away by this list---
The Ministry of the Baptized means that we do whatever we can to ensure that the outcasts of our world are brought into the fold. That includes those people who, frankly, we may feel should remain outcasts---those who look differently than us, who love differently than us, who vote differently than us. But—even when we don’t agree with them, even when we don’t particularly like them, if they're being disrespected, abused, despised or an any other way, tossed aside, we, because we’re Christians, must stand up and speak out. We must say NO, this is not the way of God’s world.
The Ministry of the Baptized means that when people in our midst are hungry, lonely, or scared, we reach out to them. Being a baptized Christian means that when we hear of the misfortune befalling another it doesn’t cut it to just say “that's horrible, someone should do something about that.” No, it means that we must do something about it. We may not be able to feed them, or clothe them or soothe them our very selves, but it does mean that we best make sure they have access to the people, the organizations and the services that can.
The Ministry of the Baptized means that if we know that our government is engaging in things antithetical to the teachings of Christ then we need to write to our members of congress, our senators, the president and express our dismay. Sometimes the ministry of the Baptized means that we will march or write letters or join some other method of protest. It may not be comfortable, it won't make us that popular, but it’s our job.
The Ministry of the Baptized means that we promise to follow the teachings of the apostles, we promise to attend church, we promise to practice personal devotions, we promise to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.
Why do we promise to do all of that? Because all of that feeds us, strengthens us to do the work we’ve been given to do: seeking and serving Christ in all whom we encounter, loving our neighbor as our self, striving for justice and peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every single human being.
The Ministry of the Baptized is tough and holy work. Today we bring Ryleigh, and Vivienne, and Samuel into this work. May God bless them and may God bless us as we continue on this sacred and awesome journey.
Amen!

St Barnabas Mission,Franklinville "Open our eyes to see the way Uncover Our Ears to Hear the Truth and Have the courage to live the life"

+ “But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him…. dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.”
Today we hear the story of Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian church. It’s an oddity that we hear this story in the Easter season, Stephen’s feast day is Dec 26. Now Christmas seems like a terrible time to commemorate a horrific execution, but it fits. After all, we must never forget that Christianity is a radical, counter-cultural movement which shakes believers and non-believers to their core. To remember this the day after Christmas, when we commemorate the birth of the biggest social agitator of all time, seems fitting.
Being a Christian means standing up to injustice and intolerance. It means speaking our mind when the dignity of another human being is being violated. It means going against the grain, against the crowd, against popular opinion…all actions which won’t make us too popular!
Hearing the truth isn’t easy! When someone tells us a truth we’re not ready to hear, we don’t listen. If we aren’t ready to hear we go to great lengths to not listen. If we can’t or won’t tolerate the message, then, as in the case of Jesus, Stephen, Ghandi, Martin Luther King and countless others, we silence those truthtellers forever.
In the spirit of those silenced, our Christian faith demands that, as long as there are needy people in our world, as long as children go without adequate health care, as long as young girls in many countries are denied education, as long as people can’t worship the God of their choosing or love the partner of their desire, or speak their mind without fear of being silenced… as long as the dignity of every human being isn’t being honored then we, as followers of Christ, won’t be satisfied, won’t rest, and will never, ever stop listening, hearing, and responding until the work of God through Jesus Christ is finished.
Living as a Christian goes against the cultural norms of society. Throughout human history-- since Cain and Abel--- we seem to always be looking for a way to be “one up” on others.
The theory goes something like this:
We live in fear of being without, of being left out, of being in need and having nothing and no one to care for us. So in striving to NEVER be the one on the outs, the one who’s in need, the one who is vulnerable, we look for scapegoats, for people who are less than, who are the “other” . People worse off than us.
After 9/11 when it became clear that we weren’t going to capture Osama Bin Laden in short order, our focus changed to Iraq and Sadaam Hussein. Many assumptions were made about Sadaam’s intentions and capabilities so soon we were engaged in an all out war to avenge the murder of thousands on 9/11. A murder this man did not commit. Of course he committed plenty of other murders and was a horrific tyrant, but the fact of the matter is-- he wasn’t who attacked us on 9/11.
But that didn’t matter.
 What mattered was that we were so scared, so rocked to our core we had to do something---someone had to pay--because only by lashing out, only by an eye for an eye would our fear, our vulnerability, our grief, be relieved.
Why?
Because it’s easier to be mad than to be sad.
It’s easier to be mad than to be afraid.
In the short-run, it’s just easier to be mad.
When shaken, when nothing makes sense anymore, we look for a scapegoat-- someone or something to receive our sadness, our terror. We do this because living with that sadness, living with that fear is too uncomfortable.
So we off load it on another.
It’s easier to lash out in anger than to settle in and feel deep sadness or to sit with tremendous fear.
But, although we do it all the time, this off-loading of our sadness and our terror on another doesn’t work. Because the relief is only temporary. Soon enough something else comes along to shake us, and the cycle begins all over again.
Franklinville is a town that’s hit some pretty tough times. Being a faith community here isn’t easy…it must feel pretty frightening— I’ve heard from a number of you…you love this place, yet you’re deeply afraid that it won’t survive. Can you keep going, should you keep going, how will you keep going?
Our Easter readings remind us that resurrection is difficult to understand. It doesn’t happen like we think it will, we don’t always recognize it, even when it’s right in front of us. Our resurrection lesson is this: God always provides. Maybe not in the way we expect, probably not in the way that feels easiest, certainly not in the ways we think God should…but God ALWAYS provides.
This is the Easter message—the way to resurrected living is through the garden, the cross and the empty tomb.
We hear it in our liturgy, we hear it in the scripture, we hear it from the pulpit, and today we hear it from the psalmist:
God is our crag and our stronghold. God is the castle that will make us safe. God is here.
God never gives up. God won’t rest until we uncover our ears and, once and for all hear.
God is longing to be loved and adored by the good people of this region. The question isn’t “is there a place for St Barnabas Episcopal Mission,” the question is what are the cries of the people calling St BArnabas to do?
Jesus gives us our marching orders in this morning’s Gospel:
We must :
Open our eyes to see the Way
Uncover Our Ears to Hear the Truth
and
Have the courage to live the Life the Risen Christ leads us to live.
Alleluia and Amen.+

Easter 4 at St Luke's Jamestown, NY May 7, 2017

[I preached some version of this sermon at each of the three Eucharists at St.Luke's. Each one was a bit different, but all worked off this basic manuscript]
+The Parable of the Good Shepherd, is a very familiar story, and because of that familiarity, it’s hard for the more challenging parts of the story to come through.
Yes, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are his Sheep-- no matter how lost, how tangled up in the bramble we get, He’ll always look for us, and bring us home. It’s a nice image and Jesus does do all of that, BUT, there’s more to this story than cute little lambs and a gentle, loving and committed shepherd.
All that imagery comes in the middle of the parable and we don’t get the middle this year, we only get the beginning.
And in the beginning we hear a lot about the gate. It sounds, at first listen, that Jesus is saying there’s only one gate, that there’s only one way into the arms of God, that anyone who doesn’t follow Christ’s way, is out of luck.
Now, while I agree that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and that my salvation is gained through my belief and trust in Him, I don’t believe that the way we know Jesus, the way we access God, is the only way God is reached nor do I believe that it’s the only way God reaches out to us.
I believe that God reaches out to humanity in a variety of ways that all lead to the same place: the one sheepfold of God, the one kingdom of God. As Jesus says elsewhere in John’s Gospel, “My father’s house has many dwelling places.” Many dwelling places that are all under one “roof.”
Am I saying that you can get into heaven even if you don’t believe as we believe?
You bet. And I think Jesus says that too.
Now, before we go on, there are a couple of things you need to know about this story.
When Jesus talks about the gate of the sheepfold he’s talking about the Shepherd. As shepherds pasture their flocks they cover lots of territory …they must keep moving along the countryside to avoid overgrazing …so… when it’s time to stop for the night they have to create a sheepfold along the way. Back in Jesus’ day that was usually a cave. The shepherd would gather all the sheep and then stretch out over the opening to keep the sheep in and the thieves, bandits and wolves out. So, quite literally, the Shepherd is the Gate.
Jesus, by saying “very truly I tell you anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit,” is telling us that the only right way to get into the sheepfold is through the gate. He’s saying that he’s the gate, so the message is clear, right: You get into the sheepfold of God only when you enter the sheepfold through Him, through Jesus?
                       Well I don’t think so…
Here’s another thing you need to know about shepherds in the time of Jesus. They were despised by most everyone. Their work was dirty and being transient, they had few friends and family… they had no real home village to speak of…. They had their sheep, and other shepherds…that was their community. Therefore, because they only had each other, it wasn’t uncommon for several flocks to gather in one cave for the night. Several flocks led by several different Shepherds meant the shepherds would take turns  being the gate throughout the long, cold night.
 So is the only way to God through the gate of Jesus, as we know Him?
                                    No.
I believe that the sheepfold of God is immense and that the gatekeepers of the sheepfold are as wide and varied, as unique and as numerous as the stars in the sky.
And I think it’s why Jesus mentions the sheep knowing their own shepherd’s voice-- it suggests that more than one flock was in each sheep-fold-
It’s right there in verses 3,4 and 5:
The gatekeeper---the shepherd—opens the gate, calls His or her sheep and they Hear their shepherd’s voice. They recognize their shepherd and respond to their shepherd.
It’s the same message we’ve heard throughout Easter. Mary Magdalene hears Jesus’ voice and realizes that it isn’t the gardener at all, it is her Shepherd. Thomas denies that Jesus is raised until such time as he hears Jesus’ voice, looks into his eyes and realizes that Jesus, is indeed his Lord, his God, his shepherd. It’s what we heard last week in the Emmaus story---the disciples’ hearts burned as the stranger spoke to them and then, in the breaking of the bread they realize, they recognize that this is no stranger at all, but their friend, their teacher, shepherd, their Lord, their God!
Jesus, as experienced through our sacred scripture,  worship, and traditions is our shepherd, we hear his voice and we recognize him!
But this doesn’t mean that other sheep don’t hear another voice that they recognize and follow.
They do. Jesus tells us they do. He says: They will not follow a stranger, because they don’t know the voice of the stranger. Right here, smack dab in the middle of the cozy little story about sheep and their shepherd, Jesus tells us that there are many ways to know God, to worship God, to love God. The issue isn’t how we do it, the issue is that we do it.
The issue isn’t the name of our shepherd, the issue is that everyone, everywhere, always, has a Shepherd whose voice they recognize.
Today we welcome Wesley into the household of God through the sacrament of baptism. We’re thrilled that they have Jesus as their Good Shepherd and thankful that they will know that wherever life takes them, no matter what kind of bramble they may find themselves in, no matter how dark their valleys, their Shepherd, our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, will call their names and lead them home! And for that we say Amen and Alleluia!!

Funeral Homily for Paul Guinn

+The Parable of the Good Shepherd, the first ten verses of which Pete just read as today’s Gospel, is, when you give it a careful and thoughtful read, a challenging text. But, because the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is so familiar to most of us, it’s hard for the more challenging parts of the story to come through.
Yes, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are his Sheep-- no matter how lost we get, no matter how tangled up in the bramble we get, He will always seek us, find us and bring us home. It is a nice image and Jesus does do all of that, BUT, there’s more to this story than cute little lambs and a gentle, loving and committed shepherd.
All that imagery comes in the middle of the parable and we don’t get the middle this year, we only get the beginning. And in the beginning, well in the beginning we hear a lot about the gate. It sounds, at first listen, that Jesus is saying there is only one gate that there is only one way into the arms of God that anyone who doesn’t follow this way, His way, is out of luck.
Now, while I agree that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and that my salvation is gained through my belief and trust in him, I don’t believe that the way we know Jesus, the way we access God, is the only way God is reached nor do I believe that it’s the only way God reaches out to us.
I believe that God reaches out to humanity in various ways, ways that look very different to us but ways that, I think, all lead to the same place: the one sheepfold of God, the one kingdom of God. As Jesus says elsewhere in John’s Gospel, My father’s house has many dwelling places. Many dwelling places that are all under one roof.
Am I saying that you can get into heaven even if you don’t believe as we believe?
Absolutely. And I think Jesus is saying that too.
Now, before we go one, there are a couple of things you need to know about this story.
When Jesus talks about the gate of the sheepfold he is talking about the Shepherd. You see, as shepherds pasture their flocks they cover a lot of territory …sheep eat a lot of grass so they must keep moving along the country side to avoid overgrazing …so… when it’s time to stop for the night they have to create a sheepfold—a corral of sorts—along the way. Nowadays some shepherds carry lightweight portable fencing with them, but back in Jesus’ day they stopped for the night when they found a cave or some other enclosure to use as a sheepfold. The shepherd would get all the sheep in the cave and then would stretch out over the opening to keep the sheep in and the thieves bandits and wolves out. So, quite literally, the Shepherd functions as the Gate.
Jesus, by saying “very truly I tell you anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit,” is telling us that the only right way to get into the sheepfold is through the gate. He’s saying that he’s the gate, so the message is clear, right: You get into the sheepfold of God only when you enter the sheepfold through Him, through Jesus?
Well I don’t think so…
Here’s another thing you need to know about shepherds in the time of Jesus. They were despised by everyone except other shepherds. Their work was dirty and they were transient, so they had few friends and family… they had no real home village to speak of…. The shepherds had their sheep, and other shepherds…that was their community. Therefore, because they only had each other, it wasn’t uncommon for several flocks to gather in one cave for the night. Several flocks led by several different Shepherds meant the shepherds would take turns  being the gate throughout the long, cold night.
 So is the only way to God through the gate of Jesus, as we know Him?
No.
I believe that the sheepfold of God is immense and that the gatekeepers of the sheepfold are as wide and varied, as unique and as numerous as the stars in the sky.
And I think it’s why Jesus mentions the sheep knowing their own shepherd’s voice it suggests that more than one flock was in each sheep-fold-
It’s right there in verses 3-5:
The gatekeeper---the shepherd—opens the gate, calls His or her sheep and they Hear their shepherd’s voice. They recognize their shepherd and respond to their shepherd.
It’s the same message we’ve heard throughout Easter. Mary Magdalene hears Jesus’ voice and realizes that it isn’t the gardener at all, it is her beloved teacher, Lord and God. Thomas denies that Jesus is raised until such time as he hears Jesus’ voice and looks into his eyes and realizes that this man, this teacher is indeed his Lord and God. It’s what we heard last week in the Emmaus story---the disciples hearts burned as the stranger spoke to them and then, in the familiar act of sharing a meal they realize, they recognize that this is no stranger at all, but their friend, their teacher, their Lord, their God.
Jesus, as experienced through our sacred scripture, our worship and our traditions is our shepherd, we hear his voice and we recognize him.
This doesn’t mean that other sheep don’t hear another voice that they recognize and follow.
They do. Jesus tells us they do. He says: They will not follow a stranger, because they don’t know the voice of strangers. Right here, smack dab in the middle of the cozy little story about sheep and their shepherd, Jesus tells us that there are many ways to know God, to worship God, to love God. The issue isn’t how we do it, the issue is that we do it.
So my fellow sheep, my fellow shepherds, may we come in and out of God’s incredible sheep fold to find the lost and bring them home to live that life of abundant joy, promised to us by God, through our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
Amen and Alleluia!