WILD FIRE OF THE SPIRIT

A Sermon for Pentecost Sunday
May 31, 2008
By Pastor Laura Gentry

Acts 2:1-21


Yippee! Here we are on Pentecost Sunday with our lovely red geraniums and our beautiful red outfits. Do you ever ask yourself why we do this? We do we make such a big deal about Pentecost? Why do we have to read the same text every year from the book of Acts tongues of fire appearing and resting upon the disciples' heads and causing them to speak in languages they hadn't even studied? And why didn't that happen to me while I was taking Greek class in seminary?

We do it because we can't afford to forget how this all started. We can't afford to forget that the church was born in fire! God sent the Holy Spirit, just as the prophets had foretold—and not just to the Jews, but to all people. Why do you think the first thing the Holy Spirit did was to make the disciples multilingual? It was because the liberating news of Jesus' death and resurrection was not just for an exclusive group in Jerusalem who spoke their same language, but it is for ALL PEOPLE! That's what this yearly celebration is all about—it's about what it means to be the church.

It’s exciting to tell the story of that Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples. It’s a story filled with excitement and drama. Had we been there, we probably would have called up the fire department. Perhaps we are grateful that we weren’t there. All those balls of fire on people’s heads might have caused us to panic!

There is a danger in reading this story, however, of thinking that the Pentecost story is just a happy tale from the past. There is the trap of considering it another one of those miracles of the Bible that “don’t happen any more.”

But the reason we celebrate Pentecost day, followed by the lengthy season of Pentecost, is that we hold fast to the fact that the Spirit’s outpouring is on-going. Jesus made this promise to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our dwelling with them.” Jesus assures us that, by the Spirit, he and the Father will come to us—will dwell with us.

Do we believe that? Do we really think that God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is going to come to us and dwell with us? It’s kinda scary to believe this because we know that God does powerful things. If God is in ME, then that means that powerful things can happen through me. Perhaps we should show up at church in extreme sports gear instead of our normal church clothes. We should probably have knee pads and crash helmets and bung cords just in case the Holy Spirit shows up. With all that wildfire power we know the Spirit has, we could be in for a wild ride!

I saw a bulletin blooper once that said, “We pray for those who are sick of this church.” If we are living in the true power of the Holy Spirit as we ought, then no one is going to be sick of this church! This will be a place of great excitement. It is going to be a place where the Spirit of God is increasing, more and more each day. This can be a church where God is sought and found and others catch the vision too. When you allow the Holy Spirit to catch fire within your heart, you will want to share the good news. You’ll have trouble keeping it inside. You may, indeed, need that extreme sports gear after all.

According to a brand new poll by Newsweek, the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. In fact, churches are shrinking so quickly that some call America a country that is “post-Christian.” Why are people going to church less and less? Why are churches closing their doors and turning their buildings into historical museums? Why do people get sick of their church and stop getting involved?

I will tell you why: it is because we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to burn within our hearts. We lose sight of our mission. We don’t live in love and zealously proclaim the good news to all people. The old saying goes: a Lutheran invites a friend to worship once every...26 years. That’s not enough! We get comfortable and in so doing, we block the work of the Spirit.

Nevertheless, the Spirit is at work. Even in our “post-Christian” nation, people are praying. According to Newsweek’s poll, more people profess to pray than they did in 1987. And the people who consider religion important in their lives has held fast for the past decade. People crave God’s power. They want the Spirit to transform them.

The question is: are we as the church feeding the world’s spiritual need or are we standing in the way? As Jesus’ followers, we have been given the Spirit’s power. We are supposed to be able to do even greater works than Jesus did because we are equipped with this life-giving Spirit. Hildegard of Bingen said we are all Sparks of the Divine Flame.

The Spirit is alive and well and burning as brightly as ever. God wants us to be a part of this wildfire and spread the good news throughout the whole earth. May this birthday celebration reignite us to be a part of that fire.

I would like to close with an extended blessing for Pentecost written by Joyce Rupp:

May the enthusiasm of Spirit leap incessantly within you and help you to live a vibrant life.

May the warmth of Spirit's fire be extended throughout your concern and care for all those who need your love.

May the blaze of Spirit's courage enable you to speak the truth and to stand up for respect, dignity, and justice.

May the undying embers of Spirit's faithfulness support you when you feel spiritually dry and empty.

May the strength of Spirit's love sustain your hope as you enter into the pain of the world.

May the clear light of Spirit's guidance be a source of effective discernment and decision-making for you.

May Spirit's patient endurance be yours while you wait for what is unknown to be revealed.

May the steady flame of Spirit's goodness within you convince you every day of the power of your presence with others.

May the joyful fire of Spirit dance within you and set happiness ablaze in your life.

May the spark of your relationship with Spirit catch afire in the hearts in the hearts of those with whom you live and work.

May you be mindful of the Eternal Flame within you. May you rely on this Source of Love to be your constant ally and steady guide.

(Joyce Rupp, Out of the Ordinary, Ave Maria Press, 2000)

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE OR MISSION POSSIBLE?

A Sermon for Ascension Sunday
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Luke 24:44-53

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

“Mission: Impossible” was a popular television show of the sixties that turned into a movie franchise in the nineties. The series focused on the dangerous world of espionage and spies—chronicling the missions of a secret team of American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force.

The format of the TV and movie series was rather predictable. Each episode would begin with the main character being given a secret tape. It would always start with the words “your mission, should you choose to accept it...” then continue on to describe the ridiculously impossible sounding mission. At the end—to add to the secretive nature of the mission—the tape would say: “This message will self-destruct in five seconds.”

Now, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I do not have a secret tape for you today and there will be no self-destruction of it. Nevertheless, you and I have been offered a mission that is every bit as exciting as a Mission: Impossible episode. And we must choose whether or not to accept it because, frankly, Jesus wants to know our answer.

What is this mission all about? Well let’s begin with the event that happened last week on Thursday: Ascension Day. Forty days after Easter is when Christians commemorate Jesus' ascension into heaven. Christian traditions around Ascension very from country to country. In Germany, for example (where it is called Christi Himmelfahrt--"Christ's journey into heaven"), it is an official school holiday. In North American culture, even though many more of us Christians go to church, the day passes relatively unnoticed, especially among Protestants.

There is a tradition in Clayton County, however, of having an Ascension Day worship service at the Pioneer Rock Church at Ceres, on Highway 52 between Guttenberg and Garnavillo. The church has been closed since 1927 but the beautiful limestone building is maintained by its historical society and Ascension is now the only worship service held each year. It is led by the Lutheran pastors of the area. My ancestors worshiped at the Ceres church and I attended that service a few years ago with my parents. It really gave me a sense of the great heritage of faith my ancestors laid for me.

In the New Testament, the story of Jesus' ascension is found in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, both written by the same author. The classic text is Acts 1:9-11. After the risen Christ had spoken his final words to his followers, we are told: "As they were watching, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight." That’s more exciting than a self-destructing tape anyway. The text then refers to the disciples "gazing up toward heaven while he was going."

The interesting thing about the Pioneer Rock church is that the pulpit is extremely high despite the fact that it is a tiny sanctuary. So as we listened to the sermon, I felt like I, too was “gazing up toward heaven” and I got a real sense of what the disciples must have felt as Jesus ascended.

In the Acts version of this story, it really shows how confused the disciples were. I once saw a young man who was wearing a T-shirt with a big letter K on it. I asked him what the K was for and he said it’s because I’m confused. “Confused,” I said, “starts with the letter C, not K.” He replid, “You have no idea how confused I am.”

The disciples, too, are looking upward, dazed and confused and probably afraid. In all consideration, they shouldn’t be confused because Jesus has already told them what they need to know. In Luke’s gospel today we hear him explaining, once again, what he has done—how the scriptures foretold that the messiah would come and suffer death and would rise again. Jesus’ name means “he shall save his people” and that is exactly the mission he accomplished. He lived among us and taught us and healed us and then he was crucified, but he rose victorious on Easter morning. He triumphantly accomplished the seemingly impossible mission for which he was sent into the world.

But as with a lot of stories—that’s not the end of the story. There is much more mission yet to be accomplished. Jesus tells them that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. This is their mission. Mission Impossible? It probably seems like it to them.

He puts the future of his ministry in their hands, then takes them out to Bethany and ascends. Now, the mission is theirs—and ours—to continue so that all can hear the good news. That is a mighty big mission. How does Jesus ever expect we can accomplish it?”

A mother eagle, taking charge of her little ones, serves as a beautiful example of how it is that Jesus prepared his disciples, and how he prepares us for our ministries. You see, what a mother eagle does, once her young have developed their tiny wings, is to place them on her large, outspread wings, soaring into the air currents with them. The air currents then push the little ones off mama eagle’s wings, forcing them to try their own wings. After wildly flapping those tiny wings as they careen towards the earth, mother eagle eventually flies under them, allowing them to crash upon her soft wings, there to catch their breath, to rest and recuperate. Then, once again she will take them into the air currents, continuing this procedure off and on for days until the tiny muscles of her offspring are strengthened enough for the little ones to fly on their own. Her goal is not only to nurture them, but to enable them to fly.

Jesus, too, gives us the opportunity to try our own wings. We love to come up with excuses about how we are not equipped to evangelize. “I am not one to talk about my faith, I don’t really know the bible, I am just so busy...” the excuses go on an on. But we don’t have to be biblical scholars or great public speakers or have any other spectacular qualifications. We just need to love God and be willing to do God’s work.

And we’re allowed to make mistakes. Like the mother eagle, Jesus sends us his Spirit to rescue us and help us out again and again until our own “wings” become strong. And because of this, our mission is not so impossible as we might think. We can accomplish it if we only welcome the Spirit’s help. For as the angel said to Mary, “with God, all things are possible.”

We might be afraid of this mission handed down to us by Jesus, through all those faithful who have gone before us that we remember today. We might worry about living the life of discipleship, but this is the path to joy and freedom. The freedom and forgiveness from your sins awaits, the ability to share and live the gospel awaits. The ascension assures us that Jesus is Lord, that his mission is accomplished but that there is still a mission for us to accomplish. And yes, with God that mission is infinitely possible.

Let me close with the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians, which we heard in our second lesson for today:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. Amen.

FUNERAL SERMON FOR BOB SWEENEY

Sermon for Christians Gathered Together at the Death

of

Robert Joseph Sweeney

May 18, 2009

11:00 a.m.

by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 14:1-6
"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.

In a passage that comes just after this, Jesus goes on to say to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
 
What wonderful words to hear today as we bid farewell to this well loved man. Jesus tells us that he has peace to give us, so that our hearts need not be troubled, even as we grieve this great loss. This peace is not the peace that we have come to expect from this world.  We will not find the peace by throwing ourselves into our work hoping to forget about our loss, only finding the sadness resurfaces when we slow down.  We will not find the peace in material wealth—even if we had all the money in the world, there will still be an empty hole in our lives.  We will not find the peace in a self-help books or groups, for we need more than the help we can muster ourselves.
 
The peace we seek is found in trusting in God who promises to be with us in whatever happens in life.  The peace which come in knowing that God makes his home with us and will never abandon us even though we often abandon God.  As we rest upon this hope, we find the peace that our hearts seek.
 
Certainly Bob knows this peace today. For in his baptism, God claimed him as his very own. “You are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever,” said the pastor the day little Bob was brought to the font. And as a child of God, he is heir to the promise—an inheritor of the gift of God’s eternal peace. Nothing can ever cause God to let go of his children. And that’s why Bob marched fearlessly into his own death. He knew that it was but a gateway to eternal life, a life won for him by his Savior Jesus Christ.
 
And so the word of peace surrounds Bob. No doubt about that. He is now in endless joy, praising God with great elation, totally free from the physical limitations he had to face here on earth. He is free at last. What glory for him!

It is we who are the ones who need the word of peace so desperately now. We are the ones need to be covered in peace. How comfortig to know that we are not alone in our pain. Christ knows our pain, suffers alongside us, and leads us gently to the healing and wholeness we need.
 
Yes, God offers peace to us today—peace that enables us to place Bob in God’s hands, and peace to place our own lives into God’s hands, knowing that God is with us in this time of grief and will carry us through.  We, too, rest upon the amazing grace that upheld Bob all the days of his life and filled him with such love and compassion for all of us.
 
It is this amazing grace that we can find today, as we remind ourselves once again that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  Even death cannot separate us from this love and even the loss of one as dear as Bob cannot rob us of our peace—peace that truly passes all understanding.  This is the peace that God offers to all of us today—a free gift, a blessed gift. 

I would like to close with a lovely poem by Henry Van Dyke because it reminds me of Bob, a friend who truly walked with us and who will walk with us again in the life to come.

O, who will walk a mile with me, along life’s merry way?
A comrade blithe and full of glee,
who dares to laugh out loud and free.
And let him frolic, fancy play,
like a happy child through the flowers gay,
That fill the field and fringe the way,
where he walks a mile with me.
O, who will walk a mile with me, along life’s weary way?
A friend whose heart has eyes to see,
the stars shine out or the darkening lee.
And the quiet rest at the end of the day,
a friend who knows and dares to say,
The brave sweet words that cheer the way,
where he walks a mile with me.
With such a comrade, such a friend,
I fain would walk ‘til journey’s end.
Through summer sunshine, winter rain
And then farewell,
we shall meet again.

Now, may the peace, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Above is Bob celebrating his 89th birthday this spring.

LOVE, JOY & FRIENDSHIP

A Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Easter

by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 15:9-17

Today’s gospel lesson is a portion of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples as he is preparing them for his physical departure. Though it is a brief passage, it is filled with deep meaning. The points Jesus makes have to do with love, joy and friendship. Let's take a look at each one.

LOVE
To begin with, this is a lesson about love. Jesus tell them: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” Just what does that love look like? What is this glimpse of God’s love that Jesus demonstrated for us? It was an all-inclusive love that was offered to all people. He loved the difficult-to-love people just as much as the easy-to-love ones. He did this with such conviction that he was often criticized for it. They didn’t think it was proper for Jesus to hang out with such “low-lifes.” And not only was Jesus’ love inclusive, it was self-sacrificial. He left the comfort of heaven to come and demonstrate his love and he accepted the life of an itinerant preacher with no home to call his own. Ultimately, he walked right into the trap that was laid for him and accepted death on the cross.

Now all this sounds quite good in that Jesus did it for us. How perfectly lovely to be loved by God in this way. But herein lies the problem: Jesus expects us to offer this same kind of love to others. He didn’t suggested it casually either. He actually commands it. We are to love one another.

You know what Mark Twain said about love? He said: "The holy act of love is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime if not asked to lend money!" Ah, we humans have our limitations, don’t we? Our love comes in small bits and usually has strings attached. Yet this is not at all the way that Jesus loved. Instead, he revealed through his actions how universal and unselfish and lavish God’s love is.

In the Acts lesson for today, Peter has trouble dishing out this kind of lavish love. Peter has been called to visit Cornelius, an officer of the Roman army stationed in Caesarea. He’s had a dream about it but he’s still hesitant to do this. After all, Rome was the occupying force at the time—these are the same folks who mocked, beat and killed their Lord Jesus. No doubt Peter has fear of them. But the Spirit of God will not relent and does not want Peter to withhold God’s love from anyone, regardless of their religious, ethnic or political divisions. God’s love is radical in that it is for all people and the Spirit is sent to everyone. To be Easter people, we are called to live in this resurrected reality and share God’s love eagerly with all.

When Peter obeys this command, many are baptized and the Spirit is poured out upon even the Gentiles. Peter even eats with these non-Jews and is criticized for it later back in Jerusalem. He has to defend his actions by explaining that Jesus told them they would receive the Holy Spirit. He said that God gave the Gentiles the same gift that he gave the Jews and added: who was I to stand in God’s way?

Who, indeed, are we to stand in God’s way because our minds are limited and can’t always perceive the inclusive nature of God’s love. Yet this is precisely what Jesus is conveying to the disciples as part of his final message to them: You MUST love.

JOY
The other important thing that Jesus feels the need to get across is to them is joy. He says: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Is God’s joy in us? Jesus wants us to know the abundance of life in the Spirit and joy is central to that life. If we, as Christians, hang our heads in sadness, bent over from the worries of this life and try to talk about the joy of the Lord, we are not going to convince anyone. To embrace Jesus is to embrace the good news that God is for us, not against us; that we are loved and forgiven; that we are promised eternal life as a gift through faith. If we believe these amazing promises, how dare we live dour, joyless lives? It doesn’t make any sense. If we believe Jesus, we are called to be happy even in the midst of difficult times.

We can sing and dance and laugh in all things because Jesus is with us. He gives us abundance of life. Living joyfully because of God's lavish love, said the mystic Juliana of Norwich (14th century), is the greatest honor that we can give Almighty God. As the psalmist declares in today’s Psalm (98), we are to sing a new song because God has done marvelous things. In fact, we are to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.” A joyful noise. Some day this is the verse for bad singers. You could also argue that the psalmist is talking about laughter. That’s a joyful noise too. In any case, Jesus’ joy in us makes us complete and so it is our Christian duty to strive for this kind of joyful living.

FRIENDSHIP
But now these are big things to live up to: love and joy. Sometimes we don’t feel loving. Sometimes we don’t feel joyful. How can we possibly live with love and joy as Jesus has commanded us? We can do it because Jesus has declared us friends.

“I do not call you servants any longer,” he says, “because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you.”

What amazing words! We are drawn into Jesus’ inner circle and deemed his friends. Even before we chose Jesus, he chose us. Despite our unworthiness, Jesus claimed us and holds us tightly as his friends. This tight relationship is explained by the metaphor of a vine and branches. Just as branches could not live without the nourishment of the vine, we need Jesus in order to bear fruit in our lives. He gives us the spiritual strength to obey God and bear the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

This fruitful living is possible because God abides in us as friends. The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard observed, “Christianity is not a doctrine to be taught, but a life to be lived.” Helen Keller explained it in even more vivid terms. She said: “I believe that life is given us so we may grow in love, and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower.”

Is God in you as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower? As God’s beloved children, we are to embody the presence of God. People should be able to look at us and our selfless actions and say: yes, without a doubt, God is in him. God is in her. Our love and our joy should be so obvious, that others can see God in us. That’s Jesus’ exciting vision for what our lives should be and that’s why he offers his friendship to us so that this life is truly possible for us.

I’d like to close with the song “One in the Spirit.” Please sing it with me.

We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
we are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Knowing the Shepherd

A Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter
May 3, 2009
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

No matter how grievous a funeral is, no matter how tragic a memorial service can be, when we start to recite the familiar words of the twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures ..." it calms the congregation. It makes all of us feel more at peace. Perhaps that’s why it is the most popular of all the Psalms.

This morning, we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday—we acknowledge in this Easter season that our Risen Lord is our loving shepherd. Knowing that shepherd can make a difference in our lives. For Jesus, as we heard in the Gospel lesson, is quite different from a hireling, who would flee in time of trouble, who would never take a risk to help the sheep. No, Jesus is our shepherd, who knows the flock and loves each one of us. He will do anything to save us, even lay down his life.

I remember reading an article in National Geographic shortly after the great fires of Yellowstone National Park. It explained an interesting discovery made by the forest rangers who were assessing the inferno's damage.

One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick.

When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their
dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.

She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wing were enabled to live.

I think this story so beautifully illustrates what our Good Shepherd has done for us. When sin and death were threatening to destroy God’s beloved children, the Good Shepherd stepped in and allowed himself to be sacrificed, that we might live. Just like the mother eagle, he was willing to die in order to save his beloved. When Isaiah spoke of the coming of the Messiah, he worded it by saying: "He will feed his flock like a shepherd! He will gather his lambs into his arms." That’s exactly what he has done.

And our Good Shepherd continually calls to us. He calls to draw us near to himself, to beckon us into his arms, that he might lead us. Certainly that’s what we desire, a life led by Jesus.
The call of our Lord is sometimes difficult to hear, though, because we don’t know our shepherd as well as we ought and we don’t always know what we’re listening for—there are so many other voices crying out for our attention. Other would-be shepherds seek to draw us away from the Good Shepherd—away from his forgiveness and unconditional love.

There was an American tourist, traveling in the Middle East, who came upon several shepherds whose flocks had intermingled while drinking water from a brook. After an exchange of greetings, one of the shepherds turned toward the sheep and called out, "Manah. Manah. Manah." (Manah means "follow me" in Arabic.) Immediately his sheep separated themselves from the rest and followed him.

Then one of the two remaining shepherds called out, "Manah. Manah." and his sheep left the common flock to follow him. The traveler then said to a third shepherd, "I would like to try that. Let me put on your cloak and turban and see if I can get the rest of the sheep to follow me."

The shepherd smiled knowingly as the traveler wrapped himself in the cloak, put the turban on his head and called out, "Manah. Manah." The sheep kept grazing as if they hadn’t even heard him. He cried out again and again, trying his best to emulate the shepherd’s voice, but try as he may, the sheep would not respond to the stranger's voice. Not one of them moved toward him.

"Will the sheep ever follow someone other than you?" The traveler asked.

"Oh yes," the shepherd replied, "sometimes a sheep gets sick, and then it
will follow anyone."

So with the sheep metaphor, there are sheep who know the shepherd’s voice, who follow him and only him. And then there are those sheep who will follow anyone. We have seen that in humans, too, haven't we? Battered by the storms of life and distracted by voices urging them to go this way and that—they have lost their bearings and they don't know where they are or where they are going. When they become confused, spiritually, they will follow anyone who will promise a moment of happiness, a brief feeling of peace or forgetfulness, a sense that they are someone.

But the call of Jesus the Good Shepherd is, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." There is no better way, no greater truth, no deeper joy. Our Lord reaches out to us in love that we might follow him into pastures green.

And we who have been shepherded so lovingly have a special responsibility—to shepherd others into the arms of our Savior so they can nestle there as well. Now I know that every person here has been shepherded in the faith or you wouldn’t even be here. There were key people in your life that led you into the green pastures of faith: grandparents, parents, sponsors, aunts and uncles, pastors, teachers, friends. Just like sheep need to be in a flock to flourish, we too need one another. We come to faith and grow in it with help from other faithful people.

In this season of Resurrection, let us put our trust in our good Shepherd who knows us each intimately, who calls us by name and who carries us through all our valleys and promises us that “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.” Amen.

And now, may the peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.



© 2009 Laura E. Gentry