Sermon:  “Our Master’s Voice”

Prayer:   “May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts and minds here together be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.”

Now I know that today’s scripture texts are both about sheep – but most of us don’t know much about sheep, or shepherds. When we have our “blessing of the animals” at the barn next Saturday, I don’t expect we’ll be blessing many real barn animals like the sheep and goats of the Bible. Cats and dogs are what we know. So that’s why I’m telling you cat and dog stories today. How many of you have a cat? How many of you a dog? How many have both? (Good for you, you’re peacemakers – you get to live out the “peaceable Kingdom” of God’s affirming love!)

My first story is about how I met my cat LeBeau. LeBeau was a stray kitten my college friend Pam had adopted – or really, Pam’s dog Lucy had adopted. Lucy taught her to eat scraps from the garbage, and their favorite thing was field trips to MacDonald’s where they would beg for French fries together. Pam fed her sometimes, but she was a dog person and didn’t really know what else to do. I came from cat people, so I knew what it took to earn the respect of a cat. You know, you talk sweet to them, you offer food and attention, you approach them with infinite patience – you can’t make a sudden move or come too close. You let them come to you. And so, as you can imagine, after months of patience – sitting for hours studying on Pam’s back steps – it was a miraculous, holy moment when that skinny mass of black-and-white fur finally climbed up into my lap, curled into a tiny purring ball, and went to sleep. In that single, bright moment she became my cat, and I her master. She literally put her whole self into my arms (or legs, I guess, since it was my lap). She knew I would never hurt her, that I could be trusted to care for her, to look out for her health, to give her abundant life with food and shelter and faithful love. And so she gave me 13 years of faithful love in return.

My favorite thing about LeBeau during those years, when she was still a young outdoor cat, was how she came to know not only my voice, but the sound of my whistle (because she was raised with the dog). She also knew the sound of my 1974 VW bug – when I’d pull into the driveway after work. I’ll never forget the sight of her running toward me, across the grass, at full speed when I’d be driving up. She’d leap all the way up onto the porch, skipping 7 or 8 steps, and press herself into the doorway to get inside before me. And I was young too – alone and single – so (I confess it) I’d talk to her too. I’d tell her all my problems at the end of a long day at the office. She’d never try to tell me what to do like my boss at the newspaper. She never teased me or harassed me, like the guys in the pressroom at work. She never worried over me like my mom. She never did anything but love me. She worshiped me – heart, soul, mind, and body.

And when I met my husband-to-be John, it was the first time she didn’t hide under the bed when a stranger came to my apartment. She got right up in his face and purred at him. Talk about your “God is still speaking,” moment! It was a divine sign of some magnitude. John didn’t know cats – he had no idea the way he was being honored. And she was with me through one of the darkest times of my life – when my first baby died in utero – that cat stayed with me for months, even though she was very sick with cancer. She kept hanging on, because she seemed to know how much I needed her. She’d hoist her frail bony body into my lap, curl up into a delicate ball again, and purr.

If you have a pet like that, you know what it is to experience Christ’s joy when we allow him to be our Lord and “master.” You know that responsibility – of loving and caring for a creature who’s completely dependent on you. You know the joy you get when your pet heeds your master’s voice and follows you where you would have them go – instead of chasing wildly after cars and birds and chipmunks. That’s the joy you’ve given to God by coming to church today.

“God is still speaking,” has been for many years the motto of our denomination, the United Church of Christ. But the truth is, we’re not a church that likes to sit in silence listening for our Master’s voice. That would be the Quakers. We’re a church that doesn’t like to sit still – we love to go out and do things, and we love to sing and talk. Our worship has a lot of sound – music and scripture, prayer and preaching, even fun skits for announcements. Some of us may not know how to be still enough to listen to God speak to us. And we might wonder why we should even try. With our fierce Yankee independence, we are not much like sheep – not even like dogs, who are so slavishly obedient sometimes, it’s almost a compulsion. As long as I was training seminarians going into ministry, I always said you’ll love pastoring a congregational church – as long as you enjoy herding cats.

After all, our founding mothers and fathers were the Pilgrims who brought democracy to America and fought for our nation’s independence. We also fought for the emancipation of slaves, for the liberation of women, and later for Civil Rights for people of all races and sexual orientations. We cherish our independence – and we try to obtain it for others. Obedience is not a word we’ve come to appreciate the way we should. But today’s text points us to obey and follow Jesus as “the good shepherd.”

If you want to understand why, you might enjoy this little parable of obedience: Toni Sullivan came to our book study last Sunday night wearing a great sweatshirt with a little dog on it – the words said, “Sit! Stay! Whatever!” The story was that she was out walking her new rescue dog Charlie with Jamie Stewart and her dog Reba when a car turned on to their street. (You may remember Reba recently came to visit us in worship—she’s an impeccably trained guide dog for the blind.) I don’t think Jamie even had to say anything to Reba to get her to sit and to stay safely on the curb until that car passed by. But Toni found herself frantically shouting the necessary commands to Charlie. “Sit!” Abby started to sit as the car approached, but he didn’t get down quite all the way, so Toni shouted “Stay!” And he didn’t really stay – so as the car flew on past, Toni was left to sputter out those words again, “Sit! Stay! Whatever!” It’s such a great metaphor for what Toni and Jamie have to do as elementary school teachers – such a great summary of the challenge our little kids are to “herd” into a classroom of students ready to listen and learn. But it’s also a great metaphor for our own lives with God.

Teenagers sometimes wander like a pack of sheep after the popular crowd – sometimes turning into bullies, or drug and alcohol users. Or they could come to church and play ecumenical frisbee with other churches in town, like our youth groups were supposed to be doing today – what a model for world peace, right? If only we could get Islamic extremists, Orthodox Jews and Christian fundamentalists to chase after frisbees together! We worship the same God. Don’t you think that God wishes we could just get along like good little doggies instead of fighting like a pack of wolves?

The truth is, as we get older, the risk gets greater and greater that we may wander off and follow false shepherds – who either care nothing for our souls or would actively try to destroy them. And I don’t mean leaders of other denominations or religions, which is how this passage from John has sometimes been used. Stop and think for a minute about whose advice or commands you do try to obey in this life. Is it your boss – making more and more demands on your time and your health – promising wealth and promotion if you just work harder and longer, under more and more stress? Is it a family member who acts like a tyrant – telling you you’re worthless, or demanding that you wait on them and put their needs first? Or is it a thing – like a goal that has become a false idol like perfect grades or a sports championship, a promotion or an award?

I believe this is why Jesus here in John warns us against “false shepherds” – those “thieves and bandits” who would prey upon us and consume our lives with their relentless demands. We are so blessed to know Jesus as “good shepherd” who leads us on the right paths, but he more than gentle, meek and mild. He is the tough shepherd leads us through the valley of the shadow of death, whose rod and staff comfort us –the one who will fight off the predators who surround us. I think I might have told you about the time I had a rowdy Sunday school class full of 4th grade boys act out the 23rd Psalm. They LOVED that “rod and staff” part, and so they staged the thing as a mighty battle between sheep and wolves – with their favorite teacher (a former college football player) as their “ninja Jesus” staving off a massive assault against the flock. Like a loyal master sergeant who is ready to lead us through the greatest battles of our lives, Jesus is that kind of Master. His is the voice we can trust to keep us safe throughout this life and the next.

Thanks be to God for this Good News. Amen.

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John 10:1-10

10“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:11-18

11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”