Year A
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something\u2026 for example\u2026 someone who allows or denies access to an ancient city\u2026 or a bouncer at a nightclub\u2026 or more abstractly\u2026 some who controls access to a category\u2026 like whether or not you’re a member\u2026 gatekeepers determine who’s in\u2026 and who’s out\u2026 and there are gatekeepers at places like Children’s Hospital\u2026 sometimes called Security\u2026 there are TSA gates at the airport before you get to your gate\u2026 there’s the Gateway to the West in St. Louis\u2026 there are horses lining up at the gate\u2026 in many ways our elected officials are gateways to the federal government\u2026 in many denominations\u2026 in many parishes\u2026 baptism is the gate though which we must pass in order to get to another kind of gate\u2026 the altar rail\u2026 and Jesus is the gate to the Father\u2026 to the Kingdom of God\u2026 and to eternal and abundant life\u2026 and calling someone by name is a gateway to relationship\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think I’ve told the story before\u2026 about how when my former wife was pregnant\u2026 I spoke to our daughter\u2026 called her by name\u2026 told her stories\u2026 played music for her\u2026 told her that she was already our beloved\u2026 in a small way\u2026 I had called my own\u2026 and within minutes of her birth\u2026 the very first time she heard me speak\u2026 she immediately turned her head in the direction of my voice\u2026 she knew it’s sound\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today’s Gospel makes us yearn to hear God’s voice in this way too\u2026 we want God to speak directly to us\u2026 for God’s face to be close to ours\u2026 we want God to speak to us from a burning bush\u2026 we want God to speak to us from the clouds\u2026 even though some will say it was just thunder\u2026 we want our eardrums to vibrate with the melody of God’s love song\u2026 and we want God’s ear to be close to our mouths\u2026 we want to be the beloved sheep\u2026 the one God will come looking for when we get lost\u2026 and the truth is\u2026 we are\u2026 ] in spite of what the world sometimes says\u2026 we know that deep in our souls\u2026 but we are like sheep\u2026 and sheep are wanderers by nature\u2026 they’re curious\u2026 that’s why they get lost and why shepherds need to go find them\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And one of the ways we get lost\u2026 is when we pay more attention to voices other than the still small voice of God within us\u2026 when we believe judgment more than we believe forgiveness\u2026 when we believe the voices of the world which yell curses\u2026 more than that we are God’s beloved in whom God is well pleased… <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And although we generally dislike the idea of having a shepherd looking over our shoulder\u2026 no matter how grown up we think we are\u2026 we continue to need God’s guidance\u2026 no matter how much we like our independence\u2026 we can’t do it alone\u2026 that’s why we have community\u2026 ] but we do have free will\u2026 and sheep do not\u2026 we have the blessing and the challenge of free will\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost twenty years ago\u2026 when I was taking Education for Ministry\u2026 an idea came to me\u2026 it may sound a bit radical\u2026 but it’s based on the Hebrew name Emmanuel\u2026 God with us\u2026 and I call the idea Spiritual Anarchy\u2026 it means that deep within us\u2026 we already know what we need for healing and wholeness\u2026 that we already have some sense of God’s truth for our lives\u2026 but sometimes it can take YEARS for us to name what we need\u2026 and then maybe even longer to speak it out\u2026 even if our voice shakes\u2026 but once we name it\u2026 and once we speak it out\u2026 there are others who have walked that road and who can be supportive\u2026 or help us heal\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I call it Spiritual Anarchy\u2026 because within different religious frameworks\u2026 it can look like we’re going against the flow\u2026 against the grain\u2026 it can look like we’re wandering off\u2026 and the people in our lives\u2026 and the institutions to which we belong\u2026 may not trust that we know what’s best for us\u2026 and it’s true\u2026 we may get lost\u2026 we may make mistakes\u2026 but Jesus will guide us back\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And part of where the idea came from\u2026 was that when I decided to join the Episcopal Church\u2026 it was because I learned about Richard Hooker’s three-legged stool\u2026 which represents scripture\u2026 tradition\u2026 and reason\u2026 and all three provide the stability from which we can navigate our journey on The Way\u2026 and the leg of the stool which represents reason is another way of saying that the church doesn’t expect us to check our brains at the door\u2026 but trusts us enough to puzzle through our way toward God…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus first states the obvious\u2026 the shepherd enters the sheepfold through the gate\u2026 and the sheep know his voice and will follow him\u2026 and then\u2026 in one of his “I am” statements\u2026 Jesus reveals himself as the gate\u2026 as the opening through which we must pass on our way to God\u2026 when he does this\u2026 he says that one’s place in the sheepfold and as a member of the flock\u2026 is determined by one’s relationship to Jesus as the gate\u2026 because it’s through this gate\u2026 through Jesus’ way of being\u2026 that we are given salvation and abundant life\u2026 and Jesus may be the gate through which we need to pass\u2026 but he’s all about welcoming everyone\u2026 not keeping anyone out\u2026 ] and Jesus’ use of pastoral imagery here\u2026 is based in Ezekiel 34\u2026 where the kings of Israel were the bad shepherds who endangered and exploited the flock\u2026 and where God is the good shepherd who rescues the sheep and places them in the care of God’s servant David\u2026 under the care of a restored monarchy\u2026 a restored monarchy which finds its fullest expression in Jesus\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Pharisees didn’t quite get it\u2026 they thought of themselves as the shepherds\u2026 even though they just drove out the man whose sight was restored by Jesus\u2026 they demonstrated that they didn’t have the flock’s best interest at heart\u2026 but it was Jesus\u2026 whose healing of the blind man showed him to be the shepherd\u2026 who comes to the flock\u2026 and to whom the sheep respond\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Jesus is concerned\u2026 even at night\u2026 even when we’re in the safety of the sheepfold\u2026 in a place of sanctuary and rest\u2026 there is potential danger\u2026 thieves may break in and steal\u2026 may destroy and kill\u2026 may whisper that our Easter hope is misguided\u2026 that we’re following blindly\u2026 that death will have the final word\u2026 some thieves just stand outside the sheepfold and tell us that our shelter is a prison and that we\u2019d be better off leaving our false sense of security behind\u2026 that there must be an easier path to transcendence\u2026 without all the work and bother and uncertainty of transformation\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rev. Cole Gruberth wrote… In the end\u2026 our only wisdom is to know our shepherd\u2019s voice. Our one skill as sheep is to listen\u2026 to listen from the deep place in which we recognize that Jesus doesn\u2019t call us to become something different\u2026 but calls us to grow into who we truly are\u2026 and whose we truly are<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So let’s listen more closely to our shepherd\u2026 who calls us by name\u2026 and trust our gut\u2026 to know that although we’re members of one body each one of us is also unique\u2026 to know that we’re invited through the gate into holy relationship and communion\u2026 and to know the voice we hear in this fragile world in which we live\u2026 and know it so well\u2026 that when we hear it\u2026 we immediately turn our heads\u2026 and our hearts\u2026 in its direction\u2026 and let ourselves be found\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Acts 2:42-47 Psalm 23 1 Peter 2:19-25 John 10:1-10 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something\u2026 for example\u2026 someone who allows or denies access to an ancient city\u2026 or a bouncer at a nightclub\u2026 or more abstractly\u2026 some who controls access to a category\u2026 like whether or not you’re a member\u2026 gatekeepers determine who’s in\u2026 and who’s out\u2026 and there are gatekeepers at places like Children’s Hospital\u2026 sometimes called Security\u2026 there are TSA gates at the airport before you get to your gate\u2026 there’s the Gateway to the West in St. Louis\u2026 there are horses lining up at the gate\u2026 in many ways our elected officials are gateways to the federal government\u2026 in many denominations\u2026 in many parishes\u2026 baptism is the gate though which we must pass in order to get to another kind of gate\u2026 the altar rail\u2026 and Jesus is the gate to the Father\u2026 to the Kingdom of God\u2026 and to eternal and abundant life\u2026 and calling someone by name is a gateway to relationship\u2026 I think I’ve told the story before\u2026 about how when my former wife was pregnant\u2026 I spoke to our daughter\u2026 called her by name\u2026 told her stories\u2026 played music for her\u2026 told her that she was already our beloved\u2026 in a small way\u2026 I had called my own\u2026 and within minutes of her birth\u2026 the very first time she heard me speak\u2026 she immediately turned her head in the direction of my voice\u2026 she knew it’s sound\u2026 Today’s Gospel makes us yearn to hear God’s voice in this way too\u2026 we want God to speak directly to us\u2026 for God’s face to be close to ours\u2026 we want God to speak to us from a burning bush\u2026 we want God to speak to us from the clouds\u2026 even though some will say it was just thunder\u2026 we want our eardrums to vibrate with the melody of God’s love song\u2026 and we want God’s ear to be close to our mouths\u2026 we want to be the beloved sheep\u2026 the one God will come looking for when we get lost\u2026 and the truth is\u2026 we are\u2026 ] in spite of what the world sometimes says\u2026 we know that deep in our souls\u2026 but we are like sheep\u2026 and sheep are wanderers by nature\u2026 they’re curious\u2026 that’s why they get lost and why shepherds need to go find them\u2026 And one of the ways we get lost\u2026 is when we pay more attention to voices other than the still small voice of God within us\u2026 when we believe judgment more than we believe forgiveness\u2026 when we believe the voices of the world which yell curses\u2026 more than that we are God’s beloved in whom God is well pleased… And although we generally dislike the idea of having a shepherd looking over our shoulder\u2026 no matter how grown up we think we are\u2026 we continue to need God’s guidance\u2026 no matter how much we like our independence\u2026 we can’t do it alone\u2026 that’s why we have community\u2026 ] but we do have free will\u2026 and sheep do not\u2026 we have the blessing and the challenge of free will\u2026 Almost twenty years ago\u2026 when I was taking Education for Ministry\u2026 an idea came to me\u2026 it may sound a bit radical\u2026 but it’s based on the Hebrew name Emmanuel\u2026 God with us\u2026 and I call the idea Spiritual Anarchy\u2026 it means that deep within us\u2026 we already know what we need for healing and wholeness\u2026 that we already have some sense of God’s truth for our lives\u2026 but sometimes it can take YEARS for us to name what we need\u2026 and then maybe even longer to speak it out\u2026 even if our voice shakes\u2026 but once we name it\u2026 and once we speak it out\u2026 there are others who have walked that road and who can be supportive\u2026 or help us heal\u2026 I call it Spiritual Anarchy\u2026 because within different religious frameworks\u2026 it can look like we’re going against the flow\u2026 against the grain\u2026 it can look like we’re wandering off\u2026 and the people in our lives\u2026 and the institutions to which we belong\u2026 may not trust that we know what’s best for us\u2026 and it’s true\u2026 we may get lost\u2026 we may make mistakes\u2026 but Jesus will guide us back\u2026 And part of where the idea came from\u2026 was that when I decided to join the Episcopal Church\u2026 it was because I learned about Richard Hooker’s three-legged stool\u2026 which represents scripture\u2026 tradition\u2026 and reason\u2026 and all three provide the stability from which we can navigate our journey on The Way\u2026 and the leg of the stool which represents reason is another way of saying that the church doesn’t expect us to check our brains at the door\u2026 but trusts us enough to puzzle through our way toward God… In today’s Gospel\u2026 Jesus first states the obvious\u2026 the shepherd enters the sheepfold through the gate\u2026 and the sheep know his voice and will follow him\u2026 and then\u2026 in one of his “I am” statements\u2026 Jesus reveals himself as the gate\u2026 as the opening through which we must pass on our way to God\u2026 when he does this\u2026 he says that one’s place in the sheepfold and as a member of the flock\u2026 is determined by one’s relationship to Jesus as the gate\u2026 because it’s through this gate\u2026 through Jesus’ way of being\u2026 that we are given salvation and abundant life\u2026 and Jesus may be the gate through which we need to pass\u2026 but he’s all about welcoming everyone\u2026 not keeping anyone out\u2026 ] and Jesus’ use of pastoral imagery here\u2026 is based in Ezekiel 34\u2026 where the kings of Israel were the bad shepherds who endangered and exploited the flock\u2026 and where God is the good shepherd who rescues the sheep and places them in the care of God’s servant David\u2026 under the care of a restored monarchy\u2026 a restored monarchy which finds its fullest 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