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April 17, 2005: Shirley,
Goodness, and Mercy
It's like working out at the gym. You do it, but how you feel about it depends on why you do it. Do you do it to win some mythical star for your mythical crown in heaven? Or do you work out because it makes you stronger and enhances your life? That's how Peter the First speaks of suffering. If Christians just slog through to earn faith points through pain, no wonder church membership is on the decline. That's like saying, "There isn't enough joy to go around, so I'll give up mine so others don't have to." That's Eeyore Christianity. There is plenty of joy to go around. In fact, Peter would have us believe that God's abundant joy makes even suffering a lot easier to bear. Peter's audience is new Christian converts, and he's telling them how to live in their families. Oddly enough, he starts with the bottom rung of the household ladder, with slaves. It's as if he is saying that Jesus is the foremost of slaves in God's house, and people who want to be like Jesus (Christians) are also God's slaves. Fortunately, that last verse about straying sheep returned to the shepherd lets us take advantage of Jesus' Good Shepherd riddle to use abundance to understand suffering. Because, whether we look for it or not, whether we think it's holy or just painful, living involves suffering. This is the Sunday when, each year, we read about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. It's a "nice story," but the gospel writer explains what Jesus is doing by saying it's a riddle. That's the Greek, even though the NRSV calls it a "figure of speech." Jesus is playing a game to challenge what his listeners think. So be playful with me, and conjure up in your mind's eye the classic Sunday School picture of Jesus surrounded by sheep, holding one under his arm. The only thing missing from that picture is the role the sheep play in helping the shepherd do his job. Ancient sheep-herding customs were more communal that ours are today. Small farmers pooled their flocks to pasture and shelter them, usually in a communal sheepfold. With a lot of mingling and departing, coming and going, sheep had to recognize and respond to their shepherd when he called them out. They had to base their "knowing" on a close relationship with each other. Sheep could differentiate their shepherd, because this was the guy who brought them to succulent pasture and water, who rescued and sheared them, assisting in their birthings. Sort of like first graders who quickly figure out their teacher is the one who will help them make it through the baffling journey from their classroom to the lunchroom and restrooms, trusting her to get them there and back. Sheep play a part in their own protection. Jesus' original listeners hear his riddle knowing they are responsible for who or what they choose to follow, because Hebrew scriptures referred to kings and religious leaders as shepherds. As Israel was carried off to exile in Babylon, God explained (through Ezekiel and Isaiah) that what really salted the divine socks was that the shepherds were robbing the sheep. And then-this is the part that has always irked me-Israel is chastised for putting up with it. As if sheep can be held accountable-blamed!-for the bad shepherds. Sheep are smart about their shepherd, but they are also smart about strangers. When I visit Lynne, her sheep let out a sound Lynne recognizes as, "Stranger coming!" When we go to the pasture, the sheep will follow Lynne with her feed bucket, so you that you think maybe this is about the sheep's relationship to the bucket. But if I carry the bucket, they still follow Lynne. We sheep are responsible for choosing whom we follow. Those three sheep in the 23rd Psalm that I read at the beginning of worship-Shirley, Goodness, and Mercy-they don't just "follow." The Hebrew says they chase after. What would life be like if we, like those sheep, didn't just follow our shepherd if he happened to be going where we're going. Or if it wasn't too much trouble. Or if something better didn't come up. Or if we could fit it in with everything else we've got going on this week. What if we chased after that Good Shepherd? What if we were as intent upon that Good Shepherd as are Lynne's sheep, who are less interested in the bucket than they are in the shepherd. On a day like today, when we hear Jesus say, "I came that [my sheep] may have life, and have it abundantly," we remember our Good Shepherd's abundance. U2 singer, Bono, has a song, "Get Off the Cross, You're Crowding Me." In it, Jesus says, "Live your life! You might suffer in the course of it, but I came to give you abundant life!" Imagine popular singers telling Christians that abundance is the answer to suffering. There is bound to be suffering in life, and you don't need to be either Shirley, Goodness, or Mercy to chase it. Suffering's gonna find you. But by embracing abundance-believing there is enough-our perception of that suffering changes. When our perception of life is that, "I am enough, you are enough, there is enough," generosity is easier. We forgive ourselves as well as others. If we think, "Everything depends on me, and I don't have enough time, not enough energy, not enough creativity, not enough love, not enough resources, not enough--." You get the picture. If there is only "so much," we're gonna live in fear-fear of abandonment, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of isolation, fear that others won't back us up, fear that things won't get done. But if God provides, if God is abundant, then it doesn't depend on us, we can forgive ourselves for being human. We can embrace serenity. And when we experience serenity and the abundance of forgiveness, of course we are generous. It doesn't depend on us. Not matter what "it" is! We are generous, because God is abundant. There is always enough. If I'm a cancer "survivor" and my perception is there's only so much cure to go around, I won't spread the news of effective treatment to other patients. But if I'm a "survivor" and I know this is due to God's abundance, I will overflow with the good news for other patients. My classmates in spiritual formation at Namaste love to share resources with each other. This week, one classmate shared the Twelve Promises of Debtors Anonymous with us. Recognizing how easily we get sucked in by the lie of scarcity, these Promises remind us that living in God's abundance changes us. Hoarding and greed both act as if "there isn't enough; you've got to get yours before others take it away." But if we act as if there is enough, that our God provides in abundance, that Jesus came to give us life abundantly-the way we act and relate is changed. Rather than reading you all of the Promises, I will share their gist with you. If you want copies of the full text, there will be copies on the usher's table after the service. Because these Promises come from Debtors Anonymous, they are written from the perspective of rethinking perceived scarcity of financial resource, but we can apply their principles to time or energy or rest or love. Whatever you think is most scarce, listen and allow some of your assumptions about scarcity and abundance to be changed. We claim these promises as we embrace God's abundance. We can replace despair with hope, trusting ourselves (with God's help) to be able to handle baffling situations. We have the ability to live within our means-whether it is means of finance, means of time, or means of love-but we don't allow our means to define us. We can live as if we are prosperous, with an abundance of time, money, talent, loving relationships. We can live as if the "enough-ness" of our lives means we are valuable, and that allows us to contribute generously of time, talent, treasure, love. We don't have to live in isolation, but can live in community. We can give up comparing ourselves out of jealousy and envy, replacing self-pity and longing with acceptance and gratitude. We can embrace truth, giving up the fear of what we might find out about ourselves. We can live our lives with integrity, meaning and purpose. We can know that God is abundant, and it is God who is the source of our own abundance, beyond anything we can do for ourselves. Friends, these promises are for you. We
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