Jesus said, "I am the gate for the sheep. ... I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:7,10)
Through Jesus, God invites us to enter into his spiritual temple and to join "with angels and archangels and all the choirs of heaven" to offer worship at God's heavenly throne.
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Sanzio, Raffaello - Disputa del Sacramento - 1508-1511 |
Hymn - StF 1 - All People that on Earth Do Dwell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC5FfEavPM4 (this version is not exactly the same as the hymnbook version)
or
1 All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell,
come ye before him, and rejoice.
2 The Lord, ye know, is God indeed;
without our aid he did us make;
we are his folk, he doth us feed,
and for his sheep he doth us take.
3 O enter then his gates with praise,
approach with joy his courts unto;
praise, laud, and bless his name always,
for it is seemly so to do.
4 For why? the Lord our God is good;
his mercy is for ever sure;
his truth at all times firmly stood,
and shall from age to age endure.
5 To Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
the God whom heaven and earth adore,
from men and from the angel-host
be praise and glory evermore.
William Kethe, (fl 1559-died 1594)
Prayer of Approach
Heavenly Father,
We have heard your invitation
And we come to worship.
Jesus Christ our Lord,
You have opened the gate to allow us to enter
And we come to worship.
Holy Spirit,
You lift our hearts into the heavenly places
So we join with the worship of saints and angels. Amen
Prayer of Confession
In a few moments of silence, bring before God the things for which you need forgiveness.
You may wish to use this prayer of general confession
Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbours,
in thought and word and deed,
through negligence, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us,
forgive us all that is past;
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life
to the glory of your name. Amen
(David Adam, The Rhythm of Life - [London: SPCK 1996] p.140)
'I am making all things new,' says the Lord.
This is Christ's gracious word:
'Your sins are forgiven.'
Amen, Thanks be to God.
(Declaration of forgiveness - taken from Advent service in MWB p118)
Hymn - today's Psalm is Psalm 23 so you may choose to sing one or both of the hymns below:
(Traditional) - StF 480 - The Lord's My Shepherd (Metrical) - https://youtu.be/uUh5bjQj3VE - (tune only)
he makes me down to lie
in pastures green; he leadeth me
the quiet waters by.
2 My soul he doth restore again,
and me to walk doth make
within the paths of righteousness,
e'en for his own name's sake.
3 Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale,
yet will I fear no ill;
for thou art with me, and thy rod
and staff me comfort still.
4 My table thou hast furnishèd
in presence of my foes;
my head thou dost with oil anoint,
and my cup overflows.
5 Goodness and mercy all my life
shall surely follow me;
and in God's house for evermore
my dwelling-place shall be.
Francis Rous (1579-1659), William Whittingham (1524-1579), Scottish Psalter (1650)
CM
(Modern) - StF 481 - The Lord's My Shepherd (Townend) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSlfFUwmyFc
Lyrics only available on print versions for copyright purposes.
Engaging with Scripture
Reading: John 10:1-11 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
The good shepherd and his sheep
‘Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognise a stranger’s voice.’ Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.
Therefore Jesus said again, ‘Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflection
Introduction
Have you ever received a fake email or
telephone call? (If you have and the scammer was successful in stealing
from you, then I you may wish to skip this introduction)
If you have, what was it that made it
dangerous? Was it the message? Or the appearance?
What was it that alerted you to the
fact that all was not well?
I sometimes receive emails claiming to
be from people that I know, they often contain a message that said person is in
some kind of trouble and ask me to ring them or get in touch. I have
become accustomed now to the fact that these emails are rarely from the person
they claim has written them. When I first received one, there were a
number of things that made me suspicious, not least that the tone and content
of the email was unlike anything I had received from that person before.
You might say that I did not recognise the 'voice.'
Our passage, today, is part of a longer episode which begins
at the first verse of chapter 9 and ends at verse 21 of chapter 10. The
fuller passage deals with the healing of the man born blind, the reaction of
the religious authorities and Jesus' response to their insulting and
exclusionary behaviour towards the man whose sight has been restored.
Just as last week, it seems reasonable to suggest that sight in this story
refers both to the physical sight of the man but also to the ability of people
to see and discern the true nature of Jesus.
It is the Pharisees who pursue the
discussion with Jesus, hence it is they who are the subject to his comments in
this passage.
What we are hearing, in the opening
verses, is Jesus' reaction to the action of the religious authorities at the
end of the previous chapter. In John 9:28 they are described as hurling
insults at him and the whole sorry story of their inability to recognise God's
work concludes with John's summary in 9:34, "they threw him
out." Whilst Jesus may not find their reaction surprising, he is
appalled and reacts by telling the parable of the Shepherd in which he vividly
exposes the false nature of their supposed spiritual leadership. Their manner and their tone give away that
they do not truly care for those for whom they are responsible.
In contrast to their high-handed and
domineering style of leadership, Jesus offers the picture of the
Shepherd-leader. The lectionary stops at verse 10, but I have included
verse 11 to show that Jesus applies this picture to himself. So whilst
this passage may have some interesting things to say to us about leadership in
the church, it also points us to Jesus, to whom, ultimately, we should all look
for leadership.
We notice that the Shepherd-leader
comes to us in gentle and appropriate ways. He enters by the gate and not
by some other convenient way, that is, he doesn’t climb over the fence because
walking round to the gate is too much effort! If we imagine a large sheep
enclosure, the perimeter fence may cover a lot of ground and it may be a fair
walk around the boundary to the gate. Sometimes it may be tempting to
rush in trying to correct everything we perceive to be wrong. The danger is, that when we do this, we just
add to the distress and anxiety of those to whom we are seeking to offer
care.
The Good Shepherd is in no hurry.
He knows the things that are helpful for us; he also knows what is likely to
cause us to panic or become distressed.
As a Good Shepherd, Jesus would rather come to us in ways that we
recognise so as to avoid adding to the sense of uncertainty or insecurity.
In times of upheaval it is, possibly, even more tempting to rush in to try to
solve everyone’s problems. It is
certainly, more important than normal, that we carefully measure the voices we
hear in order to try to pick out the Good Shepherd’s voice.
What can we do to ensure that we are remaining
alert to hear our Shepherd’s voice?
One way that we can ‘tune-in’ to the
voice of Jesus is through our regular reading and meditation on the Bible. Some of us may have regular aids we use to
support our Bible Reading, (and we may even be good at using them regularly!) If you have never used such materials, it may
no be easy to find out which are suitable at the moment, but one way we can
become familiar with the ‘voice’ of Jesus is to read one of the Gospels. Perhaps this is a good time, to decide to
read through your favourite Gospel (if you have one!) a short passage at a time
and to spend time thinking it over to hear what Jesus might be saying to you at
this moment in time.
Even though these times are taking us all
into unknown territory, Jesus, the Good Shepherd remains constant. He
does not meet such times by suddenly changing the tone of the things that He is
saying to us. If he have been alarmed and
feel harassed by siren-voices claiming to speak on behalf of God then perhaps
it is worth reminding ourselves of the foundational truths that underpin our
faith. These are the things that Jesus
still whispers to us. Jesus told the
crowds in his time and it is still true today that God loves the world, it is
still true that Jesus was sent as the ultimate demonstration of that love and
it is still true that Jesus came to save the world and not condemn the world
(see John 3:16-17). The Shepherd still cares for the sheep and still
wants them to know that they are safe under his protection.
The Shepherd-leader continues to call
the sheep by name and invites us to follow him as he leads them us to find the good
pasture of those things that nourish our soul and cause us to flourish.
Even though we are required to live differently at this time, Jesus still calls
us to follow him; he still wants us to flourish.
Some of us are, I suspect, finding it
easier than others to work out what it means to follow Jesus at this
time. Perhaps, it is enough, for now, for our discipleship to consist of
wanting to be close enough to the Shepherd to be able to hear his voice.
Close enough to know that he will not abandon us to the wolves or leave us
exposed in the wilderness places. The
effort of just following along in the path he is leading may be enough for
now! And we need to kindly remind ourselves
that this kind of following, is just as valid as the service we have been used
to giving in the church and the community. In our covenant prayer, we
offer ourselves to God accepting that we may be
“employed
for you,or laid aside for you,” (Covenant Prayer)
Doing our best to remain faithful in our
spiritual disciplines is a way that we can continue to follow close behind
Jesus along unknown paths and in difficult circumstances.
Perhaps it is more important than ever
that we familiarise ourselves with the ways of God as written in Scripture so
that we are better equipped to know the true Shepherd's voice from those false-shepherds. This will equip us to be able to point others
to the Shepherd who would invite them to follow him too.
Perhaps it is more important than ever
that we set aside time to talk with and listen to the Shepherd in prayer -
perhaps using familiar resources of music and word to guide us as we pray. Jesus says that a Good shepherd enables the
sheep to “come in and go out and find pasture;” our physical movement may be
limited, but in our spirits we are still free to enter Jesus’ presence and feed
on God’s faithfulness.
It is certainly more important than
ever that we allow the Lord to be our Shepherd, and whether our path be through
green pasture or shadowy valley to trust that His goodness and mercy will
continue to accompany us all our journey through.
And now, in the words of the writer of
the letter to the Hebrews: (Hebrews 13:20-21)
20 ... may the God of peace, who through the blood
of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great
Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will,
and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be
glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
Blessed are you, Lord our God,
for in your Son Jesus Christ
you have triumphed over darkness and death
and opened to us the way to eternal life.
Through Christ our Saviour
you have given us new hope and joy.
As we rejoice in his presence
may we give glory to you.
Blessed are you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We give thanks for Jesus the Good Shepherd
and we pray for all who are called to share in his ministry as shepherds
and guides to your flock.
We pray for all who watch over your people to care for their needs of body, soul and spirit,
for presbyters, deacons and paid and voluntary layworkers who undertake pastoral care
for local preachers and leaders of worship
for stewards in the local church and circuit.
We ask your blessing upon all who are involved in caring for your people
and those who seek out the lost and the straying.
Hear us and help us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Loving God, we pray for all who express your love
in the way they care for others.
We pray for all who are striving for justice and the relief of poverty.
We remember all who are working in social care, medical professions
and those who good neighbours working in shops, schools, care homes and other places where people need to be looked after.
We ask your blessing upon all who feel at the mercy of circumstance
and who are unable to manage on their own.
Hear us and help us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Lord, bless our homes and our loved ones.
May we show respect and care for the world around us
and not be caught up with selfishness and greed.
Help us through our love for each other
to reveal your love for the world.
Hear us and help us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We give thanks that through Jesus
we can walk with confidence and hope.
We ask your blessing upon all who struggle
in darkness and fear,
all who feel lost
and those who are captives to addiction and destructive behaviours.
We remember friends and loved one who are ill
and all the struggling people of our world.
Hear us and help us,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Good shepherd, you came that we might have life,
in this time when our attention is on the consequences of the deadly effects of coronavirus
we pray for all who are mourning their loved ones.
To you and your unfailing love,
we commit ourselves and the whole world
in time and for eternity,
through Christ Jesus our ever living Lord. Amen
adapted from David Adam, Searchlights - Prayers of Intercession for Year A - (Stowmarket: Kevin Mayhew Ltd, 2007) page 62
Good Shepherd watching o’er your flock
Whilst we endure the night
of unseen threat and countless death
please put our fears to flight.
Your flock is shaken by the need,
to wait and stay at home,
we sing our hymns, we make our prayers
we trust we’re not alone.
Strong shepherd still our strength and
shield,
when it is hard to cope.
Send forth your spirit to our hearts,
and be our source of hope.
Good Shepherd you are not asleep
whilst chaos stalks the earth
You’re watching still with loving care,
we know our prayer is heard.
All glory be to God on high,
and to the earth be peace!
Goodwill renewed from highest heaven
shall never never cease
Tune – Winchester Old
© Dalwyn R Attwell – 2020 (inspired by “While Shepherds Watched” final
verse based on Nahum Tate’s final verse)
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