The Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
Christmas morning I was awakened at 3:45. Not by my kids, they’ve all moved out. Not by Raylene, no way she was awake at that time. Not by the sound of eight tiny reindeer prancing on the roof of my house. Not by the excitement of opening Christmas presents (although that IS great fun). And it wasn’t by visions of sugar plums, whatever they are.
I was awakened by the hand of God softly rapping upon the window of my soul. When I was fully awake, He whispered in my ear. “Get up and write a sermon”. So here I am.
Now what could be so important that God should be tap, tap, tapping; ever so gently with those heavenly knuckles? He is reminding about the shepherds. He reminded me about the shepherds that played such a powerful role during the most important night of our history. It was the night that was also the most important night of our future. It was the night that our Christ was born.
You’ve heard the verses many times (and just recently too); but, hear them again: (Luke 2:8-20)
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."
So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
Of these shepherds, William Barclay, in his commentary on the book of Luke, has this to say:
“ … these men were in all likelihood very special shepherds. … An unblemished lamb was offered as a sacrifice to God. To see that the supply of perfect offerings was always available, the temple authorities had their own private sheep flocks; and we know that these flocks were pastured near Bethlehem. It is most likely that these shepherds were in charge of the flocks from which the Temple offerings were chosen. It is a lovely thought that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Imagine what that must have been like for those shepherds. Awestruck by the presence of a heavenly being and compelled to believe the words of this angel, they trekked to find the manger and the child just as they had been told. Then they were compelled to glorify and praise God for the truth that had been revealed to them.
Do you suppose that was the end of it for those shepherds? They saw the miracle, they praised God, and then they just returned to their flocks; picked up their staffs and continued watching for wolves and leading their sheep to pasture and water. The miracle couldn’t end like that, could it? These shepherds were chosen by God to be the first witnesses to the miracle of Christ! I can not help but believe that these shepherds of sheep became shepherds of men and women following such a revelation. They surely told all that would listen about their experience on that night. Surely they each helped to guide many of God’s flock into God’s protective green pastures and the still waters of His grace.
How about you? You’ve heard the Good News. You’ve witnessed the miracle. You may not have been approached directly by angels (that you recognized). But God’s Word has been delivered to you. You have been told about the birth of the Messiah. You have been told much, much more than those first shepherds. You know the whole story. You have been told about the birth, the life, the death and especially the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. You have received His commandment. Our great Shepherd has commanded us to love our God and love our neighbors. You have come to know much more than those early shepherds. Have you accepted it? Have you taken seriously the responsibilities that God has made evident to us through the sacrifice of His Son? Have you?
Your responsibility is to carry on the miracle. Your responsibility is to make sure that the miracle is not forgotten and to take the commandment of Jesus seriously. That doesn’t mean that you come to His church on Sunday morning, hear the message of the angel, then just go back to your lives and jobs on Monday and wander the hills as you did before. No, you can’t do that. It is your responsibility to change the world. Change the world for the better; even if it is just a little bit. Yes, I know. It is a heavy responsibility, but God is with you and when God is with you the burden is made lighter. As God says in Jeremiah 23:3-4:
Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, says the LORD.
So … how can you change the world? Well, let’s start a little smaller than the whole wide world. Let’s start right here in this congregation. Then we can grow as we learn. Let us learn to become shepherds that have heard the angel’s words. Our congregation is basically a friendly one but it could use some improvements. We have a core group of folks that stay in fairly close contact with each other, but we need to reach out to EVERYONE in the congregation AND to visitors. We need to make our neighbors more comfortable with the flock of Jesus. We need to help each other enjoy the clear, clean Water of Life and help ensure that as many as possible enjoy grazing in the green pastures of eternity.
While chairing the Membership and Evangelism Committee I came to realize that we have not done a very good job keeping in touch with members, new and old. We have lost track of many and they have left the flock for various reasons. Most of last year, the Membership and Evangelism Committee hashed and rehashed a list of names of members that we’ve lost track of. With a literal and lawyerlike approach we studied the United Methodist Book of Discipline and attempted to decipher the correct way to remove members from our roles. We honestly believed that this was a responsibility of this committee as defined in the bylaws. And it is. It is, as Pastor Lennie points out, if you read the Book of Discipline literally.
This final list of candidates for removal was presented at our church’s charge conference last month for approval. The Five Rivers District Superintendent, Rev. Ron King, and Pastor Lennie were there and they, as well as the rest of us, followed the rules in presenting the list and opening up the time required for discussion prior to the vote. It became evident during the discussion that the two pastors did not agree with the committee. They felt that we had not gone far enough in our attempts to locate these lost sheep and to lead them back into our fold. They didn’t say it, but it became evident to me that I had approached my perceived responsibility like a job and not like a mission. I followed the literal rules of the book but I did not read between the lines and follow the real intent. We discussed the whole issue for quite a while and it finally came down to a vote. Twenty one of us voted on whether or not the church was going to drop the folks on this list from membership. The vote was close. 10 yeas, 11 nays. We will NOT drop anyone from our roles.
Have we become like the Israel that Ezekiel spoke of in chapter 34 verses 1 through 6. READ EZEKIAL 34: 1 – 6.
We need to strengthen our resolve and we need to increase our efforts to make contact with our lost sheep. And we need to change our ways so that our wandering sheep don’t get so far away from the fold before we realize it and they become so difficult to find.
To help in this effort, we are establishing a Lay Shepherd Team (I like to call it the Shepherd’s Staff). This will be a group of volunteers who truly take their responsibility seriously. Every adult and child of this congregation, members and visitors alike, will be assigned to a Shepherd. The Shepherds will reach out to gently touch the members of their assigned flock on a regular basis. This is intended to bring folks closer together, to minister to each other’s needs and to monitor the pulse of the congregation and determine the needs of the flock. This effort will admittedly be a challenge. Most folks are not really comfortable contacting or being contacted to discuss the comings and goings of their lives. But we need to get past this. We need to realize that we are all children of our God and we need to work together to make each of our lives more meaningful to God and each other.
All of the details governing the Shepherd’s Staff and how we will operate have not been worked out yet. That will be part of the job of the bold volunteers who step forward to take on this task. Several folks have already volunteered to watch over a flock; but we need many more. Have you heard the angel? Have you seen the Christ Child? Will you try to follow our Lord’s commandment and truly love each other? Or will you just go back out into the pasture and back to your old comfortable ways? Are you willing to expand beyond your comfort zone and take a chance? Be a friend? Be a loving neighbor? Be servants to each other? Volunteer to be a shepherd?
I’m going to take a big chance now and I want you to do the same. I’m going to ask you to make a commitment. Right here, right now. As we sing “The Servant Song”, printed in your bulletin, listen closely to the words; listen to God speaking to your heart. God is calling you to help His church in watching over His sheep. Are you willing to make a few phone calls each month, lend a helping hand, be a shoulder to cry on, tell someone about the miracle in the manger? Please come forward and help our Shepherd’s Staff serve our congregation. I’m asking those who feel the call to be a shepherd of men, women, and children to come forward today and take a seat in this front pew. It may be very difficult for you to do, but nothing worthwhile ever came easy. Just take that first step and God will help you along the rest of the way. And as the risen Jesus told Peter:
“Do you love me? … Feed my lambs.”
“Do you love me? … Tend my sheep.”
“Do you love me? … Feed my sheep.”
As we sing “The Servant Song”, please come.
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<<<<< Note: Sixteen (16) ladies and gentlemen came forward and volunteered to be a part of the "Shepherd's Staff"!!! They were then presented to the congregation >>>
If you didn’t come forward this morning and later on decide that you would like to participate as a shepherd, just give me a call. Now, these brave folks have come forward today in answer to God’s call and one of them will be calling on you … just as a friend, just as a neighbor. It may be tough for them to get started so please be a friend in return and just support each other.
As your Shepherds return to their seats, let us pray:
Oh Great Heavenly Shepherd, we thank you for the undying love that you have shown us. We thank you for the green pastures and the still waters that you have provided for us. Father, we truly want to take seriously the responsibilities to each other that you have placed upon us. We want to help each other through the dips and valleys of our troubled lives. But, being the mortals that we are, Lord, we need help. We need your strength and we need your wisdom to help us help each other. Please, God, lead us in the paths of righteousness so that your goodness and mercy shall be upon us all the days of our lives. AMEN