May 10, 2009

“The Good Shepherd”

John 10: 1 – 15 -- HMPC Spring Music Sunday and Centennial

Yesterday as we drove to Julia Gray Hook’s wedding in Bath, NC, we passed a field, somewhere between Bethel and Stokes, or Stokes and Pactolus, I am not sure which, but somewhere out there along NC Highway 30 where there were a bunch of sheep which were freshly shorn. I hope I look better then that after I have had a haircut.

They looked so straggly, in fact, that we, our little family had a hard time determining if they were sheep or goats. I had to tap the brakes to look and see a little better. As the men in our Bible study can tell you, and as anyone who has read Matthew 25 might testify, you don’t want to mix your sheep and your goats. That doesn’t turn out well. But there they were, straggly sheep, grazing on mid-morning Saturday in May.

I have preached repeatedly about the importance of sheep in the past….

• The centrality of sheep in the life of Israel for milk and meat.
• The ease of keeping sheep – the alpha sheep.
• The role of lambs in the worship ritual of the people, the sacrifice of the lamb for ceremonies small, and big, like the Passover alike.
• The view of some of the New Testament that Jesus has become the Paschal lamb for us, one sacrificial gift of love for the sins of the world.
• This Jesus, the lamb of God, takes away the sins of world, may his mercy be upon us…Amen. Good stuff.
• And then the role of the Shepherd – protection, sustenance – grazing, water, oil and hoof maintenance. It was, and is, a lot of work.

And in our Sanctuary we have this ever present reminder – that Jesus the Good shepherd will like a shepherd lead us – take care of us – gather us up in his arms and offer us his care as prophet, priest, and king – as redeemer, Lord, and Messiah. That may seem abstract to you, and admittedly it is. But I do have a couple of questions – is there any one among us here who could not use a little shepherding from time to time? A little direction, a little protection, a little intercession? I am willing to be we all are a little lost, like wandering sheep, our spirits and souls chasing falsehoods and deceits instead of grazing with the living God.

Another question today – what does God see when God sees us? Are we majestic sheep, covered in wool and finery, elegant in the fields, like a pastoral painting hanging in some famous museum? A romantic vision of sheep – is that us, preening and dancing because we know we are dressed to impress?

Or are we in fact like those sheep on the way to Pactolus? Shorn and straggly, wearing our scars on our skins and hoping not to burn in early summer sun? My guess is that we are more the former than the latter, more Pactolus than say the Metropolitan museum of art. And I think that is OK – maybe even the way that God might intend it.

Jesus makes no stipulation about which sheep he will care for. He talks about his shepherding, he talks about caring for the sheep, he speaks of repelling the thief, of keeping the gate. But all the sheep are kept. All of them. He lays down his life for all of us.

No wonder his image as a shepherd is preserved in song, art, story, and stained glass. It is as fine a reminder as any I know for the love that does not let us go, for the life of Christ and his promise to care for all whom he has called his own. Amen.

“He Has Healed the Wound – Jesus Healer of our Hearts and Wounds”

Luke 13: 10 – 16

HMPC Music Sunday and Centennial

In another 100 years from now I have a suspicion that our church will be recognized for several of its characteristics. Near the top of this list, I suspect, will be the window “He Has Healed the Wound.”

To begin with, let’s state the obvious – it is beautiful, rich overtones of blue, illuminated by the son from the Eastern Sky; the depiction of Jesus, our Lord, offering comfort to someone in sorrow, want, or need. The three Cherub faces, evidently faces of children, paying witness to the scene from somewhere just above the frame.

And then there is the story which might be just as beautiful as the window itself. Oddly enough like many near 100 year old stories, part of it is morphed into legend and folk tale. The window is dedicated to William Almon Hart and Mary Elizabeth Hart, a gift at some point in time by the Hart family whose names and legacy on our town seem to be everywhere. If you look at the window closely enough you’ll see that William and Mary Hart were a brother and a sister and that they were infants when they died. In fact they are laid to rest in the Hart family area of Greenwood cemetery, as fate would have it, just next to where Frances Peter’s was laid to rest earlier this spring.

What is lovely about the story to me is not the tragedy of the children’s deaths – no what is lovely to me is the consideration of the depiction in light of the death’s of the children. The window depicts no specific story in the gospel. Instead it seems to be showing a young woman who I presume is a young mother seeking consolation from Jesus. And then to confidently proclaim that “He Has Healed the Wound” suggests to me that instead of being driven away from God because of tragedy, the Hart family was emboldened in their faith in spite of tragedy. Indeed, when I first arrived here at HMPC I was told by somebody that the name of the widow was the “Healer of the Wounded Hart” – a play on words between heart and Hart to be sure – but a good reminder that the young woman depicted might as well be the mother or mothers here who lost children so very long ago. Put this is reference with the child-like faces of the angels, and well, you have the making of fine story with bittersweet roots and a beautiful bloom. Years later when the need for a new church in Leggett arose, the Hart family, having already given the window, provided the funds for the Presbyterian church there. And thus we have the William and Mary Hart church, named not after a couple, but after two infants who lived much longer in memory than they did in life.

What is it that happens when tragedy strikes? Why are some of us moved to be angry with God to the point of walking away from faith? And others of us are necessarily led to become even more faithful than we might have been had tragedy never occurred? That is the theological question the window poses, and a good one at that. And thus I think the window will be remembered – for its beauty, for its story, and for its theology.

He Has Healed the Wound – that is what the choir sings about today. The healing that Jesus provides. This moment at Luke 13 is one every Christian should commit to memory. It is a powerful testimony to Jesus and it shows him to us as someone that intends to heal us. Just look at the obstacles he overcomes to heal this woman – it is the Sabbath, it’s not healing day; she is a woman in the men’s area of the synagogue, not supposed to be where she is; further whatever has her has had her for near two decades – deep affliction. Deep. And Jesus heals her. He heals the wound. That is what he intends to do, heal us, if only we have the courage and faith of the woman and when come to his seat of mercy.

I will tell you that as your pastor I have heard far too many stories of Jesus’ healing power to doubt that it does happen, even today. We don’t talk about it much not because we don’t believe but because Presbyterians tend to be discreet about such matters. We tend to be discreet about a lot of things. The trouble is that it is difficult to predict when Jesus will or will not heal – fix the limb, mend the heart, abate the grief. In spite of our best efforts, God remains out of our control.

What is it that happens when tragedy or loss strikes? Why are some of us moved to be angry with God to the point of walking away from faith? And others of us are necessarily led to become even more faithful than we might have been had tragedy never occurred?

I went to Richmond last week for two days to hear the Sprunt lectures given by Tom Long who teaches preaching in Atlanta (Candler School of Theology at Emory University). Tom is without a doubt the best preacher in our church, the Presbyterian church, maybe in any church. Yes, he is that good. He told a story that struck me as highly informed on this point. A couple at the church near Carrolton, GA has stopped talking. He has moved out and she is alone and the kids are all grown up and far away. He has stopped coming to church and she comes to church, sits on the pew where they sat and cries while she sings hymns. Everyone in the church knows what is going on but nobody knows what to say. One Sunday he shows up, and he walks next to her, asking if he can sit down. She, shocked and afraid, moves all the way to the far end of the pew. The time for the passing of the peace comes in the service (we don’t do this here, but maybe we should), and he walks down awkwardly to her at the far end. The whole church, though passing the peace is really watching them, to see what will happen. And the man offers his hands and says, “I’m sorry, the peace of Christ be with you.” And she, drying away her tears from the hymn they just finished singing, offers her hands and says, “And also with you.” And the leave together and begin the long road of working it out.

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear – what a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer….The healer of the wounded heart intends to be the healer of all our wounds.

Amen.