Left Behind For Good

I have been having a week that would make most people feel better about theirs. It all started off with the CD not recording the service on Sunday morning, and it was downhill from there.  The next great discovery was that all of my notes from the sermon had not been saved, even though the delightful pop-up window said that they had been not simply saved, but successfully saved.  Those relatively minor failures were amplified by the fact that for some time now I have felt... useless, irrelevant, overwhelmed and exhausted by going from one crisis/"situation" to the next with hardly a breath.  This week there have been more than the usual number of disasters to deal with.  When I sat down and tried to recreate the sermon, all I could come up with was the title from the bulletin (which I did not lose) - Left Behind For Good.

The message was based on Luke 24:44-53, the Ascension, but the title immediately conjured up images from the Left Behind book series.  I read the fictionalized account of Revelation a few years ago.  I had always thought (maybe you did too) that the "good" people were taken in the rapture and the "bad" people were left behind.  Now, the good news (in my understanding) was that those left behind had the "opportunity" to grow in their faith through suffering, to see the error of their ways and earn their way into heaven.  They were left behind because they were weak and unfaithful, but they could change that.   Come on, admit it.  You thought that too.  And isn't that sort of what the disciples were facing in this passage from Luke?  Jesus was ascending into heaven, and leaving them behind to face persecution and death.

As I was turning that over and over, I had one of those flash moments with music on the treadmill.  Maybe the reason the people in the books and the disciples were left behind was not because they were unfaithful, but because they possessed within them the ability to do God's work here.  They had the potential to do what others could not.  They were not left behind, they were placed and needed.  Hmmmm... kind of spins my perspective all around.  That triggered my memory, and I actually remembered a phrase from this week's sermon.  Of course, I have heard it before, but it came floating back to the top.  We have the ability to incarnate God for others.  We can do God's work, here and now.

So, I tried it.  It wasn't easy because in this week, as I have been going from one disaster to another, I turned my focus inward.  It's almost impossible to see past my problems, how overwhelming they are and how much worse I have it than anyone else.  It is so easy to get caught up in our own lives, our own trials.  When we do that, though, it is so difficult to see anyone else.  I consciously worked at seeing others and had two quick opportunities.  One at the grocery store, one at the dry cleaners.  I listened, sympathized and realized that the people with whom I was speaking were facing battles just as bad or worse than my own.  I managed to listen and express the hope that things would get better for them.  No mention of me and my needs or any stories of how much worse some others have it.  I hoped that by simply listening I had given them something that they needed.

This morning a story came to my inbox that says it in a very eloquent way.  I leave you with a link to the lyrics of the song that opened my mind (I honestly don't know what I would do without some Javi in the morning!)

Lyrics and Translations
 (Scroll down to Sunmotel and click on Your Revolution)

and the reading

The Cry of the Desert 

because they both say it much better than I ever could.  We have been left behind for good (the purpose) not for good (forever).

What Is Love?

"You did not choose me.  Instead I chose you.  I appointed you to goa dn bear fruit.  It is fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you anything you ask for in my name."  ---John 5:16-17

But just what is this Love?  What does it really mean?

For John, Love is an other-centered, belonging-to-something-greater-than-yourself kind of love.  This held a very critical significance to the community John was addressing.  Just as the disciples were about to experience their world imploding as Jesus faced death and those disciples ran for cover, so the Johannine community a generation or two later was facing all sorts of persecution.  They might have been tempted to turn inward, loving God (of course) and one another, and concentrating on their own survival.  Instead, Jesus lays on them a different ethic, one that will transform the world rather than judge or run away from it.

Jesus knew this was not going to be easy.  It was not going to be easy for his little band of disciples, or for the church that followed them.  And it certainly would not be easy for each one of us.  In this farewell address, Jesus reassures us that we face these things not as servants, but as His friends.  We are the ones in His circle who have been let in on the big picture, the reign of God, and given our role in bringing it in

 Charles Cousar suggests that being "friends of Jesus" means "being captured by the story, following the sometimes comforting sometimes disturbing plot that leads to the cross and the empty tomb, and finding in it the light to guide their way in the world."

I know that this does not provide any easy answers about what it means "to love one another," but that is not the point.  We have been entrusted and included and invited to participate in the amazing work of God through Jesus Christ.  The "love" that we need has already been given to us and will continue to be given to us.

"I do not call you servants anymore.  Servants do not know their master's business.  Instead, I have called you friends.  I have told you everything I learned from my Father."  ---John 15:15

---Pastor Suzanne

Sheep Need a Shepherd

I have often heard it said that sheep are among the simplest of livestock.  That is to say, sheep are quite vulnerable without a shepherd.  They are also vulnerable because they tend to wander from the flock.  Although I have limited knowledge of sheep, it seems that a sheep that ventures from the watchful eye of the shepherd is bound for trouble.

As dependent as they are on a watchful shepherd, I seriously doubt that sheep realize their dependence on the shepherd.  They probably scarcely notice the shepherd's presence until they feel the pull of the staff when they are pulled from danger.

At the other end of the spectrum human beings are creation's most complex thinkers.  We have the capacity to understand and process amazing quantities of facts and information.  We can make complicated decisions.  We are not very much like sheep.

Yet, Jesus uses the parable of the good shepherd.  It is a natural part of our Christian heritage to focus on the shepherd bit and much more challenging to think of ourselves as sheep.  We are much more accustomed to being shepherds in control than sheep in need of leadership.  Yet, when it comes to our relationship with God, Jesus understands our human tendencies better perhaps than we understand ourselves.

When it comes to our faith, we are very much like sheep in need of a shepherd.  Like sheep, we have the tendency to follow.

Like sheep, we often confuse true leadership with the kind offered by hired hands (shepherds who are in it for the wrong reason).

Like sheep, we are endangered by those who prey on our vulnerability, the spiritual wolves.

Like sheep, we are perhaps most vulnerable to ourselves and our tendency to wander away from the care of the shepherd and the safety of the flock.

We certainly need a good shepherd, like Jesus, who is willing to care and sacrifice for us.  Accepting that we are indeed like sheep is the hardest part for many people.  It is our human nature to want to be in control of our lives.  Yet, to be a follower of Christ, we must accept our spiritual likeness to sheep and our need for a good shepherd.  There might even be some comfort in there....

-----Pastor Suzanne