Sunday, September 11, 2016

Sermon; 17 Pentecost, Proper 19C; Luke 15:1-10

Today isn't so much a sermon as it is a reflection.  Or maybe it is a sermon; I’ll let you decide.

For almost everyone here today this will be, hopefully, something new.  For a select few, this will all sound vaguely, or maybe very, familiar.  For those select few, all I can say is, “Yes, you have heard this before.”

Six years ago on this very Sunday I preached on this very gospel.  The situations between that day and today are eerily similar.  On that day in a small Montana parish, I was looking into the face of my future.  On that day my small Montana parish was being visited by four people from what would become my new parish.  That decision was still several weeks away, but we had a sense that both the end and beginning were near.

In that sermon I compared the two parishes, Christ Church and St. Luke's, to the sheep in today's parable.  In one sense, Christ Church represented the 99 sheep who had a shepherd that was about to leave them to go help the lone sheep that was represented by St. Luke's.  In another sense, St. Luke's represented the 99 sheep who were patiently waiting for the return of the shepherd.  And now, six years later on this very same Sunday, I find myself preaching a very similar sermon.  How's that for coming full circle?

Right now you are the 99 sheep.  Right now some of you are feeling like your shepherd has left you alone in the wilderness to fend for yourselves.  And that's not wrong or bad, it just is.

St. Luke's is entering a wilderness period.  One way to look at the wilderness is as a wild and untamed country.  A place full of lions, tigers, and bears.  Or a place full of spiders, snakes, and pestilence.  A place where you realize that really, when you get right down to it, we are not at the top of the food chain.  And if you are not prepared to wander through the wilderness, if you don't have the right equipment or the right skills, the wilderness is a scary place to be.

But being in the wilderness can have another connotation.  Ishmael, son of Abraham by Hagar, lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow.  The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before coming into the Promised Land.  Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness before beginning his ministry.  In these examples, the time in the wilderness wasn't about lions, tigers, bears, spiders, and snakes, although there was probably some of that.  What these wilderness experiences were about was learning who they were.

Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, scorned by Sarah, banished from the family by his father, lived in the wilderness.  It was in the wilderness that he learned to use the bow.  It was in the wilderness that he learned he could survive without his father's help.  It was in the wilderness where he learned to be his own person.

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  It was in the wilderness where they learned to escape from the bondage of slavery.  It was in the wilderness where they learned to be free.  It was in the wilderness where they learned who they were as an independent nation.

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness.  It was in the wilderness where he clarified his call.  It was in the wilderness where he learned how he could best live into that call.  It was in the wilderness where he came to terms with being fully human and fully divine.

The wilderness isn't solely a place of trials and temptations, a place of loneliness and doubt.  Those can be elements of the wilderness, but they aren't the entirety of it.  The wilderness is also a place of learning.

Ishmael learned to use a bow.  Israel learned what it meant to be free.  Jesus learned what it was to be God's only begotten Son.  St. Luke's is entering a wilderness period.  What will you learn?

How did St. Luke's get here?
What is the most important thing about St. Luke's?
What is our vision for the future?
Who do we want to become?
Who are we now?

These and many more questions are needing to be asked about the past, present, and future.  And hopefully the questions asked will generate answers that cause you to learn about yourself and St. Luke's.

The shepherd is leaving you 99 in the wilderness.  That's not necessarily a bad thing.  But before you go wandering off, or before you get all panicky about lions, tigers, bears, spiders, and snakes, spend some time in wilderness learning.

Because what you learn in the wilderness will shape how you live on the other side.

Amen.

1 comments:

spookyrach | 4:45 PM, September 12, 2016  

Best of luck to you and the 99 through the change.

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