The Next Act

Rev. Debbie Cato
Luke 24:44-51 and Acts 1:1-11
Fairfield Community Church
May 12, 2-24-  Ascension Sunday

Let us pray:  Gracious God, we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth. Make us hungry for this heavenly food, that it may nourish us today in the ways of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven. Amen.

 

 

The Next Act

 

 

This morning, I’m going to be reading the last few verses in The Gospel of Luke and the first few verses from the Book of Acts.  Both the Gospel of Luke and The Book of Acts were written by Luke. Luke was probably a Gentile by birth – not a Jew.  He was well educated in Greek culture, a physician by profession, a companion of Paul at various times from his second missionary journey to his first imprisonment in Rome, and a loyal friend who remained with the apostle after others had deserted him. 

Luke addresses both his gospel and The Book of Acts to an individual named Theophilus whose name means “one who loves God.”   It is believed that Theophilus was a Roman official or at least of high position and wealth.  He was possibly Luke’s patron, responsible for seeing that the writings were copied and distributed.  So essentially, Theophilus was Luke’s publisher and a gentile who loved the Lord.

Often, we talk about The Book of Acts as Luke’s volume 2 to his gospel.  Luke’s Gospel, written to a Gentile audience is filled with factual accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry and shows the place of Gentile Christians in God’s kingdom.   Luke wrote his gospel to strengthen the faith of all believers and to answer the attacks of unbelievers.  Volume 2 – The Book of Acts, begins where Luke’s Gospel ends – it is a historical account of Christian origins -  its congregations, and the persecution of early church and her leaders.  You might call it our birthday story.  We’ll read more of Acts next Sunday which is Pentecost Sunday.

Listen now for the Word of the Lord.

 Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances leave the disciples conflicted and confused.  They really aren’t sure what the resurrected Christ intends for them going forward.  They think he is going to stay with them.  They think things will go “back to normal.”  It is finally during Jesus’ departure that they get a glimpse of the glory that eternally shapes the Christian proclamation and sets them on a course that changes world history. 

In Luke-Acts, the ascending Christ extends a “blessing” to those watching him disappear.  “He leads them out as far as Bethany, lifts up his hands, and blesses them.  While blessing them, he withdraws from them and is carried up into heaven.”  With this gift of divine favor, Jesus becomes something for the disciples that he had never been before.  Returning to Jerusalem, they joyfully worship him and uninhibited they remain at the temple praising God.  No more fishing; no more fear of the authorities; no more hiding.

We are told that Jesus spends forty days after his resurrection teaching his followers about the reign of God.  Forty days reviewing everything he had taught them in the three years they spent together – reviewing what the kingdom of God is to look like - this time with their knowledge of His death and resurrection. Yet they still don’t fully understand. 

You may imagine that these followers, who have already demonstrated difficulty in understanding Jesus’ purpose among them, can use all the help they can get if their movement is to have any future at all.  You may also imagine that the turmoil in Jerusalem, along with the turmoil in their own lives from the events of Passover week, has not entirely subsided.  Though they are elated to have Jesus with them, they are still cautiously hiding in locked rooms, bags packed for the return trip to the relative quiet and safety of Galilee.  They want to go home.  But they also do not want to let go of Jesus.

Jesus instructs them to remain in Jerusalem, even though he is planning to leave them physically.  He has promised them the gift of His Spirit – a holy companion, if they can just hold on a little longer.  Their innate curiosity kicks in, though their question shows how much more they have to learn: “Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”  They continue to show shortsightedness; they cannot yet envision the big picture.  “Your vision is too small,” Jesus says.  “You are not ready for, nor do you need to know, the details of how God is operating here.  You need to get yourselves ready for the coming of the Spirit that will be the next leg of your journey on the Way.  It is enough for now.  It is all you can handle.”

They are to be Christ’s witnesses, beginning where they are, spreading the good news to the ends of the earth.  Before they can ask a follow-up question, before their very eyes, he ascends into the clouds and disappears from sight.  Again, we can imagine that they are dumbfounded; left standing on that hillside; their necks craning to see beyond the clouds; their mouths hanging open.  More miracles – angelic voices bring them back to reality: “Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?  This Jesus…will come again in the same way you saw him go.”

Only after the ascension; only after Jesus is taken up into heaven and only after their peculiar experience with the absent and yet ever-present Lord, are their conceptions of time and space transformed.  Certainly, the restoration of Israel remains a viable hope, but the center of Jesus’ rule shifts from Jerusalem to the heavenly realms where he takes his place at the right hand of the Father.  God’s kingdom expands beyond the limitations of all earthy kings and kingdoms, revealing the man from Nazareth as the Lord.  Out of their experience with the risen and ascended Christ, the substance of Christian teaching takes shape. 

The ascension stands as a distinct article of our faith – separate and above the resurrection. You all know it. “I believe in…. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord … who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.  On the third day, he rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven.”  And ascended into heaven.  For Luke, the disciples are never the same again after the revelation of the ascension.

The good news for those left standing on that Judean hillside – and for all of us today is that Jesus not only comes from God, He returns to God.  This is the true scope of the movement for followers of the Way – we come from God, we return to God.  The challenge in the meantime is to keep our lives centered on God, rooted and grounded in God, allowing God to be the one in whom we “live and move and have our being”, here and now, on this earth.

 Among other things, this text underlines how God works through the simplest of folk – peasants and outcasts, thick-skulled and fearful folk – to change the world.  These disciples are given the responsibility for Jesus’ radically revolutionary movement to turn the world right side up.  On the surface, they may seem an unlikely group, caught up in conventional concern for the restoration of the literal Davidic kingdom in Israel – not able to see beyond their concrete desires for their own welfare.  Nonetheless, Jesus stays with them long enough to be able to pass them off to the Spirit, who will continue the work he has begun in and among them.  They are about to find voices that will indeed speak truth to power and spread good news to the very ends of the earth.

The challenge for us modern disciples is to do likewise.  When and where do we find ourselves standing, “looking up toward heaven,” hoping that Jesus will do it for us?  How are we hamstrung by our inability to see beyond the conventional into the miraculous promises that are still given to us today as followers of the Way?  What would it take for us, as individuals and as communities of faith, to travel this thoroughfare that leads from God to God?

Those first disciples must have shared with one another their anxieties and fears, their hopes and dreams, their wonder and anticipation as they retraced their steps to Jerusalem on that first Ascension Day.  Jesus gathered them as a community, taught them as a community, and left from the midst of their little community.  The Spirit was promised to them in community.  Of course, individuals can and do have experience of the Spirit, but Jesus makes it clear that it is the Spirit, working in the community, that will spread the good news around the world and bring in the reign of God. 

That reality has not changed in two thousand years.  It still takes a community of faith, filled with the Spirit of God, to spread the good news and bring in the reign of God.  That continues to be our challenge and our commission as the body of Christ, followers of the Way.  Amen.

A Lesson on Love

Rev. Debbie Cato
John 15:9-17
Fairfield Community Church
May 5, 2024 

Holy Spirit, help us to hear familiar words with fresh ears, and to take

your Holy Word for us seriously, as a guide and pattern for our lives. Amen

 

 A Lesson on Love

 

Back in the 1960’s, there was a great Beatles song – “All You Need is Love.”

        

 All you need is love, love; Love is all you need.            

 

 Now I know some of you weren’t even alive – I was alive but very young.  I had older sisters.  The 60’s were a turbulent time and the answer – at least from the young people, was that the answer to the world’s problems was an enthusiastic embrace of love – love would make all the problems go away.   Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

This kind of idea of love isn’t supported in today’s Gospel lesson.  Yes, Jesus certainly praises love.  He tells us that love is a gift from God, an excellence of character, and certainly a way of life.  But nothing Jesus says justifies love as some naïve ideal; some simple idea of “let’s just all get along.”  In fact, Jesus gives the impression that loving one another is rather complicated.  He goes into a lengthy description of exactly what He means by his commandment to “love one another as I have loved you.”  You see, he doesn’t just say “love one another,” does he?  He complicates things tremendously when he tells us - commands us really, to “love one another as I have loved you.” 

Jesus describes this love and he gives us examples so that we can actually understand; so that we can actually grasp what he means.   “Love one another as I have loved you.” 

One of the most used scripture passages for weddings is 1 Corinthians 13.  I’m sure you are familiar with it:

 

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast,
it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres.  Love never fails.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-8

It’s a beautiful passage because it reads like a poem.  But I always tell couples that as lovely as it is, it is a hard passage to live out – harder than it sounds.  This kind of love is not about you.  This kind of love is interested in the good of the other person, rather than your own good, your own comfort, your own needs.  It does not attempt to control or dominate or possess the other person.  As Paul
defines love in Corinthians – this love is perfect love. 

 

The problem us modern English-speaking people have is that we have one word for love  - and so it’s hard for us to understand what this Scripture is teaching.  We say that we love God, we love our spouse, our children, our families, and our friends.  We say that we love chocolate or coffee or lemon meringue pie.  We love a joke, a certain restaurant, or our job.  But I at least, would argue that I don’t love a joke in the same way that I love chocolate or in the same way I love my family.  Yet the word love is really the only word we have that communicates that we really, really like something or that something is really important to us!

In Greek, the language that this passage was originally written in, there are multiple words for love that convey a difference of intensity or depth of feeling.  There is one word for the kind of love that you have friends – philia and there is another word for the love that expresses the romantic love or physical attraction that is felt between a couple - eros.  And then there’s agape – the Greek word for love that is used to describe the way that Christ loves us.  It is this word – agape – that is used in this scripture passage that describes the kind of love that a husband is to have for his wife and the kind of love a wife is to have for her husband.   The love of Christ is our model.  This is how Jesus loves.  Jesus does not envy or boast.  Jesus’ love is not self-seeking, he doesn’t keep track of our mistakes.

 When we remember that Christ loved us so much, that he died on the cross for the sins of the world, we begin to understand that the love of Christ is complete sacrificial love.  It’s a love that isn’t based on what we do or don’t do, or who we are – thank goodness!  After all, Christ died on the cross to save a bunch of sinners. 

And it’s this kind of love – agape love that’s used in our John passage this morning to describe the way we are to love one another; the way that Christ loves us.  More than just a feeling of euphoria, it’s a deep, disciplined habit of care and concern for one another that is deeply woven into our lives in such a way that we might even find ourselves called to die for it.   Complete sacrificial love. 

Agape love does not come easily.  How can we possibly love in this way?   It’s impossible, we say.  “We” get in the way of this kind of sacrificial, perfect love.  If we truly could love one another as Christ has loved us, there would be no divorce; there would be no broken relationships; there would be no pain and injustice; there would be no hatred.  There would be no war.  “How is this kind of love possible?” we ask. 

And of course the answer is, it’s not possible.  At least not on our own.  It’s only possible through Christ.  It’s only possible because Christ loves us in this way.  And through the love of Christ; out of this huge well of divine love, we can draw the love we need as we move out with our much tinier containers into a love-starved world.  We do not have the resources of love we need within ourselves. But in our spirit-filled hearts and minds and souls, we can constantly draw from this deep well of Christ’s love in us.

Jesus is commanding us to pass on the same undeserved love you have experienced and continue to experience each and every day from Jesus, to the (perhaps) undeserving but hurting people around you.  Jesus gave up his life not just for his friends, but, for the whole hurting world – including his enemies.  Jesus now asks us to give up our lives for our friends, and for the hurting and sometimes hostile world around us. 

In his commentary on today’s text, Dale Bruner said, “The inhaling of an undeserved divine love for ourselves and the exhaling of our all-too-human, but still well-intended love for others is the breathing exercise that all disciples must try to practice every day.”   I like that.  We breathe in all this undeserved love from God for ourselves each and every minute of each and every day. What we are called to do as disciples is to breathe out the same undeserved love for others.  Breathe in the love of God for us.  Breathe out the love of God from us to others.  God in.  God out.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.  Breathe in.  Breathe out.

And how is this love expressed?  How does the world see our love for Christ?  The same way that Christ shows his love to us – a high bar indeed. 

The love of Christ is transformed into a joyous existence; bearing good fruits and dwelling in a loving, accepting, united community.  Love becomes a transforming power more than a superficial and emotional expression.  We begin “loving our enemies; doing good to those who hate us; blessing those who curse us; praying for those who abuse us.”   We continue by feeding the hungry, healing the sick, comforting those who are struggling and in pain, fighting for justice for the oppressed … doing the things that Jesus was about.

As a church, we made a commitment to take a risk and be about church in new and exciting and sometimes scary ways; ways that we pray will bear good fruit as Jesus’ commands us.  We are out in the community doing stuff – being the church, loving our neighbors.  We are finding ways to meet some of the needs in our community and in the process share the hope and love of Christ with a culture that sorely needs Him.  In order to move forward, it has taken, and continues to take courage and prayer and faith and the movement of the Holy Spirit.  It takes agape love. 

We will have to continue to draw from the deep well of God’s love for us in order to keep loving one another and our neighbors.  But I think this is what Jesus is talking about when he commands his disciples – when he commands you and me - to “love one another as he has loved us” and in doing so, to “go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.”

Let’s be prayerful and let’s live out of the depths of God’s undeserving love for each and every one of us.  It’s the best gift we’ll ever have.  Amen.

Vines, Branches, and Fruit

Rev. Debbie Cato
John 15:1-8

Fairfield Community Church

April 28, 2024 

Gracious God, may your Holy Spirit open our hearts and minds to your

words of love and grace this day.  Amen.

  

 

Vines, Branches, and Fruit

 

 

I love to garden.  When asked what my hobbies are, I always say gardening.  Unfortunately, gardening is much harder than it used to be because I cannot kneel or squat, and it’s hard for me to use a shovel or any large tool. And I always have weeds and I can’t plant what I want. My arthritis really sucks.  So, most of my gardening is relegated to pots and a raised bed.  How many of the rest of you like to garden?

 

Those of us who like to garden know that cutting back, pruning, and deadheading are an important part of getting the results you want.  Certain flowers benefit from being deadheaded.  Pinching the first flowers produced by pansies will result in fuller plants and more blossoms later in the season.  Yet it’s so hard to take off those first flowers!  It’s counter-intuitive.  Those first flowers are so pretty that it’s easy to ignore the advice to pinch them off.  But pruning them now results in more beautiful plants later.

 

A lot of plants are like that.  They do better if you cut them back – prune them, than if you just let them go.  Marie pruned the roses in the front of the church a few weeks ago.  She cut them back to almost stubs.  But soon they will grow and produce beautiful flowers for us to enjoy. They will come back much better than if she had left them unpruned.

  

Vines left alone become thick trailing plants that attach themselves to other things.  They will grow uncontrollably and result in one big tangled mess. If you want to see an example, I have some in my backyard that are out of control!  A vine grower is needed to keep the vines in order.  The paradox is that the vine grower must cut away lifeless, unproductive branches and prune those branches that are productive.  At some point, all branches need to be cut.  Young vines are not allowed to produce fruit for the first few years. This means drastic pruning is needed each season so the plant can develop to its fullest.[1] 

In a vineyard, the best grapes are produced closest to the central vine. 

Understandably, that is where the nutrients are the most concentrated.  Jesus

draws an apt description of the life of a disciple from this metaphor of nature. 

Jesus is the true vine, God is the grower, and we are the branches.  Through this

image, two aspects of God’s created world are held together – we must be pruned

to bear fruit.[2]

 

Jesus is speaking a word of hope and reassurance to his disciples – and to us all these years later.  Reassurance that comes from remaining close to Jesus, weathering whatever storms may come.

 

Using the contemporary language of Eugene Peterson’s The Message, Jesus says, “Live in me.  Make your home in me just as I do in you.”  The idea of making a home, of finding your heart’s true home in Jesus, brings a sense of peace to the turmoil that often characterizes our lives.[3]

 

When someone is having a hard time, we often will casually give the advice to “hang in there.”  Those words are not very helpful for someone who desperately wonders how to do just that.  Jesus offers so much more than hanging in there.  Yes, hard times will come, but living, abiding, finding our home in Jesus the vine and God the grower sustains us, promoting even greater well-being.[4]

 

As Jesus counsels and prays with his disciples, he invites them to stay close to him by placing their trust in him.  He warns them that they cannot go it alone, trusting in their own strength.  On their own, they would be cut off from their life source.  They would bear no fruit.

 

This is a good word for us today.  The temptation is strong for us to go it on our own.  We live in a society that promotes independence and making something of yourself.  Though a valid goal, self-worth often become equated with our own success and what we can produce.  It becomes very easy to think that it is all up to us and our own resources.

 

God as master gardener offers a better plan for our lives.  Let us find our home in God’s word and place our trust there.  The harvest will be bountiful.  We are chosen to bear fruit.  Jesus is the one who has made this possible.  Here is real hope for hanging in there on the vine of life.[5]

 

Our connection – the branches connected to the vine ensures new life and new growth.  When God is doing maintenance, when we are being pruned, we are assured that new life and new growth will result. As long as the branches remain

connected to the vine, they live and produce full leaves and abundant fruit.  Our

challenge – our community’s challenge is to stay connected to the vine. Stay

close to Jesus.

 

In John’s mind, there are branches that do not produce fruit.  They fail to live in love and are concerned only with themselves.  The branches that do not yield fruit are the ones in the community who profess faith but do not engage in acts of love.  A sign of discipleship is doing good works for the right reasons. There is an African proverb that says:  “Because we are, I am”  Because we are, I am.  The well-being of the community determines who I am.  If others are doing well, I am doing well.  If others are hurting or struggling or mistreated, I am suffering.  My self-worth is based on the well-being of the community. 

 

If we are the branches, how close to the vine are we?  Are we close enough to draw our nutrients from Christ?  Are we “Living in Jesus?” Do we “make our home in Jesus and allow Him to make His home in us?”  Do we live in love? We can only be fruitful if the answers to the above questions are “yes”.    We don’t have to do it on our own.  We can draw our strength from Christ Himself.  

 

“Abide in me,” Christ says.  Abide in me.  What a wonderful invitation.  Will you say, “yes?”  Amen.

---

[1] Feasting on the Word.  Year B, Volume 2.  Fifth Sunday of Easter.  John 15:1-8. Homiletical Perspective. Barbara J. Essex. P 473.
[2] Feasting on the Word.  Year B, Volume 2.  Fifth Sunday of Easter.  John 15:1-8.  Pastoral Perspective. Nancy R. Blakely. P 472.
[3] Feasting on the Word.  Year B, Volume 2.  Fifth Sunday of Easter.  John 15:1-8.  Pastoral Perspective. Nancy R. Blakely. P 474.
[4] Feasting on the Word.  Year B, Volume 2.  Fifth Sunday of Easter.  John 15:1-8.  Pastoral Perspective. Nancy R. Blakely. P 472.
[5] Feasting on the Word.  Year B, Volume 2.  Fifth Sunday of Easter.  John 15:1-8.  Pastoral Perspective. Nancy R. Blakely. P 476.

A Good Shepherd

Rev. Debbie Cato
John 10:11-18
Fairfield Community Church
April 21, 2024

God our helper, guide us into and through your Word, that we might be shaped by your Spirit’s message to us today and transformed for service in your world. Amen.

 

A Good Shepherd

 

In John's Gospel, Jesus makes a number of “I am” statements.  Statements that
define the very character of Jesus.  

In John 6, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.”   (John 6: 35, 48)

          In John 8, he says, “I am the light of the world.”    (John 8: 12, 9:5) 

In John 8, Jesus also says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”     (John 8: 58)

In John 14, he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”    (John 14:6 )

              In chapter 15, Jesus says, “I am the true vine.”   (John 15:1)  

And today, we read in chapter 11, “I am the good shepherd.”    (John 11:25)

 I am the good shepherd.  Very few of us have experienced the actual job of a shepherd.  I have never met a shepherd; have you?  When we think of God as our “shepherd” we use our imaginations to understand, or we try to visualize who God as our shepherd would be like.  What does that mean?  What does it mean to say, “the Lord is my shepherd?” 

Most people – even those not that familiar with the Bible, recognize the 23rd Psalm – a comforting psalm; a peaceful psalm.  “The Lord is My Shepherd I Shall Not Want,”  it says.   This Psalm promises that when the Lord is our shepherd, we will lack nothing.  We will have what we need.  We will have enough to eat; enough to drink; enough safety and shelter to live.  Even though we may be in deep distress; even if we are in extreme danger; even if darkness surrounds us; God is guiding us and protecting us and providing for us.  No matter what is happening in our lives, Jesus, the good shepherd is with us. 

The psalmist reminds us that we are utterly dependent upon our shepherd.  God is the one who meets our needs.  God is the one who slows us down and restores our very being.  We are reminded that God suffers with us in our pain and in our sorrow and in our loss.  God guides us. God fights off enemies that want to harm us.  The psalmist offers us God’s promise that: “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.” 

 Imagine that. The All-Mighty, All-Knowing, All-Powerful God is our shepherd.  He meets our needs.  He causes us to rest & be restored.  He leads us in the right way of living.  He protects us from evil and honors and blesses us. He never stops pursuing us with goodness & kindness. What a beautiful picture that paints.

We find another Old Testament reference to God as a shepherd in Ezekiel.  The prophet Ezekiel, living in exile in Babylon with the Israelites, invokes the notion of God as the shepherd of Israel.   He portrays the people as “sheep” to be led and protected and cared for.  God tells Ezekiel, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will let them lie down and rest” says the Lord God.  “I will search for my sheep; I will rescue them.  I will bandage the injured; I will strengthen the weak.”  How comforting to  people living in exile in a foreign land.  How comforting to us to know that God will search for us; God will rescue us.  God will strengthen us.

Deep in the Hebrew tradition is this iconic understanding that God will intimately shepherd His people.  The prophet Isaiah said that the promised Messiah would “gather the lambs with his arm,” and “gently lead those that are with young.”  Isn’t that beautiful?  “He will gather the lambs with his arm.” God provides protection and identity for God’s own.  He gathers us in his arms.  He holds us close.  This paints a beautiful, very intimate picture of God.  Can you picture yourself gathered in his arms?

God is not off somewhere that He cannot be accessed.  He is not distant. He is with us.  He rescues us; he protects us; He holds us close.  God holds us close.  I love that imagery.

In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.”  

      I am He,  Jesus says.  I am the one who gathers the lambs in my arms.

                  I search for my sheep; I rescue them;

It is I who bandages the injured; who strengthens the weak.

                             “It is I.  I am He,” Jesus says. 

I love that image:  “I am He who gathers the lambs in my arms.”  Jesus fulfills the hopes of Israel for a good shepherd.  The One sent from above; God made flesh.  The Messiah himself is the promised good shepherd. 

Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd because “I know my sheep and they know me.”   This paints a picture of a relationship; of time spent together; of conversations.  It paints a picture of trust and care.  This tells us that our Lord has personal knowledge of each one of us. He is interested in us.

This is no long-distance relationship.  The shepherd knows which of his sheep like to run ahead; which lambs are the most playful; which ewes are the most attentive; which rams are the most defensive. This is a shepherd who knows his sheep.  He calls their names; he counts their heads when they enter and leave the sheepfold. This is a shepherd who loves his sheep.

 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd because I lay down my life for my sheep.”   I lay down my life for my sheep.  In this same passage, Jesus refers to himself as the sheep gate.

When sheep were out in the pastures, the custom was for the shepherd to usher them into the sheepfold each night. The sheepfold was typically a stacked stone compound, high enough to keep out predators, but without a door. When all the sheep had been safely gathered for the night, the shepherd would lay down in the opening to the sheepfold and literally become the sheep gate.  That is how the shepherd would sleep.  Nothing could go in or come out of the sheepfold unless it came by the shepherd first.

But then, of course, Jesus really did lay down his life for His sheep. He died on that cross for us.  Here in John, Jesus makes it clear that he will lay down his life of his own accord — he’s choosing to give his life for His sheep.  He freely lays down his life because he loves his sheep – he loves us.

I think that deep down inside – even the most independent of us, realize that we need God's guidance and leadership to make our way down the road of life. We all need someone to help us get across the potholes, over the rocks, even down the nice smooth newly paved paths.  Jesus tells us,

 “Come to me.  Let me be your shepherd.  Let me guide you through this time.”  Deep down inside, each and every one of us yearn for guidance in life.  Jesus invites us to accept His divine guidance.  Guidance from the good shepherd.  We know to whom we belong.  He calls our name.  We can be comforted by the sound of his voice.  We can trust that our Shepherd is always with us. 

Forgive me if I’ve told this before but I’m going to tell it again. There’s a story about two men who were called on, in a large classroom setting, to recite the Twenty-third Psalm.  One was a great speaker trained in speech technique and drama. He recited the 23rd Psalm in a powerful way. When he finished, the audience cheered and even asked for an encore so that they might hear his wonderful voice again.

Then the other man, who was much older, repeated the same words--'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...' But when he finished, no sound came from the large class. Instead, people sat in a deep mood of devotion and prayer.   Finally, the first man, the trained speaker, stood to his feet.  'I have a confession to make,' he said. 'The difference between what you just heard from my old friend, and what you heard from me is this: I know the Psalm, my friend knows the Shepherd."  I know the Psalm.  My friend knows the Shepherd.

 The only question that remains at this point is this: Do you know the Shepherd? Just as God promised Ezekiel, He promises us “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep,” says the Lord God. “I will search for my sheep; I will rescue them.  I will bandage the injured; I will strengthen the weak.” I will gather you up in my arms.  Amen.