Sunday Sermon: Laying Down and Getting Up
Laying Down and Getting Up
John 10:11-18, 1 John 3:16-24 – Easter 4B (Confirmation)
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
A little late in posting this….Audio version can be found here
Grace and Peace to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
During my summers in college I spent my time working at a Lutheran summer camp called Camp Mowana. My first summer after freshman year, I became a counselor was the timid and shy one of the staff (Rachel finds this hard to believe). But by the end of the summer, I had a more confidence in myself and began to take on some leadership. That summer at camp I also heard my call to ministry more clearly than I ever had before. In short, it was an amazing summer making strong friendships, growing in faith, and connecting with God in the beauty of God’s serene creation. So, when I went back the next summer, I had reason to believe it would be just as powerful, just as moving, just as monumental as the previous summer.
But when I returned, it didn’t feel the same. This was the place, after all, where I had such mountain top experiences with the Spirit as a camper and as a counselor. I waited all year to return to this place and now I thought the waiting was over, but it had just begun. I remember during the first few weeks of staff training I would lay restless in my bunk – wondering when God would show up. Those restless nights led me to the pond field at midnight to pray “I’m here God, where are you?” Night after night I grew frustrated and weary of waiting. I could tell it was having an effect on my energy. But over the course of those first few weeks, the staff, my fellow friends, saw my struggle, my weariness and they supported me. They encouraged me. They went out of their way to hold me up when I felt so low. It took a while for me to realize it, but my prayer was being answered. It wasn’t in the way that I had expected. It wasn’t through the mountain top experience that I wanted. It was through friends, sisters and brothers in Christ laying down their lives in simple, yet profound ways, in order to get me up.
So often we expect God to appear in blinding lights with angelic choirs or to rumble the depths of our being in order to get our attention. The voice of the Shepherd that calls out to us may in fact sometimes come in those encounters with the Spirit that are overwhelming and inexplicable. What happens more often than not is that God’s presence comes to us daily not in those momentous ways, but through our community, our friendships, our dwelling within the one flock of the Good Shepherd to which all belong.
Like I did that second summer at camp, we often look past those relationships. We want a metaphysical realignment of our lives. Something that changes us at the core of our being. This is what we’re sold every day. Take this pill and you will experience life in new and amazing ways. Buy this product and you can live life to the fullest. One that I find myself falling into – redecorate your home (or buy your first or dream home) so you finally have a place to call home.
John’s first letter addresses, as Pastor Al shared last week, a different kind of theology called Gnosticism. Basically the body is bad and the spirit is good. It’s a dualism that essentially removes us from the present life that we live and looking forward to a spiritual life. It’s what keeps us falling for the voice of the hired hands that don’t truly care for us. They are only around to make a few dollars at our expense and are willing to run away at any hint of danger. It may be the promise of a classmate to be liked or cool if only we act a certain way or do something that we really don’t want to do. Ironically, we follow after the earthly things that have no spirit to them, and miss the Spirit abiding in our brothers and sisters so close to us.
So often, we find ourselves lost sheep not in green pastures but in threatening valleys. Unable to find our way back. Unable to climb the steep walls that we’ve fallen between. Unable to follow the voice of the Good Shepherd because we’ve fallen so far. Because we’ve followed the wrong voices. Because we’re helpless. Because over and over again we find ourselves looking up to the skies say “God where are you?” and have missed him.
God shows us love first and foremost through a person. Through Jesus – a human being – who had deep meaningful relationships. It was the relationships of love that transformed people not the glory of the transfiguration – which was only showed to a few. God’s love is shown in this Jesus laying down his life for the sake of all people. For God so loved the world. God sends his Son to dwell alongside us, to abide us with us, to live among us. To care for us as a Good Shepherd. Knowing each one of us intimately. Calling us each by name as children in our baptism and each and every other day.
Confirmands – in a bit you will come forward to affirm your faith – to respond to God’s voice that began speaking at your baptism. Today is a big day – there is a lot of anticipation surrounding what these moments will be like. I hope that the image that stays in your mind for years to come is that of those who have supported you over the years – who have laid down their lives so that you would get up and come to worship – some of you at 8am, who have laid down their lives so that you have the strength to get up and stand before the congregation today – who have laid down their lives so that you can get up confident of God’s love for you – those people surrounding you and laying their hands on you whether it’s two or twenty.
They don’t do this on their own. They do it in response to the Spirit of God that abides within them. This is the life of the Good Shepherd’s flock to which all sheep are a part. To love one another as we have been loved by God. To lay down and lift each other up.
When I was installed here at Good Shepherd, local clergy gathered around me and laid their hands upon me – while they pressed down in support, I felt the Spirit of God lift me up. It was through them and you, brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow sheep of the flock, that I encountered God.
As I hear your stories, it is through individuals laying down their lies for you that you have encountered God in your lives. It is their and our response to the call of the Good Shepherd. Today as our 9th graders affirm their faith – as they say “yes” to God’s ultimate “yes” of baptism, they promise, with the help of God, to strive for peace and justice in the world. Through you, God has been and will be working in the world. Through your laying down of your lives in mission trips, in prayer, in service to this congregation and community, God is revealed. Through you God calls out to all sheep – bringing them into the one fold, with one true shepherd, the Good Shepherd. The Shepherd’s Spirit abides in me, in you, in each of us. May that spirit be stirred up and our lives laid out for the sake of the world.
I missed this the first time around…so apologies for a late comment. I identified with the desire to relive/recreate mountain-top faith moments – I think once you’ve had one of those, the desire to “go there again” is strong. I’ve often wondered about the guys who would go to several Promise Keepers conferences, if they weren’t seeking the spiritual high of conviction, absolution and encouragement that often accompanied these gatherings.
And I, too, have most often found God’s hands and feet often at the end of regular-folk’s arms and legs. I’ve found the individual testimonies in small-groups to be a powerful work of the Spirit. While there have been rare pastors who have been able to “get real” from the pulpit, I’ve often found more inspiration in the lived-lives of the day-to-day saints, and how they “keep on keepin’ on” while dealing with “an untreated case of life.”
I understand the tradition of the pastorate laying-on-hands at an installation. But I have always felt it would be even more affirming and welcoming to have the congregation members do the laying-on-hands. Much as we do in baptism, the idea of the congregation committing to uplift and support the pastor whom they have called is a powerfully supportive image, for both pastor and congregation.
Good stuff, Ben. (But you knew that, already.)