Last Sunday you sent me to the beach for two days to try to learn about the mission and stewardship parts of being your pastor. The moderator of the General Assembly was there to talk about how it is that Presbyterians do these things. Fahed Abu-Akel also shared his wife's explanation of our peculiar title, "moderator." She says the moderator is the Presbyterian Pope. Which leads me to today's answer to the question of the implication of the resurrection for us-the Good Shepherd. Have you ever wondered about that tall cane the pope and bishops in the Roman Catholic Church use? It's a fancy shepherd's crook, a nod to pastor as shepherd. My favorite shepherd, Lynne Deshler, tells me that a shepherd's crook is a tool which is not necessarily gentle. It's used to man-handle sheep in order to accomplish shearing or dousing or docking. None of these are actually things the sheep want to do, but they are part of the facts of life for sheep. When Jesus says he's the Good Shepherd, his hearers get a mental picture of care on behalf of the sheep. But then Jesus turns that vision on its head when he talks about laying down his life and picking it up again. Sheep are supposed to die in the shepherd economy. There is nothing in that economy about a dead shepherd. Jesus is saying that it isn't an accident that he dies. On the other hand, his resurrection is not a "reward" for God's hero-son or victim-son. In Jesus' economy, death and resurrection so part of the his saying "yes" to God-to obedience-which is itself the power for his resurrection. It is the power of self-giving.

We know about self-giving. In its most ordinary form, self-giving is standing aside to let someone else go through the door first. It's letting your little sister take the last piece of pie. It's patiently waiting your turn at the drinking fountain. Self-giving is the foundation for our politeness. But Jesus takes self-giving further. And asks us to do the same. Jesus' self-giving is a freedom and it is not arbitrary. Ditto for ours. Jesus' self-giving was based on God's will for his life, freely and purposefully pursued, choosing obedience. Which would mean what for us, who have taken promises in our baptism to "be like Jesus"--?

One of the things I heard a lot about at the beach was choosing. One speaker talked about how churches make choices. Except that, since this was a church-related event, she called it "discernment"-holy choosing. Because we are Resurrection People, we believe our freedom lies in our choosing obedience-which begs a question. How do we know God's will for our lives in order to choose it? First off, our choosing needs to be in community. We are "resurrection people" not "a resurrection person."

That is hard for we rugged individualists living in the West. The success of our parents and grandparents in settling a new part of the country depended on their being able to fend for themselves. Creativity, ability to make-do, self-reliance-these were essential for survival. But if you look closely, you also see that those characteristics occurred in a culture of "neighborliness"-helping each other in times of need. Because we live in a different world now, one where people move frequently and so do not build these bonds, or are able to purchase the means of survival, we think we don't need neighborliness. We think we can do it on our own. We don't think we should rely on others for choosing obedicence. Our grandparents and their neighbors helped each other, because that's what you did. As we have become more affluent, we have become more isolated, more judgmental of vulnerable people. The church-and that means Springwater as much as it means Christians in general-the Church must choose to form communities of caring-towards each other, for outsiders.

Since coming back from the beach mid-week, the church has received two calls for help from the Good Samaritan fund. Every year, session sets aside funds to help folks who need emergency assistance with utility bills, rent, medicine. The stories I hear are sad and more and more frequent. Nobody wants to ask for help, but it is becoming harder to be poor. The poor are more and more vulnerable. We must help them. Hebrew scripture has a word for why we give this help: hesed. We translate it as "mercy" or "goodness" or "kindness" or "loyalty." It's a hard word to translate, because it is one of the characteristics of God. In Psalm 23, what we see following after the speaker is hesed, God's mercy or loyalty, pursuing or chasing the one in need.

Psalm 23 is probably the most-loved scripture ever. When people are in the most threatening, challenging, grief-filled times of their lives, it is the one scripture that comes to mind. Not because sheep-herding is an integral part of our economy and it's an image with which we identify. What people love and need to hear is what the psalmist counts on--God's active intervention in their lives for good. People want to hear that God is actively transforming their situation, countering the threats. If this is true during the hardest, saddest, scariest times of our lives, how can we not believe that our lives will not be diminished when we give ourselves over to God's will?

Today's question about the implication of the resurrection for our lives is "how loyal do we have to be?" The answer is, "we don't." It's up to God. "Surely goodness and loyalty will purse me-will chase after me-all the days of my life." Our part is to say "yes" to God. This "yes" is easier to say if we have some level of competence in listening and if we are willing to do this in Christian community. Yes, even you can do this! If you want to upgrade your listening skills, the adult Sunday School class this month will teach you scripture reading and prayer techniques. Of course, you will have to practice, practice, practice-but you can (and should) do that in the privacy of your own homes. If you need a little practice booster, the Tuesday afternoon prayer time can give you a jump-start or, if you prefer, the Wednesday evening Bible study or the monthly Taize service can assist. If these options aren't helpful to you or possible, speak to an elder and ask for help. Between session and me, we can help you become skilled in listening for God's will in your life.

So hear the good news: you don't have to look for God; God is already looking for you. It is too disheartening to think that it is our job to look for God. We don't have to take the full responsibility for "getting" saved. We receive salvation. We say "yes" to God and freely love in return for God's loving us. The way to learn God's will for our lives always begins at exactly where we are right now. There is no reason not to start immediately. Just how loyal do we have to be? It's not about what we do. It is about receiving all we are and all God hopes us to be-receiving from a God who is, even now, in loyal pursuit of us.