Sermon -- Sunday, May 3, 2020
/John 10:1-11
By: Rev. Gene Dyszlewski
In today’s reading from John’s Gospel Jesus uses two shepherd images. These are very comforting. Jesus tells us, “I am the good shepherd” and he also uses the odd phrase, “I am the sheep gate.” The “Sheep Gate” comment is a reference to the practice of keeping the sheep in some sort of enclosure, a corral, during the night to keep them safe. The shepherd slept in the opening of the enclosure. You couldn’t get out or get in, except through the shepherd. The shepherd protected the sheep.
First century Judeans would be quite familiar with shepherding and would have an appreciation of the intimacy between shepherd and sheep. There was a profound bond of trust. The sheep would respond only to the sound of his voice and would be mistrusting of anyone else. The whole point of the shepherd metaphor is the intimacy of the relationship that the shepherd had with the sheep.
Jesus frequently taught that God is not some abstract theoretical being who is somehow out there watching us as if creation was a movie. God is intimately connected with our lives, even if we don’t notice that that is true. God is present in relationship. Jesus is telling us about a bond of trust that allows us to have a sense of God’s presence, a glimpse of the sacred. It is important to note that Jesus doesn’t ever define who or what God is. Jesus invites us to be seekers of God just as God is seekers of us.
Of course, over the years the church has managed to overemphasize the words and thoughts about God and turn them into dogma. Jesus was never that definitive. Jesus avoided putting God into any limiting concept. Jesus invites us to be seekers, not finders. The early Christians defined themselves as people of the way. If God is a substance, then finding God makes sense. Find that substantial God and you’re done. It doesn’t work that way. God is ineffable. God is beyond substance. Whatever concepts that we might associate with God we need to see as pointing to God, not defining God.
Jesus taught us that God is intimately accessible to us, if we notice. This may occur either by compassionate care of others or contemplative prayer. Through prayer and servanthood will allow you occasionally have a glimpse, a sense of God’s presence in your life but it is an experience that you find difficult putting into words, God is far too dynamic. God is found in relationship and that isn’t a closed finished system.
However, we humans just naturally are thinkers. We think about everything. We think about where we are, where we are going, what’s for dinner. In the context of church, we use words and concepts. However, in our tradition know not to confuse our words about God with God. We are not dogmatic. We use words carefully. We use words and concepts as pointers to the divine reality that is ineffably beyond words. But, sometimes we get stuck in the comfort of our own heads.
It is easy to settle in and get carried away and lost in an idea about God. It is easy to paint God as a distant benevolent power willing to be helpful when I need help but having no intimate day to day contact. With this in mind I may stop seeking and just feel happy and content that I’ve got God in my corner when I’m in need. It is sort of like having house with a wine cellar that you know is fully stocked, but you never visit. You never go down into the cellar. You’re just happy the wine is there, just in case you need it.
I don’t think that this is an all or nothing, black or white process but a grey one. I would like to explain this by way of illustration. So as a contemporary 21st century American, i find it easy to compartmentalize just about everything. So, here is a box that contains my concept of God. I could use it to help me seek God’s presence in every event in my life; or, I could just hang on to it for comfort. The box represents the language and concepts that I have learned and use in church. The challenge is not to hang on to protect it but to release.
Change happens. As everything in my life changes, I may not be in any mood to changing my concept of anything. Or, I may realize that I am ready to surrender and trust in God in a way that I cannot see or control. So, as I release my grip on the box and open it to let my concept of God into the light of day, I take notice to see if it points to God or is too solid and gets in the way of my experiencing God’s presence. I notice how difficult it is to detach and release.
Whether through action or contemplation, I can glimpse the presence of God. It is hard to sustain and I tend to go back into my usual conceptual self. But, something in me is changed each time. So, I put my concept back into the church language box and go on with my life. However, something happens the next time I pray.
I take out my God box. Since I have learned that I need not be protective, I find it easier to release and be more open hearted. The essence of contemplative prayer is release, surrender, letting go. This time I am convinced that all this conceptual stuff is just to point out the way to God, not to explain God. So, I release the shackles of my mind and let out my working concept of God and…
…here it is. It is changed. It is less solid. It is more tender, fragile and ephemeral. Of course it is changed. Any time I have glimpses of the sacred with openhearted awareness, something changes. That’s the whole point of release and trust. That’s the whole point of prayer. If I approach my concepts of God as tools, as skillful means for a seeker, not dogma for the finder, then I begin to need something less solid to hang on to.
The more time I spend detached from any external or internal dialogue but release into silence, the easier it is to glimpse the ineffable presence…that is the groundless ground of existence…that is the sacred…that is God. So, I am going to go into the cellar, and I am going bring up a bottle of cabernet.
