Who is Your Shepherd?
Bob Dylan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, wrote many years ago in his song, Gotta Serve Somebody, that you:
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
Who we serve, where we focus our times and energies; where we put our trust makes a difference in how we live our lives; it affects how we live and it affects how we experience the things that happen to us in life.
This past week, J. Michael Cline, co-founder of Fandango died after plunging to his death from a Manhattan Hotel. In addition to Fandango, he ran venture capital and tech firms, and had a stake in the nation’s largest consumer-debt arbitration body, the National Arbitration Forum. By all accounts, Mr Cline was successful and had it all. He graduated from Cornell and had an M.B.A. from Harvard University; he had a wife and six children. His death was ruled a suicide. Something in Mr. Cline’s life was missing - missing to the extent that he decided to take his own.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.”
In the 23rd Psalm, David, Israel’s king, who was once a shepherd boy, lets us know that his shepherd is the Lord God, that his needs are met by the Lord.
David, as you may remember, had pretty much experienced and done it all. He had experienced great highs, and low lows. In this midst of this, David wrote this Psalm.
“He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He lead me in paths of righteousness…,” David continues.
In the midpoint of the psalm, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me.”
Valleys come into all of our lives. Valleys are those times when shadows lengthen, and God, and hope, may seem far away. We lose our job; we are diagnosed with cancer; our marriage falls apart; we lose a parent or even a child.
Valleys take different forms but we have all had times in our lives when the shadows lengthen and the paths before us are uncertain and too windy to find security in them.
The good news is, is that when you are in the valley, when you don’t know where to turn, the Lord is there, as your shepherd to guide and lead you. God is with you.
The jobs of shepherds are to protect you, to lead you along, even if you don’t see the danger ahead.
Part of my role, as your Priest, as your shepherd, is to guide you and protect you. I do this not out of my own thoughts but guided by the Word of God - part of my calling is to protect, teach, and guide the flock that God has entrusted to my care.
In our Gospel passage today, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, had sent his disciples, his apostles out to preach and teach. They have just returned and are sharing with Jesus all they had done. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, tells them, ‘Come away to a deserted place, all by yourselves and rest a while.’ Not with others. Not to a crowded room. By yourself. To rest.
Resting is essential to ministry and to life. Jesus was aware that without his disciples taking a break, it was not good for them to go on. We all need to find balance in our own lives between work and calling, and rest. Pressing forward is not always the goal.
They went away on a boat to a deserted place by themselves. “But there was a great crowd and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Mark 6: 34
Sheep without shepherds are lost. They are in danger. They can get hurt.
I don’t know Mr. Cline’s religious background or if he suffered from some mental illness, but something went drastically wrong in his life. Reading the story of his death affected me. It didn’t need to be like it was.
When Jesus saw the crowd, he had compassion on them.
Compassion is seeing others in their need and hurt and having concern for them. It is being sympathetic for the sufferings and concerns of others.
Jesus cared about the people of the world. He cares about you. He cares about me.
For those who hurt, for those in the valley, for those paths are uncertain, the good news about Jesus is not only about eternity in heaven spent with God, but it is knowing that God knows and loves each of us unreservedly and wants the best for us here on earth.
God is with us in the valley.
The Gospel is quite literally about getting out of the hell you find yourself in now as much as it is about getting into heaven later. God wants you to know that you are loved and you are not alone in the valley.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Even though I walk through the valley in the shadow, you are with me.
God shares his compassion and love to those who are in their own valleys on earth today through you and I.
This past week I shared some of my discretionary fund with a woman who was behind in her rent and is in danger of being evicted. I was able to do this because of your giving a few Sundays ago to the Priest’s discretionary fund. This money is given by you to show compassion to those in need. Sometimes applications, hoops, (while needful) are in place from organizations that help, and can be discouraging and can take time for those in immediate need. When you are at the end of your rope, you may just need someone to say, “Here you go.” Go in peace. We share this with you in the name of the love of God. A kind word, a listening ear, encouragement for tomorrow, and a gift in the name of God by the people of this parish. That is what my discretionary fund covers.
How do you show compassion to those around you your daily life? We can offer our presence. A listening ear, a kind word - a hug, a tank of gas.
You can give out of your abundance.
You can also invite those you know to join you for worship. When was the last time you invited someone to join you here? When you invite someone to worship you are offering a lifeline - you are throwing out the lifebuoy if you will - that which is thrown to a person to prevent drowning and to provide buoyancy.
This parish is not our private club. It is pathway to God, a community of believers who have found God and have chosen a different way to live and are choosing to do it together as a parish family.
When you invite someone to join you at church; you are offering friendship and love and offering them a different way to view and be in the world. You are offering them a chance to experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit which we have and experience together.
You are giving them a chance to feel the love of this community and to be part of something greater than themselves. To feel the love of this congregation and by extension the love that Jesus has for them.
We will all face valleys and uncertainties in our lives.
Placing our trust in the Good Shepherd, turning our hearts and lives toward him is how we prepare for the valleys.
Bob Dylan won the Noble prize because of his talent - both with his singing and in his lyrics. Because he knew some stuff.
Might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief
They may call you doctor or they may call you chief
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes, you are
You're gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody)
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody)
Choose whom you will serve. Choose who will be your Shepherd. And let it make a difference in your life and the lives around you.
Amen.
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
Who we serve, where we focus our times and energies; where we put our trust makes a difference in how we live our lives; it affects how we live and it affects how we experience the things that happen to us in life.
This past week, J. Michael Cline, co-founder of Fandango died after plunging to his death from a Manhattan Hotel. In addition to Fandango, he ran venture capital and tech firms, and had a stake in the nation’s largest consumer-debt arbitration body, the National Arbitration Forum. By all accounts, Mr Cline was successful and had it all. He graduated from Cornell and had an M.B.A. from Harvard University; he had a wife and six children. His death was ruled a suicide. Something in Mr. Cline’s life was missing - missing to the extent that he decided to take his own.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.”
In the 23rd Psalm, David, Israel’s king, who was once a shepherd boy, lets us know that his shepherd is the Lord God, that his needs are met by the Lord.
David, as you may remember, had pretty much experienced and done it all. He had experienced great highs, and low lows. In this midst of this, David wrote this Psalm.
“He leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul. He lead me in paths of righteousness…,” David continues.
In the midpoint of the psalm, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me.”
Valleys come into all of our lives. Valleys are those times when shadows lengthen, and God, and hope, may seem far away. We lose our job; we are diagnosed with cancer; our marriage falls apart; we lose a parent or even a child.
Valleys take different forms but we have all had times in our lives when the shadows lengthen and the paths before us are uncertain and too windy to find security in them.
The good news is, is that when you are in the valley, when you don’t know where to turn, the Lord is there, as your shepherd to guide and lead you. God is with you.
The jobs of shepherds are to protect you, to lead you along, even if you don’t see the danger ahead.
Part of my role, as your Priest, as your shepherd, is to guide you and protect you. I do this not out of my own thoughts but guided by the Word of God - part of my calling is to protect, teach, and guide the flock that God has entrusted to my care.
In our Gospel passage today, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, had sent his disciples, his apostles out to preach and teach. They have just returned and are sharing with Jesus all they had done. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, tells them, ‘Come away to a deserted place, all by yourselves and rest a while.’ Not with others. Not to a crowded room. By yourself. To rest.
Resting is essential to ministry and to life. Jesus was aware that without his disciples taking a break, it was not good for them to go on. We all need to find balance in our own lives between work and calling, and rest. Pressing forward is not always the goal.
They went away on a boat to a deserted place by themselves. “But there was a great crowd and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Mark 6: 34
Sheep without shepherds are lost. They are in danger. They can get hurt.
I don’t know Mr. Cline’s religious background or if he suffered from some mental illness, but something went drastically wrong in his life. Reading the story of his death affected me. It didn’t need to be like it was.
When Jesus saw the crowd, he had compassion on them.
Compassion is seeing others in their need and hurt and having concern for them. It is being sympathetic for the sufferings and concerns of others.
Jesus cared about the people of the world. He cares about you. He cares about me.
For those who hurt, for those in the valley, for those paths are uncertain, the good news about Jesus is not only about eternity in heaven spent with God, but it is knowing that God knows and loves each of us unreservedly and wants the best for us here on earth.
God is with us in the valley.
The Gospel is quite literally about getting out of the hell you find yourself in now as much as it is about getting into heaven later. God wants you to know that you are loved and you are not alone in the valley.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Even though I walk through the valley in the shadow, you are with me.
God shares his compassion and love to those who are in their own valleys on earth today through you and I.
This past week I shared some of my discretionary fund with a woman who was behind in her rent and is in danger of being evicted. I was able to do this because of your giving a few Sundays ago to the Priest’s discretionary fund. This money is given by you to show compassion to those in need. Sometimes applications, hoops, (while needful) are in place from organizations that help, and can be discouraging and can take time for those in immediate need. When you are at the end of your rope, you may just need someone to say, “Here you go.” Go in peace. We share this with you in the name of the love of God. A kind word, a listening ear, encouragement for tomorrow, and a gift in the name of God by the people of this parish. That is what my discretionary fund covers.
How do you show compassion to those around you your daily life? We can offer our presence. A listening ear, a kind word - a hug, a tank of gas.
You can give out of your abundance.
You can also invite those you know to join you for worship. When was the last time you invited someone to join you here? When you invite someone to worship you are offering a lifeline - you are throwing out the lifebuoy if you will - that which is thrown to a person to prevent drowning and to provide buoyancy.
This parish is not our private club. It is pathway to God, a community of believers who have found God and have chosen a different way to live and are choosing to do it together as a parish family.
When you invite someone to join you at church; you are offering friendship and love and offering them a different way to view and be in the world. You are offering them a chance to experience the presence and power of the Holy Spirit which we have and experience together.
You are giving them a chance to feel the love of this community and to be part of something greater than themselves. To feel the love of this congregation and by extension the love that Jesus has for them.
We will all face valleys and uncertainties in our lives.
Placing our trust in the Good Shepherd, turning our hearts and lives toward him is how we prepare for the valleys.
Bob Dylan won the Noble prize because of his talent - both with his singing and in his lyrics. Because he knew some stuff.
Might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief
They may call you doctor or they may call you chief
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes, you are
You're gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody)
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody)
Choose whom you will serve. Choose who will be your Shepherd. And let it make a difference in your life and the lives around you.
Amen.