10.15 Holy Communion 3rd May 2009

Acts 4:5-12 & John 10:11-18

Good Shepherd – call to come out.

Here is rhetorical question, a question for you to ponder. Can you think of the last time you changed your behaviour or took some action for the better? Most of us know there are things we could improve in our lives but don’t manage it. It’s not that we disagree with the need to live differently, rather a case of “I’m quite happy with change as long as it doesn’t make any difference.” Hmm…

But why talk of change at all? Why are preachers always pushing this? Let me offer two simple reasons:

1) If we claim any allegiance to Christ we have no option. If we belong to Christ through our baptism, we belong to the church. And church is the body of people called to live differently; indeed the Greek word for ‘church’ – ec-clesia – means those who are called out (hence our word ‘ecclesiastical’). Called out from what? From 1 way of living to another. From living only for ourselves and what we want, to living with reference to Christ and His kingdom.

2) If we stay as we are and don’t change we have nothing to offer a needy world. These days people are not interested in what others believe. We can profess what we believe but it is likely to make no impression. But it we live differently, if the Love of God is evident in our relationships and in the way we spend our time and our money, then others will be attracted and challenged.

This, of course, is why people were drawn to Jesus. What he taught about the love of God He also demonstrated. So when He talks of being the Good Shepherd who puts the welfare of his flock before his own, it is real. He has laid down his life for those he loves, as we read in our Gospel this morning. Earlier in chapter 10 Jesus says that he knows all his sheep by name and calls them out – he ec-clesias them! He calls them from out of the relative security of the pen, the sheep-fold, to the place of greater dangers and risks, but to a place of fresh pasture; and he promises to protect them with his very life, if they follow him out. This is the call to abundant life, life in all its fullness, says Jesus. It requires trust and a willingness to listen to Him and follow Him, a call to live differently. As one who seeks to do this I sometimes think I have retreated back into the pen and blocked my ears so I don’t hear the challenge to be called out. Sometimes the church looks more like those huddled together for safety rather than the called-out ones. So I return to my question but with an addition: Can you think of the last time you changed your behaviour or took some action for the better as a result of following The Good Shepherd?

Moving out from the security of what is familiar, what is now called ‘our comfort zone’, even to make small changes, is not easy.

This week a few of us went to see a disturbing new film…It’s disturbing because it projects what may happen if we continue to use the earth’s resources in unsustainable ways. Looking back from 2055 an archivist wonders what happened. Instead of the expected 9 billion there are just 1 billion people left in the world, a world which has fallen into chaos. The archivist draws onto the screen real film reports and news clips from the year 2,000 onwards. These show such clear evidence for climate change so that it is impossible to say ‘We didn’t know; we had no idea.’ The film is called The Age of Stupid, because human beings knew what was happening but failed to act, failed to prevent the disastrous consequences of climate change. There is a chilling moment when the archivist says ruefully “There have been other species in the history of our planet which have wiped themselves out, but what marks out human beings is that we knew what we were doing and failed to avert it.’

We know that a growing world population is putting unbearable demands on our planet. Even this week news came that a 250 square mile ice pack in the Antarctic has broken up. The climate is changing because of our human activity. Yet we continue to put more and more C02 into the atmosphere. Change in behaviour is very slow.

It is true in many areas of human activity.

We know enough but it doesn’t change our behaviour. We know that eating too much makes us fat, but we continue to eat too much. We know that having another drink will be 1 too many, but we go ahead anyway. We know that sexual intimacy in a casual relationship is not rewarding and carries great health risks, yet it is common behaviour. And if we care about inequality of wealth, we know that what we spend on a weekend away, or on a new outfit, could feed 10 families or more for a year, in another part of the world, yet we spend it on ourselves. We know, but we do not change. When we came away from the film, we discussed our depression (for it was a fairly hopeless film) and agreed that guilt or fear for the future were not good motives for making changes. So what is? If it’s not enough just to know, what does make the difference? What will cause me to cut down my food or drink intake or my C02 output? Or live in ways more in keeping with the Kingdom? We get more than a clue in our two readings today.

Just a few weeks after Peter had saved himself from falling into the hands of those who brought Jesus to execution, he is standing before them; not only does he defend his allegiance to Jesus he tells them that they have put to death the man God chose to be the cornerstone of the new order, the One in whose name alone salvation is found. Peter has undergone a radical transformation. Is it out of fear or guilt? NO, it is out of relationship. Yes, Peter had known Jesus when he denied him. But now he knew that Jesus knew him, and knew him with all his weaknesses and failings. Jesus had seen straight into his soul, to the core of his being, and still loved him. Peter knew that love, that mercy and forgiveness; he had accepted it, and with it, had welcomed the Spirit of Jesus to transform him.

Peter knew Jesus to be the Good Shepherd, the One who came to find him when he had lost his way; the one who had not just spoken about laying down his life, but had done it. The Good Shepherd, and the word good, ‘Kalos’, doesn’t mean morally good because he acted well, it means lovely, beautiful, attractive. “I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.” The same quality of intimate, deeply personal relationship that God the Son has with God the Father is on offer to us. When we allow the truth of that to reach deep within us, we cannot stay the same.

One day this week I sat in a park and watched three dog-walkers. The first two men were talking and a third man, who was walking a brown Labrador puppy, was drawn into conversation because the puppy wanted to play with the other two older dogs. The puppy was so caught up with having fun that when the men eventually moved off he started to go in the wrong direction. But then he was called by name. He heard the voice of the one who fed him, cared for him, took him for walks and he trusted that voice; so he changed direction without hesitation.

“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.”

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.”

As we sit let us pray…

Good Shepherd, keep us listening to your voice, take us out to where you lead and transform our lives. Amen.