EASTER 4

John 10: 1-10 (Sermon 1: “Jumbucks and Jesus”)

1 Peter 2: 19-25

Acts 2: 42:47 (Sermon 2: “A vibrant Communism”)

Psalm 23

PREPARATION

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Here is love, the real thing:

not our flawed love for God

but God’s love for us in sending Christ Jesus,

the Lamb of God,

who has become the first born

in the new flock which inhabits eternity.

Amen! Blessing and honour and glory and praise,

be to our God and the Lamb, forever and ever!

The only reason you and I are here this Sunday

is that the ever-living Christ, the good Shepherd

has called us by name into his flock

and encircled our lives with his unconditional love.

The Lord is my Shepherd,

I shall never want.

The flock know the Good Shepherd’s voice;

and he calls each of us by name,

He leads me to green pastures

and guides me beside still waters.

Our Good Shepherd is with us always,

to the end of time and far beyond.

Goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.

PRAYER OF APPROACH

God of teeming galaxies and the great empty freeways of space,

Shepherd of the meek,

we approach you with loving awe.

God of mother earth, of sunlit mountains and moonlit deserts,

Shepherd of the poor,

we approach you with loving gratitude.

God of countless millennia and the rise and fall of cultures and empires,

Shepherd of the merciful,

we approach you with loving faith.

God of incarnation and redemption, of the dying and rising Christ,

Shepherd of the lost,

we approach you with loving hope.

As we gather here to worship you,

open our minds to your truth,

our souls to your beauty,

and our hearts to your grace.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord;

Amen!

CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE

Let us place our flawed, vulnerable and erring lives before God, seeking that mercy which is more ready to give than we are to receive.

Let us pray.

Whenever we are lured by the voices of the many pop-culture shepherds of our age, who are out to exploit misguide and fleece us:

Lord have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Whenever we act like ‘control freaks,’ wanting to dominate those around us with our ideas and wishes, as if we were up for the job of the good shepherd:

Christ have mercy.

Christ have mercy.

Whenever we become spiritually self-important, vainly imagining that we no longer need the help of other members of the flock of Christ:

Lord have mercy.

Lord have mercy.

Great Pastor, the only true bishop of our lives, please continue to surround us by day and night with your unsleeping grace. Forgive us our rebellion, rescue us from our wandering, dig us out of the mire, and set our feet on the secure but narrow path that leads to abundant life.

Through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen!

FORGIVENESS

Fellow members in the flock of Christ, God may be trusted to forgive our sins and deliver us from all evil. Jesus is the guarantor, and the Spirit the internal witness. Live this week as those who are absolved and recommissioned. For such you truly are!

Thanks be to God!

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

God of Jesus,

our Good Shepherd,

it amazes us

that you know

us each by name.

We can understand

that you know the names

of famous saints.

But each of us? Wow!

You are really something,

do you know that?

Wow!

Amen!

PSALM 23

* See Lent 4 or More Australian Psalms page 51,

which commences:

The Lord is my drover,

I travel well.

On outback tracks

he finds green feed;

he guides me safely

to cool water holes.

GOOD SHEPHERD

Unlikely shepherd, that’s You;

in the beginning,

with God and of God

You;

now bearing our stupidity

and wearing the sheep’s smell.

Jewish shepherd, that’s You,

glory unspeakable

with God and of God,

You;

now thinking mortal thoughts

and drinking from Jacob’s well...

Wounded Shepherd, that’s you,

humility sublime,

with God and of God,

You;

now stumbling to a cross

and consigned to hell.

Rising shepherd, that’s you,

True Light of True Light

with God and of God,

You;

now singing in the dawn

and bringing sheer gospel.

Ó B D Prewer 2001

COLLECT

Most holy God, our awesome Friend, please let us share in the audacious ways of Christ our Shepherd.

Imprint our minds with the distinctive sound of his voice that we may be quick to respond wherever he leads us.

In weakness may we know his strong arm, and in darkness may we trust his guiding love. To your praise and glory.

Amen!

SERMON: JUMBUCKS AND JESUS

John 10: 1-10

“Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,

Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee.

And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tuckerbag:

You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.”

This most famous of Aussie folk songs underscores the yawning gulf between the value of one sheep in Jesus’ day and its value in Australia today.

The jumbuck, or sheep, has no sentimental value here. How could it in a country where flocks can measure 40 or 50 thousand and wander uncared for during much of the year? To understand Jesus when he calls himself the good shepherd, we have to put ourselves back in a very different rural setting, where shepherd and sheep have a close relationship.

[But first let me pause and make some explanations for overseas visitors. You will need a glossary of Aussie words.

jumbuck = sheep

billabong = a fresh water pond in the outback surrounded by trees.

swagman = a tramp who carried his swag or bed-roll on his back.

tuckerbag = the sack in which he kept his food.

Matilda = the rolled up grey blankets/swag in which his few possessions were wrapped.

Tramps often gave to their swags, their constant ‘companions’, female names.

waltzing = when celebrating (eg after a good meal of roast jumbuck) the swagman picked up his bed roll and danced with it as his partner

** One warning, there are other theories about the word ‘Matilda’ than the one given here.]

In this folk song (a freedom song, actually!) one of the land-holder’s numerous sheep wanders down for a drink at the water hole. The tramp, maybe an unemployed shearer looking for work, who is camped there, sees a mobile meal, grabs the jumbuck, slaughters it, and shoves the meat in his food bag.

Flocks in those days (1895) numbered up to 50,000 sheep. One sheep out of so many was of little significance in the great scheme of things. One jumbuck was a minor matter, with no personal relationship with its owner. Value is purely monetary

Not so in Jesus’ day. Sheep were precious creatures, like valued pets. A flock of 100 was extra extra large. Many flocks were no more than 10-20. The sheep knew their shepherd’s voice and followed him. He knew each by name. These were not just jumbuck clones; they were Spot, Gentle, Limpy, Blackie, Timid, Bossie, Wanderer, Whiteface, Horny, Bobtail, Fatso, Longleg, and so on. By day and night the shepherd lived with them. He was always there for them. He would risk his life to save any one of them.

OVER MY DEAD BODY

If you saw someone climbing over the walls of a sheepfold, you could be reasonably sure of one thing: It is not the shepherd. Most likely a thief. That is how it was in the Middle East. There is only one legitimate point of entry: the door or gate. Jesus used two images to describe himself: “I am the good shepherd”; “I am the door of the sheepfold.”

Meaning? He may have meant he was either the opening (i.e. the doorway) or the door itself. The latter is likely. It would not be a strange description because many sheepfolds had no actual gate or door except the shepherd. At night the shepherd would take up his position across the doorway, baring wild animals getting in or restless sheep getting out.

It was the shepherd’s body that served instead of a gate or door. His is the only legitimate point of entry or exit. It is only take times by his grace that the sheep either come in or go out.

It was literally a case of “over my dead body.” Occasionally the shepherd at the gate would be mauled or killed by a wolf pack, or by a lion or bear. If necessary, the shepherd gave his life for the flock.

OUT THERE FOR US

Some people have thought the sheepfold represents the church. I don’t buy that. It is not an adequate image. The flock of Christ is much larger than any one sheepfold.

Sheepfolds in Judea were mainly used in cold weather; there the sheep could be handfed. But for most of the year they stayed in the open with their shepherd. It is worth repeating this; the flock spent much more time out of the fold than in it. Out in the open at night the shepherd was still the door: Nothing could get at the flock except by getting past his defence. No sheep could leave the flock unless he permitted it.

You may notice in the Gospel Reading that there is more emphasis on going out than coming in. In fact, it is only when the shepherd allows them to leave the circle of safety and go out that they can find pasture for themselves. The fold is not the natural domain of the sheep. The world is. “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

You and I, the flock of Christ, may be hand fed by the Lord here, but there is also good pasture out there in the wide, dangerous world. There we are not handfed; we are supposed to feed ourselves. There is always ample pasture in the places where Christ leads us, if we will only take the opportunity as it arises.

Those sects, or groups like the Closed Brethren, who cut themselves off from the world, are missing out on the wonderful pastures of God in the secular world. They wrongly think that the gathered flock in a safe fold is the only godly place to be.

It is not so. The whole world is God’s. The good shepherd is out there for us. In our working and our talking, in our relaxing and enjoying, among our friends or neighbours, in our great literature and art galleries, in our universities and Rotary or Lions Clubs, there is pasture for the Christian. Out in the sunshine and rain, on smooth roads or rough, toiling or resting, climbing or descending, the shepherd has green pastures to show us if we only allow him to. We will never find those pastures if we hide away in exclusive flocks and huddle in folds where we are handfed by prattling pastors who, in spite of their loud voices, are actually frightened of the world.

There is a time for being close together. The flock gathered tightly together may be warm and cosy. The fold may offer good protection when the storms are fierce, or when winter snow sets in. There are dark times when we need to be handfed. There are times when the wolves are on the prowl and the flock need to be gathered tightly together around their shepherd. Or when we are bruised and injured and need the loving warmth of the flock. But the safe huddle of the flock should not be the place where we perpetually hide from the large world.

THIS GOOD SHEPHERD TAKES THE RISK

Of course the risks are greater outside the fold and when the flock spreads out. It is possible to fall into a depression, to get lost, or be attacked by those looking for easy prey. It is also possible to become so busy with your nose in the pasture that you do not see the approaching storm or the treacherous ground.

Risk? I believe we are called in Christ to take risks. The greatest achievements are only attained by taking the risks under the oversight of the Good Shepherd. By the work of the Holy Spirit we are reborn and made members of the flock, commissioned to take risks to the glory of God.

Jesus Himself took the risks. He exhibits the way the flock should dare to go. I am sure there were plenty of voices both around him and within him saying: ‘Don’t do it! Don’t stick your neck out. Play it safe. Stay within the cosy boundaries, remain secure.” But Jesus went out and took risks to the glory of God.

Just think about the risks that qualified Jesus to be our Good Shepherd.

He could have stayed at home with his trade and family, his village synagogue and familiar friends. Instead he left home and became like a wandering minstrel, singing a new song that many “safe” people did not want to hear.

He gathered disciples; not the outstanding citizens of respect and great influence, but a “rag-tag-and-bobtail” bunch of followers.

He associated with undesirable characters: Aliens like a Roman army officer; despised tax collectors, Samaritan women, a Phoenician woman; he allowed a prostitute to weep at his feet and then wipe them with her hair.

He touched lepers, and let an ‘unclean’ woman to touch him; he did things on the Sabbath that were not considered proper; he spent time in a cemetery with a raving lunatic.

He told radical stories, challenged the accepted wisdom of Moses, and single handed caused havoc among the traders in the temple court.

He took momentous risks and in a remarkable way found green pasture for his majestic spirit out there in the big, bad world from which religious c++owards hid.

Our shepherd is a risk taker. We are called to follow him. Not just where things are pious and comfortable, but also where the world appears irreligious and dangerous.

SUMMARY

While Jesus was taking the risks, there were plenty of devout people who were playing it safe. None more so than a group of zealous men who formed closed communities down near the Dead Sea at a place called Qumran. These shut themselves way from the world in a tight knit flock within a safe sheepfold. They cut themselves off from God’s wider world.

Although the discovery of a few of their scrolls made headlines in the twentieth century, their influence on the stream of history has been minimal. They played it safe and waited for God to do something dramatic. But tucked away in their monasteries by the Dead Sea, they did not recognise that in Galilee and Jerusalem God in fact was doing the most remarkable thing this world has known. The whole Jesus event seems to have passed them by.

Not like Jesus. He took the risks, left the circle of safety and dared to explore for God’s sake; the God who dared to encourage a little flock of risk takers to go with him. In the end of course the wolves got him. But not before he had filled history with a hope and love which can never be extinguished.

Jesus is the door; at the fold or with the flock out on the hillsides. He is our entry to the flock or to the fold. Through him we may eagerly come in for rest, and through him we dare to go out and take risks. He knows his own sheep by name; we are not a lot of insignificant jumbucks but precious friends to him. He leads us out to pasture; to find nourishment in the dangerous world and to grow strong by it. Those who know his voice will follow.

* This next sermon is grossly too long! A much shorter version follows it. I leave the first draft her so that any other busy preacher may pick up different elements than the ones I chose in my condensed version.

A VIBRANT COMMUNISM

Acts 2:44-44

“All who believed [in Jesus] stayed close together, and owned everything in common. They sold their property and possessions, and distributed them around, according to individual need.”

Given the fears, suffering and massacres caused by the Marxist/Leninist/Maoist/Pol-Pot brands of political communism during the twentieth century, the word communism has been corrupted. Maybe irredeemable? Can I even dare use the word “communism” without raising barriers and arousing hostility in many people? I guess I’ll know, by the feedback, after this sermon.

I will take up again the word communism. I wish to focus on brief, vibrant communism as it was practised in the young Christian church; in that dynamic church which expanded rapidly after the day of Pentecost. It was a communism that was high on idealism and for a time was faithful in practice. It put the “love one another commandment” into a new way of living together, The first Christioans practised a thoroughly commune-ist lifestyle.

There is no avoiding the plain evidence as given in the Acts of the Apostles. “All who believed [in Jesus] stayed close together, and owned everything in common. They sold their property and possessions, and distributed them around, according to individual need.” Acts 2:44-44

THE IDEAL

What a change there would be if such a thing still happened.

I have no doubt in my mind that such a way of life is the ideal to which Christ Jesus calls us. It would be truly wonderful if Christians today could live that way. No private wealth, ivtesments or possessions. Everything held in common. No high fliers over against the battlers. Neither rich nor poor. Just one wram fellowship of mutual sharing and caring.

Such idealistic communism would be truly a bit of heaven on earth. Those first Christians bravely and lovingly practised it in Jerusalem. Think of the witness that such a caring and sharing way of life must have had on the community around them. Folk would really sit up and take notice. No wonder new converts were being baptized every day.

In sharp contrast I am reminded of the more recent jibe (was it Nietzsche?) which goes “I will believe in your Redeemer when Christians start acting more redeemed!”

Sadly today, that wonderful witness of complete caring and sharing, that idealistic communism, is rarely seen by the world around us. No more do surprised bystanders look on and say of us “Just see how much these Christians love one another.”

What went wrong?

POLITICAL COMMUNISM

Before I answer that question about Christianity, I want to briefly look again at the political communism which caused so much suffering and bloodshed in the twentieth century...

The first thing I wish to point out that in its inception political communism was truly idealistic: it aimed at the common sharing of abilities and possessions. Atheistic and materialistic it may have been, but at the beginning it possessed the loftiest ideals. Marx, Lenin, Mao, or Castro in Cuba, started out as men of great dreams.

In the little red book of China’s Chairman Mao, we meet a doctrine that went like this: “Each citizen is to serve the whole, and the whole is to serve each citizen.” That is a truly noble concept. It is very close to what happened in the early Christian community.

What went wrong with it?

Human nature, that is what went wrong. The idealism did not allow for the bias human beings have towards evil. It did not allow for the corruptibility of the human soul. It did not allow for the pride of individual egos, or for the fundamental selfishness that exists in all.

Before long idealism was compromised in order to launch reforms. Bloodshed and mayhem spread as the perverse doctrine of “the end justifies the means” was employed. Before long freedom of speech was regarded as subversive. On top of that their quickly surfaced the lust for power and wealth. A new oligarchy replaced the old oligarchy. Palaces once inhabited by princes were enthusiastically occupied by the new power brokers. New classes of the privilege and wealth replaced the old ones.

The biting satire of George Orwell in his novel/parable “Animal Farm,” where the animals take over and attempt to build their new world, was spot on. “All pigs are equal but some are more equal than others.”

You cannot build an idealistic society out of corrupted and corrupting human beings. Even the noblest idealist cannot be trusted when you place power in their human hands.

Let’s pull the shutters down on those brands of political communism, which was almost immediately corrupted and plunged humanity into hostile camps in the last century

WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE CHRISTIAN BRAND?

What about the early Christian communism? What went wrong there?

The answer is uncomfortable but pertinent: The same thing went wrong. Human nature. Egocentric human nature did the damage.

In the joy of the resurrection of their Lord, that early Christian community tried to live as if they had fully arrived; as if they were already completely redeemed creatures, perfect in body, mind and soul.

“All who believed [in Jesus] stayed close together, and owned everything in common. They sold their property and possessions, and distributed them around, according to individual need.” Acts 2:44-44

That was a noble mistake... Understandable in all the excitement of those post-Easter weeks, but a mistake nevertheless.

The first believers, who practised Christian communism, did not allow for this hard fact of life; human nature is not only twisted, but remains twisted after initial conversion. They thought they had fully arrived. Therefore they ran into difficulties with their brand of communism.

We are given one glimpse of such difficulties in the story of Ananias and Saphira. That couple wanted to be a part of the caring and sharing Christian fellowship. So they followed the current Christian practice at Jerusalem and sold their piece of land. Then, sneakily holding back some of the proceeds, they brought the rest of the money to the apostles and handed it over for the common good, claiming it to be the full amount. But Peter saw through their deceit and publicly exposed them. Shocked by their public shame, in turn they each had a heart attack and died.

Some of the same evil which undermined the early idealism of atheistic communism, also infected those early attempts at Christian communism. When they put their faith in Christ Jesus, the old nature was slow to give up its perverse ways.

We get another glimpse of a later and modified attempt at sharing and caring in Paul’s first letter to the Christian in large, pagan city of Corinth. They still all brought food along for the common meal, presumably early on Sunday mornings, or maybe in the evenings of the Lord’s Day. However it was not a great success. It seems that some of the wealthy members shared their ample food with each other, while the poor were left to share their sparse rations. Unconditional sharing proved very hard for those who were still sinners; sinners who were being saved by grace.

Paul rebuked them for this scandalous behaviour in the community of Christ.

They had modified those earlier attempts at communism, yet now had fallen too far below their amended and more realistic goal.

THE UNCOMPLETED WORKS OF SALVATION

What of the church today?

We must face the ugly truth about ourselves: .For a Christian the ego still remains a powerful force. Even for those who are trust Christ Jesus, some of the old motivations and conniving ways linger on and can corrupt our better intentions. We are indeed saved, delivered from fear and shame, but we are as yet a long way from being perfect children of God.

Putting it another way: In Christ we are terminally saved. I am using that word in the same way that we use it for a terminal illness. But here it is a positive "terminality." By that I mean the terminal is total salvation. By the grace of Christ, and through the ongoing work of the Spirit, we are moving inexorably towards fulfilment, towards our place within that community of love we call heaven; toward utter caring and sharing.

This is God’s doing. But in the here and now we are far from that attainment. We experience snippets of it, but pernicious sin still gets in the way.

Look at any (I repeat any) church congregation and this is painfully obvious. We fall short of that loving perfection where we can trust each other completely with all we have and are. A church is more like a rehabilitation centre for the maimed, and handicapped, and con-men, than an exclusive health centre for elite spiritual athletes. Churches are staging posts on the way to the city of God, never the city of God itself.

To pretend that Christ has completed his work is us, is a grotesque fallacy and deception. It leads to self righteousness. It encourages those proudly pious or dogmatic characters in whom festers the gross infection of the ego. It shelters a viper’s nest of self deceit to which the church goer becomes spiritually blind, yet which outsiders recognise at first glance as hypocrisy.

The saving work of Christ, applied to each of us, must be continuous. We have been saved, we are being saved, we will be saved. “Not that I have arrived, but I press on” writes St Paul.

Those post-resurrection attempts at communism, of which we read in Acts, were a grand failure. Their desire for a complete community of caring and sharing by fellow believers, was brave and beautiful, but was mistaken. We need many checks and balances, to even implement even some aspects of the ideal, at this stage of our salvation.

Does that mean I believe the church should give up on caring and sharing? As they say in the cartoons: “Now way, Jose!” I do believe that it is a scandal and a heresy wherever congregations are a mere conglomerate of tight-fisted individuals, all hanging on vigorously to their possessions and time and abilities. We are meant to be a sharing comm-unity.

As I see it, we have a long way to go before we have any right to negatively criticise the valiant attempt by the early church to implement Christlike communism. They failed because they thought themselves more advanced than they were. The failed boldly.

We fail through a rank individualism which denies fellow-ship in the Holy Spirit. We may recite noble creeds and sing our hymns yet stay dominated by the sub-creeds that extol possessions as the way to happiness. A sub-belief which outplays our professed creed and renders us an irrelevant lump of piety in a world desperate for true community.

What is more, I dare to say we have a long way to go before we have the right to criticise the first idealism of the political communism in the twentieth century. They failed through over confidence in their political processes and programmes; they failed through putting to much faith in the goodwill of human beings; they failed through putting too much trust in themselves.

We fail because we have not the courage to challenge the dominant culture of individualistic materialism which has corrupted Christian attitudes and values. We fail by copying the selfishness of the world around us: “God for us all and every creature for itself, cried the crocodile as he slipped into the public swimming pool.”

LOOK BACK WISTFULLY AND FOREWARD HOPEFULLY

Today I look back wistfully at those first followers of the risen Christ Jesus, and I marvel. Their joy and daring love was breathtaking! Superb! Out of this world!

I delight and glory in that little story recounted in the Acts of the Apostles. Those dear believers saw the truth of Christ and had a go at implementing it! They did not fail through lack of trying. And even with their failures they still succeeded in creating a level of communal of love such as the world had not seen before.

They saw themselves as a new race without class distinctions, re-created out of the diversity and alienations of the old races and classes; a new community where all was for the common good. “All who believed [in Jesus] stayed close together, and owned everything in common. They sold their property and possessions, and distributed them around, according to individual need.”

They went for it and partially succeeded.

Today I ask you to look forward hopefully.

I look at myself; no, I at all of us in the church, and wonder how much are we prepared to learn from those precious souls, who had learnt so much from Jesus. How much determined hope is in us?

Glory be to God for what they saw and tried. God have mercy on us should we do not even try. And God have mercy on us should we try without taking account of our own sinful natures, and of our daily need of Christ’s constant saving and reforming grace.

A VIBRANT COMMUNISM

Acts 2:44-44

“All who believed [in Jesus] stayed close together, and owned everything in common. They sold their property and possessions, and distributed them around, according to individual need.”

Today I wish to focus on brief, vibrant communism as it was practised in the young Christian church; in that dynamic church which expanded rapidly after the day of Pentecost. It was a communism that was high on idealism and for a time was faithful in practice. It put the “love one another commandment” into a new way of living together, The first Christioans practised a thoroughly commune-ist lifestyle.

THE IDEAL

What a change there would be if such a thing still happened.

In sharp contrast I am reminded of the more recent jibe (was it Nietzsche?) which goes “I will believe in your Redeemer when Christians start acting more redeemed!”

What went wrong?

POLITICAL COMMUNISM

Before I answer that question about Christianity, I want to briefly look again at the political communism which caused so much suffering and bloodshed in the twentieth century...

What went wrong with it?

You cannot build an idealistic society out of corrupted and corrupting human beings. Even the noblest idealist cannot be trusted when you place power in their human hands.

Let’s pull the shutters down on those brands of political communism, which was almost immediately corrupted and plunged humanity into hostile camps in the last century

WHAT WENT WRONG WITH THE CHRISTIAN BRAND?

What about the early Christian communism? What went wrong there?

The answer is uncomfortable but pertinent: The same thing went wrong. Human nature. Egocentric human nature did the damage.

That was a noble mistake... Understandable in all the excitement of those post-Easter weeks, but a mistake nevertheless.

We are given one glimpse of such difficulties in the story of Ananias and Saphira. The same endemic evil which undermined the early idealism of atheistic communism, also infected those early attempts at Christian communism. When they put their faith in Christ Jesus, the old nature was slow to give up its perverse ways.

THE UNCOMPLETED WORKS OF SALVATION

What of the church today?

Putting it another way: In Christ we are terminally saved. I am using that word in the same way that we use it for a terminal illness. But here it is a positive "terminality." By that I mean: the terminus is total salvation. By the grace of Christ, and through the ongoing work of the Spirit, we are moving inexorably towards that fulfilment, towards our place within that community of love we call heaven; toward utter caring and sharing.

This is God’s doing. But in the here and now we are far from that attainment. We experience snippets of it, but pernicious sin still gets in the way.

The saving work of Christ, applied to each of us, must be continuous. We have been saved, we are being saved, we will be saved. “Not that I have arrived, but I press on” writes St Paul.

In retrospect, it is no surprise that the early Christian attempt at communism failed.

Does that mean I believe the church should give up on caring and sharing? As they say in the cartoons: “Now way, Jose!”

I do believe that it is a scandal and a heresy wherever congregations are a mere conglomerate of tight-fisted individuals, all hanging on vigorously to their possessions and time and abilities. We are meant to be a sharing comm-unity.

We have a long way to go before we have any right to negatively criticise the valiant attempt by the early church to implement Christlike communism. They failed because they thought themselves more advanced than they were. The failed boldly.

We fail through a rank individualism which denies fellow-ship in the Holy Spirit. We may recite noble creeds and sing our hymns yet we stay dominated by the sub-creeds that extol possessions as the way to happiness. A sub-belief which outplays our professed creed and renders us an irrelevant lump of piety in a world desperate for true community.

LOOK BACK WISTFULLY AND FOREWARD HOPEFULLY

Today I look back wistfully at those first followers of the risen Christ Jesus, and I marvel. Their joy and daring love was breathtaking! Superb! Out of this world!

I\They saw themselves as a new race without class distinctions, re-created out of the diversity and alienations of the old races and classes; a new community where all was for the common good. “All who believed [in Jesus] stayed close together, and owned everything in common. They sold their property and possessions, and distributed them around, according to individual need.”

They went for it. They gave it their best shot and failed.

What is our best shot?

Failure is not a disgrace.

Avoiding all risks in the name of Christ is utter disgrace!

I BELIEVE I NEED A SHEPHERD

I believe I need a shepherd.

Because I am sometimes timid and other times overconfident,

because I often don’t know the best path yet pretend I do,

because I rush into dead ends or lead others into hazardous places,

because my brightest ideas are seamed with darkness,

because the things I crave may not be what is good for me,

I need a shepherd.

I believe in Jesus, the best possible shepherd;

his wisdom leads me to the optimum opportunities,

his word comforts me when I’m anxious or afraid,

his arm steadies me when I feel weary and heavy-laden,

his wounded body displays the cost of my rescue,

I believe in Jesus, the best possible shepherd.

I believe that I do not find him but he finds me,

that I under his care by virtue of sheer grace,

the love he gives me is to be shared with others,

that he treasures my name and prepares a place for me,

that his fold transfixes earth and heaven.

I trust Jesus, the good shepherd.

THANKSGIVING

* If appropriate, the following bidding and response may be used

after each sentence--

We enter your gates with thanksgiving,

and go into your world with praise.

We say thank you, most holy Friend, for your pastoral commitment to this world and its billions of people.

We say thank you for committing yourself to the ancient Jewish trailblazers of faith; those men and women whose stories and visions and prayers still nourish and inspire us.

We say thank you for your incarnate commitment to the Jew at the centre of our belief; Jesus son of Mary, Son of God.

We say thank you for his compassionate commitment to the lost and broken humanity around him; for hands that healed, words that uplifted, and courage that confronted evil.

We say thank you for the unswerving love that took him through rejection, abuse and execution; and for your commitment to him into the grave and gloriously beyond.

We say thank you for the resurrection event which gave him a universal Presence as Saviour and Lord, and his promised commitment to us as long as earth endures.

We say thank you for your commitment to the Christians of successive generations who have passed on the faith through times of ease and times of travail.

We say thank you for your commitment to each of us here, that you see through all our disguises, know all our sins, yet love us with an unconditional love.

PRAYERS FOR OTHERS

You and I are only junior trainees in the school of Christ, but like him we are called to be loving shepherds.

Let us pray.

Loving God, help us to pray with something of the compassion of Christ in our hearts as we think of our sisters and brothers in all lands.

We pray for the taming of the wolves of terrorism and war on the face of this earth;

Good Shepherd, hear us.