Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in a far away land I was a very young parish priest. Our congregation was part of a community organizing effort to respond to the ravages of urban crisis in an old shabby Boston neighborhood. 

I was at a good size gathering of churches and happened to meet an elderly Greek gentleman who grew up as a shepherd boy in his native land. He was wearing a shepherd’s cap and his tweed jacket looked like he wore it to bed as well as to church and all the rest of the time as well. As he spoke just the stub of a stogie moved around in his mouth. During our conversation I wondered what it took to be a “Good Shepherd”. After all, he was the first real shepherd I ever met and it was near Good Shepherd Sunday and I needed some good sermon material. 

He didn’t hesitate for a moment. 

“Tree tings. First you gotta know de sheep’s names. Second, you gotta have dogs to keep de sheeps togedder. Tird, you gotta have a shepherd’s crook, so when one a dem sheeps steps outa line, you whacken ‘em upside de hed! Dat’s what it takes to make a good shepherd”. I took careful note of what the wizened old shepherd had to say.

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday in the Church Year. Jesus is the Good Shepherd of this flock. Today’s Gospel proclaims; “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

To the casual bystander it may seem that the sheep are indistinguishable one from another but not to the Good Shepherd. Not only does he know the names of each of the sheep, but he knows the background, the history, and the personality quirks of each and every sheep. Jesus knows us not just by name, Jesus knows the secrets of our hearts. Not only does he love us no matter what he sees there, he is willing to lay his life down for us. He did lay down his life for us.

I remember my best teachers, the ones I loved because they loved me. The first thing they did every year in September was to line us up in rows and seats and they’d learn our names. But it was more than names they learned about us. They learned exactly where we were in our learning capabilities. Then they encouraged and cajoled us as they taught us our lessons. 

Sunday by Sunday I take attendance. Every parish priest worth his or her salt does so. Every week Alice sends out an email to Cathy and me taking careful note of who is new, who is visiting, who is missing. Cindy and I do the same thing as we drive home. We count noses because every single life matters. 

You may think of the disciples as the trained sheep dogs keeping us together. God has deployed us all to look out for each other. We tend to stray each to his or her own way. We tend to wander preoccupied grazing with the humdrum of our daily routine. Or when we are wounded, hurt, or sick we may tend to recoil or withdraw in fear. Then we especially need someone to seek us out to keep us together as one in God’s flock. 

There are those times when we may think we know better than the shepherd. We may even head off on a tangent. After all, there is a stubborn streak that runs in the human heart. It may take a quick whack upside the head to wake us up. Or we may come to our senses and return “sheepishly” to the flock. Sorry I couldn’t resist. 

The Scripture knows all this about us. Which is why God sends the Good Shepherd to us. Like Tabitha, something in us may even become sick and die. Not to worry. Peter comes to us kneels down and prays and raises us from the dead. 

To be sure, life is such that something dies in us day in and day out as life wears us down. There is so much tragedy, trauma and death all around us. Where is our life to come from in the world we live in? It comes from the Risen Christ and someone with the courage of Peter and the disciples who are not afraid of kneeling down to pray. “Tabitha, get up.” 

Don’t be afraid to ask the impossible when you pray to God. It is not unusual for God to make possible what we think of as impossible. Just because the answer to our prayers so often is “No” does not mean we should not keep asking. 

Just because violence is a daily reality in the Ukraine or in our neighborhoods does not mean we should work and pray for peace with a sense of urgency. All wars eventually come to an end. At some point God whacks someone upside the head and knocks some sense into the human heart and mind.

Look at all the multitudes gathered before God as John the Divine does in today’s lesson from Revelation. If this vision of heaven does not whack us upside the head, I don’t know what will. There we are are gathered “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” , and we stand “before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in our hands”. We have all come out of “the great ordeal”, scripture tells us. All of us are gathered together as one flock before one Shepherd. “The Lamb at the center of the throne will be our shepherd, and God will guide us to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.”

Thankfully we are never alone. Which is why we need dogs. When I go for my daily walk along Lynn Shore Drive, I get my daily doggie fix. There is such unconditional love in dogs even for perfect strangers. Like a well trained sheep dog each and every one of us is called by God to look out for everyone else and for ourselves. As Jesus so succinctly put it. Love God. Love each other. Love yourselves. Each one of us is charged with keeping the flock together. 

These past few years have really tested us and the test is not over, not by a longshot. But here we are. There are days when we have become very discouraged but just when we may have begun to loose hope a new resurrection brightens our life. 

Take a look at our life here at Trinity. Fridays twice a month Alice Mann, Lynn Peterson, Nancy Morrissey and Bruce Malborn have begun to gather with as many as a dozen folks from Dinah’s House for a Mass in Spanish. I’ve begun sharing my Sermons and Newsletter articles in both English and Spanish so that the Gospel reaches as many as possible within our numbers. There is some exciting, emerging new life in this congregation. And I thank God for each and every one of you and your ministry which makes that life possible. 

We are learning more than each other’s names. We are learning of each others lives. The Good Shepherd knows us each by name and just the wizened old Greek Shepherd taught me so many years ago. Names, dogs and the occasional whack upside the head! It’s all a sign of the degree to which God cares about us and about the degree to which we care about one another.

In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul.

The Collect:

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Below are the readings for Good Shepherd Sunday with highlights that speak to my heart and soul 

First Lesson: Acts 9:36-43

Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Second Lesson: Revelation 7:9-17

After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Gospel: John 10:22-30

At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”