Stewardship- brief sermon for November 23
This will actually go out as a letter later this week but I thought I would post it here as well since most of the recipients are not blog readers!
SERMON FOR LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST- CHRIST THE KING
Since the Small Church Ministry Consortium priests are off on Sunday November 23rd, the Feast of Christ the King, I wanted to reflect with you about the lessons for that day. Rather than reproduce them here, I will give you the References, and encourage you to spend some prayerful time with these readings. They are: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Psalm 100, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46.
Where Shannon, Graff and I live in Berea, we are privileged to have as neighbors a small farm. There are a few cattle, about 6 horses, cats, dogs and two goats. We have watched these goats since they were adopted as orphans, bottle fed and raised in the pasture that is nearest to the road. We walk our Border Collie, Seabury, there, and she is always so concerned that they need herding!
One day recently when we were walking, the brown goat had escaped. Our neighbors were away for the afternoon, and he was stomping back and forth on the bridge between their house and the pasture and letting everyone know that he was king of the bridge. (Yes, “Gruff” is apparently based in reality!) Although I have seen the farmer and his wife herd them into the pen with no trouble, it took three neighbors and a zealous Border Collie to get the brown goat back where he belonged. It took all of us to get him back and not let the white goat escape in the process.
I thought about that adventure when reading the lessons for the 23rd. When we read of the separation of sheep and goats, we usually think [whew!] we are the sheep and THEY {that mythical they who are not ‘we,’} are the goats. This time, however, it came to me with startling clarity that at least at times, I am absolutely a goat. I stand and crow on the bridge, I do not obey, and I think that I am better than the others—even the sheep who are blessed.
We goats are a pain- we do not come when we are called, we do not meekly obey the rules and we do not go where we are supposed to do. We do not feed the hungry and the weak. We do not always notice the sick. But I also believe with all my heart that even the goats do know the shepherd. I have seen that watching my farmer neighbors. They have fed the goats and the goats love them utterly. When they are with their Shepherds, they do not misbehave, and they are happy and content. They begin to resemble sheep.
Ezekiel is also comforting in this regard, telling us that the Lord says: “As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.”
I am pretty sure that if we goats know our Shepherd, this means that we too will be sought, fed, strengthened and taught.
Church is not the, only place in which that happens, of course. But the world does not make it very easy in those other pastures. When we come to church regularly to pray, hear the Scripture, seek renewal and help one another, we become a community that is stronger and more ready to listen for our Shepherd. We become a community with the desire and the power to seek Christ in all persons, most especially the weak, the sick and the poor. As we do these things, we also come to hear God more clearly in our lives. We are less anxious about the news of a shaky economy or an uncertain world situation. Those things still exist of course, but they are in a better perspective for us to understand and respond to prayerfully.
With this in mind, I beseech you to do two things as we move in to Advent. First, please put new books in the Story Book Christmas basket in the back of the church. The R*** County Ministerial Association is determined that all children in R*** County can have a new book for Christmas this year. I would like to think that we at St. A's are absolutely ready to support such a venture. Secondly, please pray over the attached pledge form to determine what you can do to enable God’s work through St. A’s. We pledge in 2008 for the 2009 year. This is a new pledge sheet, and it will help us to budget and to seek assistance for specific missions in the life of our community of faith.
I must tell you in all honesty, however, that those things are not the purpose of pledging. Giving graciously from what we have been given is transformative for us. It helps us to be spiritually open to God’s love for us and through us. It helps us to understand what abundance really means. It also helps us to project a tangible reflection of our spiritual selves. That is as true of our talent as it is of our money, which is why the form also has spaces for time commitments and interests.
Please be generous with both.
Psalm 100 has it right. We must serve with gladness. God has made us and we are the sheep (and goats, I would argue!) in God’s pasture. God’s mercy is everlasting and God’s faithfulness endures forever. We must come before God’s presence with a song that is body and soul, not just on Sunday morning at 11:00-ish, but every breathing moment of this life. Giving out of the abundance which we have been given is the most joyous song that we can offer. Please sing gratefully whatever song comes into your heart.
SERMON FOR LAST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST- CHRIST THE KING
Since the Small Church Ministry Consortium priests are off on Sunday November 23rd, the Feast of Christ the King, I wanted to reflect with you about the lessons for that day. Rather than reproduce them here, I will give you the References, and encourage you to spend some prayerful time with these readings. They are: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Psalm 100, Ephesians 1:15-23, Matthew 25:31-46.
Where Shannon, Graff and I live in Berea, we are privileged to have as neighbors a small farm. There are a few cattle, about 6 horses, cats, dogs and two goats. We have watched these goats since they were adopted as orphans, bottle fed and raised in the pasture that is nearest to the road. We walk our Border Collie, Seabury, there, and she is always so concerned that they need herding!
One day recently when we were walking, the brown goat had escaped. Our neighbors were away for the afternoon, and he was stomping back and forth on the bridge between their house and the pasture and letting everyone know that he was king of the bridge. (Yes, “Gruff” is apparently based in reality!) Although I have seen the farmer and his wife herd them into the pen with no trouble, it took three neighbors and a zealous Border Collie to get the brown goat back where he belonged. It took all of us to get him back and not let the white goat escape in the process.
I thought about that adventure when reading the lessons for the 23rd. When we read of the separation of sheep and goats, we usually think [whew!] we are the sheep and THEY {that mythical they who are not ‘we,’} are the goats. This time, however, it came to me with startling clarity that at least at times, I am absolutely a goat. I stand and crow on the bridge, I do not obey, and I think that I am better than the others—even the sheep who are blessed.
We goats are a pain- we do not come when we are called, we do not meekly obey the rules and we do not go where we are supposed to do. We do not feed the hungry and the weak. We do not always notice the sick. But I also believe with all my heart that even the goats do know the shepherd. I have seen that watching my farmer neighbors. They have fed the goats and the goats love them utterly. When they are with their Shepherds, they do not misbehave, and they are happy and content. They begin to resemble sheep.
Ezekiel is also comforting in this regard, telling us that the Lord says: “As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.”
I am pretty sure that if we goats know our Shepherd, this means that we too will be sought, fed, strengthened and taught.
Church is not the, only place in which that happens, of course. But the world does not make it very easy in those other pastures. When we come to church regularly to pray, hear the Scripture, seek renewal and help one another, we become a community that is stronger and more ready to listen for our Shepherd. We become a community with the desire and the power to seek Christ in all persons, most especially the weak, the sick and the poor. As we do these things, we also come to hear God more clearly in our lives. We are less anxious about the news of a shaky economy or an uncertain world situation. Those things still exist of course, but they are in a better perspective for us to understand and respond to prayerfully.
With this in mind, I beseech you to do two things as we move in to Advent. First, please put new books in the Story Book Christmas basket in the back of the church. The R*** County Ministerial Association is determined that all children in R*** County can have a new book for Christmas this year. I would like to think that we at St. A's are absolutely ready to support such a venture. Secondly, please pray over the attached pledge form to determine what you can do to enable God’s work through St. A’s. We pledge in 2008 for the 2009 year. This is a new pledge sheet, and it will help us to budget and to seek assistance for specific missions in the life of our community of faith.
I must tell you in all honesty, however, that those things are not the purpose of pledging. Giving graciously from what we have been given is transformative for us. It helps us to be spiritually open to God’s love for us and through us. It helps us to understand what abundance really means. It also helps us to project a tangible reflection of our spiritual selves. That is as true of our talent as it is of our money, which is why the form also has spaces for time commitments and interests.
Please be generous with both.
Psalm 100 has it right. We must serve with gladness. God has made us and we are the sheep (and goats, I would argue!) in God’s pasture. God’s mercy is everlasting and God’s faithfulness endures forever. We must come before God’s presence with a song that is body and soul, not just on Sunday morning at 11:00-ish, but every breathing moment of this life. Giving out of the abundance which we have been given is the most joyous song that we can offer. Please sing gratefully whatever song comes into your heart.
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