<div style="color:black;font: 14pt Times New Roman, Times, serif;">Forwarded: <br>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid blue; padding-left: 3px;">very often during lambing season, the shepherd would awaken to find a dead
mother sheep with a live baby lamb and another live mother sheep with a dead
baby lamb.<span style=""> </span>The mother sheep whose lamb
has died has milk ready to feed a hungry lamb, but no babies.<span style=""> </span>The lamb whose mother sheep has died is
starving for lack of milk.<span style=""> </span>Easily
solved, you think.<span style=""> </span>Just let the orphan
lamb suckle from the childless mother sheep.<span style="">
</span>Great idea, but it won’t work; because the mother sheep knows the orphan
lamb doesn’t smell like her baby.<span style=""> </span>Do you
know how the shepherd solves the problem?<span style="">
</span>He drains the blood from the body of the dead lamb and washes the live
orphan lamb with that blood.<span style=""> </span>Now the orphan
lamb smells like one of her own, and the mother sheep will adopt the orphan and
feed it.<span style=""> </span></blockquote></div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Judy <judy_boli@ecunet.org><br>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic@ecunet.org><br>
Sent: Sun, May 3, 2020 11:01 pm<br>
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Facebook live video sermon for Easter 4A: "The Good Shepherd"<br>
<br>
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<div dir="ltr">
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Dear Friends,</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">The name of Sunday’s sermon is “The Good Shepherd.”<span style=""> </span>It is based on all the lessons.<span style=""> </span>Here it is. </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">As you probably noticed
in the bulletin, every fourth Sunday of Easter is “Good Shepherd Sunday,” so
this morning almost all of the Bible lessons refer in one way or another to
Jesus as our Good Shepherd.<span style=""> </span>Now we don’t
know much about sheep and shepherds, but the people in Jesus’ time did- they
were either farm people or knew farm people.<span style="">
</span>The image of Jesus as their Good Shepherd really spoke to them.<span style=""> </span>Let me try to open Bible times and culture to
you so it will speak to us as well.</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">First of all, did you notice
in today’s Gospel (John 10:1-10) that Jesus said he was the “Gate for the sheep”
(verse 7)?<span style=""> </span>What in the world was he
talking about?<span style=""> </span>If we lived in Bible
times, we would understand right away.<span style="">
</span>Almost every town had a sheepfold or sheep-pen, which was simply a small
fenced-in area, often made of stone.<span style="">
</span>This sheepfold or sheep-pen had an opening, but usually no gate.<span style=""> </span>If a shepherd wasn’t by a town, he made his
own sheep-pen with bushes and briars- again with an opening, but no gate.<span style=""> </span>When evening came, he would gather all his
sheep into the pen.<span style=""> </span>Problem: with an
opening but no gate, how was the shepherd going to keep the sheep in and the
wolves and thieves out?<span style=""> </span>Easily!<span style=""> </span>He slept in the opening himself so anything
or anybody attempting to go in or out would have to go over him.<span style=""> </span>Sort of like when my children were early
teen-agers many years ago.<span style=""> </span>The youth
group invited friends for a sleep-over downstairs at church, with the boys
sleeping in the common room and the girls sleeping in the classroom-lounge. <span style=""> </span>I stupidly agreed to be one of the
chaperones.<span style=""> </span>When all the chaperones
decided we couldn’t stand it any longer, we declared it was time for bed.<span style=""> </span>Our problem: all the boys were in love with
all the girls and vise-versa- how to keep them apart!<span style=""> </span>We chaperones knew they were just waiting for
us to go to sleep so they could get together unsupervised!<span style=""> </span>What did we do?<span style=""> </span>Easy- I put my sleeping bag in front of the
door between the two rooms so no one could get through, and we all had a good
night’s sleep.<span style=""> </span>Same idea.<span style=""> </span>Jesus is your Good Shepherd and he is the
Gate for your life.<span style=""> </span>Nothing can get into
your life that he can’t protect you from or support you through, including the
unique coronavirus.<span style=""> </span>Remind you of a song
we sing?<span style=""> </span>“Be Still my Soul, for God Is in
Charge!”</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">Now, if we are going to
look at Jesus as the Good Shepherd, we’d also better look at us as the
sheep.<span style=""> </span>What do you know about
sheep?<span style=""> </span>Three words, all starting with
“s” will answer that question: “stupid, stubborn, and stinky.”<span style=""> </span>Trying to keep a bunch of sheep together
would be sort of like trying to take a bunch of toddlers to the zoo.<span style=""> </span>Haven’t you noticed preschool teachers hoping
to keep their class together by having a rope with each child holding on?<span style=""> </span>I don’t know if it works for preschoolers,
but sheep don’t hold ropes and where they want to go, they go.<span style=""> </span>What they want to eat, they eat- poisonous or
not.<span style=""> </span>I remember taking one of my
children to Bill Knapps Restaurant (remember the good old days when it was
still open?) and noticing that my precious, spotless, sanitized toddler was
chewing something.<span style=""> </span>When I asked, I was
told “Oh, mama- they keep gum under the table for the kids!”<span style=""> </span>I almost threw up!<span style=""> </span>Sheep are like that.<span style=""> </span>Unless the shepherd clears the grazing field
of poisonous weeds, they’ll eat them.<span style=""> </span>As
their wool gets longer, it smells like a kid’s sneakers or well-used socks.<span style=""> </span>Being compared to sheep is not really a
compliment, but it’s probably a valid comparison.<span style=""> </span>As with sheep and children, the hardest thing
the Shepherd has to protect us from is ourselves and our own foolishness.<span style=""> </span>How does Jesus do that?<span style=""> </span>Did you notice verses 2-4 tell us that the
Shepherd knows the sheep by name, they know his voice, and they follow
him.<span style=""> </span>Remember on the first Easter when
Mary Magdalene was outside the empty tomb weeping and she mistook the risen
Christ for the gardener?<span style=""> </span>How did he get
through to her?<span style=""> </span>Sure- he called her
name- “Mary, Mary.”<span style=""> </span>That’s what he does
for us.<span style=""> </span></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">But what if our lives
are too busy to hear him?<span style=""> </span>Or, worse yet,
what if we don’t want to hear him?<span style=""> </span>You
know the feeling when your conscience says, “Don’t do this or go with him or
take that or use this or participate in that or say what you’re about to say or
do what you’re about to do, or eat/drink/smoke that.”<span style=""> </span>By the way- the don’t eat that is especially
hard, because we’re stressed.<span style=""> </span>Do you
know what you get when you spell “stressed” backward?<span style=""> </span>“Desserts.”<span style="">
</span>You hear your conscience, but you sin anyway- go for those forbidden
fruits or let it all hang out or do the selfish thing.<span style=""> </span>What then?<span style="">
</span>This is when our Good Shepherd becomes the Passover Lamb.<span style=""> </span>Remember how- just before we receive Holy
Communion- the priest breaks the Holy Bread and says, “Christ, our Passover, is
sacrificed for us.”<span style=""> </span>Jesus has become the
“Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”<span style=""> </span>There’s a parallel for this also in the world
of the shepherd.<span style=""> </span>Have you ever heard of Jeff
Smith (1939- 2004), also known as the Frugal Gourmet?<span style=""> </span>Many say he was TV's original celebrity chef.<span style=""> </span>Anyway, in his book called “The Frugal
Gourmet Keeps the Feast,” he tells about a conversation he had with a shepherd
from the Middle East.<span style=""> </span>He learned that
very often during lambing season, the shepherd would awaken to find a dead
mother sheep with a live baby lamb and another live mother sheep with a dead
baby lamb.<span style=""> </span>The mother sheep whose lamb
has died has milk ready to feed a hungry lamb, but no babies.<span style=""> </span>The lamb whose mother sheep has died is
starving for lack of milk.<span style=""> </span>Easily
solved, you think.<span style=""> </span>Just let the orphan
lamb suckle from the childless mother sheep.<span style="">
</span>Great idea, but it won’t work; because the mother sheep knows the orphan
lamb doesn’t smell like her baby.<span style=""> </span>Do you
know how the shepherd solves the problem?<span style="">
</span>He drains the blood from the body of the dead lamb and washes the live
orphan lamb with that blood.<span style=""> </span>Now the orphan
lamb smells like one of her own, and the mother sheep will adopt the orphan and
feed it.<span style=""> </span>That’s what God did with us-
washed us in the Blood of his Lamb- Jesus, the Christ, so we could be adopted
as sons and daughters of God and freed from our sins.</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"> </div>
<div style="line-height:normal;">So, where are you in
all of this?<span style=""> </span>Have you accepted Jesus as
your Good Shepherd?<span style=""> </span>If not, just invite
him into your life right now and then seal with our Spiritual Holy Communion?<span style=""> </span>Are you allowing Jesus to be the Gatekeeper
of your life, or do you keep running after things that will destroy you?<span style=""> </span>Do you spend enough quiet time with our Lord
so you recognize his voice, or do you keep busy, busy, busy with the radio
blaring, the TV on, the video games popping, the music blasting, or you’re on
your cell phone talking or texting?<span style="">
</span>Finally, is Jesus not only your Good Shepherd, but your MODEL
Shepherd?<span style=""> </span>Do you just happily accept
God’s blessings, keeping them to yourself; or do you reach out and touch?<span style=""> </span>May God bless us as we follow our Good
Shepherd</div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">For anyone who
is interested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements are
posted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.stpaulsepisag.org/"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none;">http://www.stpaulsepisag.org</span></a> .</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"> </span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Blessed preaching,</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Judy Boli</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">St. Paul's Episcopal Church</span></strong></div>
<div style="line-height:normal;"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;">Saginaw, Michigan</span></strong></div>
</div>
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