How's Your Life?

This is a talk given to the College Group ("Quest") at Bel Air Presbyterian Church on September 16, 2009. The text was Philippians 3:2-11.

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Philippians 3:2-11.

2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh— 4even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

What we’ve got in this passage is 8 verses of build-up to that final sentence, and I don’t want you to miss it.

10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

This is a description of life-beyond-life. Your life – death. Your former self – gone. Which raises the question: how’s your life? Not your list of accomplishments, or your goals, or your bullet points of stuff, but how’s you: how’s the who you are? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you want to know?

As we work though this scripture tonight, I want you to think about your life: where you place your confidence, what you’re working toward, and where Jesus Christ fits into that whole mix – assuming he does at all. And I’ll tell you right now: keep those Bibles out.

We’re going to talk about death tonight, but not in a physical sense. I want to talk about the things of this world that draw our life out of us – the vampire style of our world that drain us of who we’re called to be, and brings everlasting death with it every day. Leave us as zombies in this world, sort of going through the motions of our every day – adding our relationship with Jesus Christ to the long list of “to-dos” we have on our little checklist.

So really, I want to talk about life – what that really means… and what Paul calls “the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.” And those are no trivial words. And – like death - we’re starting at the end of this passage, because to appreciate where Paul is going, it’s helpful to know where he ends up.

vv.10-11
“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
What does he want to know? “Christ – and the power and the sharing” how? By becoming like him, if somehow…”

“I want to know Christ… by becoming like him”

The word there “becoming like him” literally is transformation: – the Greek is summorphidzomenos – say that five times fast – tucked in there – summorphidzomenos – is the word “morphos” – you’re literally morphed – into Christ. The contrast Paul draws here is between a life lived unto the world – unto a value drawn on your personal effort, and the value of knowing Christ completely.

Reading verse 11 in English – if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead - conjures up an image of the Haunted Mansion: weird spirit things rising up from various headstones, pushing a coffin-top back with a bony hand, and some sort of Wes Craven non-metabolizing ghoulie finding movement. It’s the zombie phrase of the New Testament. And – we don’t usually spend a lot of time on it because … it’s weird.

Paul uses this phrase in his letters to capture no fewer than 8 different ideas about the concept of resurrection. Mercifully, in 1 Corinthians he comes right out and just calls it a “mystery” but here: in Phil 3:11, the Greek phrase is ek nekron – literally “out from the dead ones.” The Greek expression is a much better mental picture than English - it’s literally “standing up from the midst of corpses.”

And this is how you know Christ? What Paul is coming up against is a reality that’s impossible to describe. Knowing Christ combines two things – the power of his resurrection and yet also the sharing of his sufferings. It’s equal parts exhilarating and exhausting, and you get there by attaining the resurrection? OH YEAH! It’s a life after death, of a type – that Paul is trying to describe. It’s identification with Christ that is so complete, so intimate, so life-changing, that words alone cannot capture the dynamic. He almost can’t do it. It is life beyond life.

It is Christ himself – the transcendent reality of it is beyond this world. And if this is the first time in a Presbyterian church you’ve heard a pastor use the word “transcendent” to describe a relationship with Jesus Christ, I hope it’s not the last.

And the question comes back – how’s your life? Are you standing up from the midst of corpses, does your life in Christ defy explanation, does it push the boundaries of the known world? Or do you feel more like you’re just one of the multiple dead things lying around?
Hold on to that – let’s go back.

Let’s jump back to verse 2.

2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh—

The fun thing about the New Testament is not so much that it was written in Greek – which it was, obviously – and that’s fun, also obviously - but that it was written by people, and these folks were primarily Jewish. They had minds that operated in Hebrew.

In the Hebrew language, there are no suffixes to add emphasis – there’s no way to say, for example, fast, faster, fastest. The adjectives don’t change – they just repeat themselves. To say, for example, “pure gold,” in Hebrew, you say gold gold. We do this in English when we’re being stupid – Sure I like her, but I don’t like her like her? If it is the ultimate in – whatever – you repeat it three times. You get triple emphasis: Holy, Holy, Holy – Lord God Almighty. Literally nothing is holier than God. He is the holiest.

Dustin Hoffman is one of my favorite actors, and one of my favorite lines is from the movie “Hook,” where he growls “Oh I hate being disappointed Smee, and I hate living in this flawed body, and I hate living in Neverland, and I hate, I hate, I HATE Peter PAN!!! Triple emphasis – twice-over. Hoffman’s Jewish – he went to Hebrew school – the Bible nerd in me wonders if it was intentional, or if it just felt right to him.

I bring it up because Greek is a language of logic; Hebrew is a language of poetry. Anytime a man who thinks in Hebrew – like Paul, for instance - is writing in Greek, and repeats an idea three times – pay attention. Paul goes through a 3-part emphasis FIVE times in this passage. He’s not doing it by accident.

2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! 3For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh—

The folks he’s talking about in verse 2 are commonly referred to as the Judaizers – basically it’s a group of people who believe Christ is the Messiah, but you still have to be fully Jewish – follow the law, become literally circumcised (a physical mark of being part of the chosen people of God) – in order to be saved. Paul spends a lot of time opposing them in Galatians, a church that was having more trouble in this area, but here – for the Philippians – he’s really just bringing them up to serve a larger point.

He calls them 1) dogs (a derogatory term that Jews use for non-Jews that Paul is co-opting to say these aren’t Christians), 2) workers for evil, 3) mutilators of the flesh – some polite translations will say “false circumcision.” There’s some Greek word-play here: the word Paul uses – rather than being peritomei, circumcision – is katatomei, or concision: dividers. Dogs; evil-workers; dividers: Bad, bad, bad.

So - no, Paul says - WE are the peritomei – the circumcision – WE are the chosen people of God, not them. First, we worship in the Spirit of God. We boast in Jesus Christ (you’re either boasting in yourself or in Christ), and 3) we’re not seeking a reason for our salvation in the flesh. We’re different, Different, DIFFERENT

Then Paul kind of steps to the side here, saying "4even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh." Like – look, if you’re glorying in the flesh, I get it: I’ve been there.

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Now – I’ll drop that question again. How’s your life?

We live in a high-achiever culture. We make resumes, we apply to schools, we pile up achievements, we have trophies – it’s like our life is a big game and we keep an eye trained on the scoreboard.

What’s the second question you ask someone – after you find out their name? Where are you from, where do you go to school, what are you studying, what do you do? Please categorize yourself for me.

How fully are you invested in the achievements of this world that being like Christ – having a “new life in Christ” is just one more? WWJD? No – not at all. That’s not it at all!!

If anyone knew about a life of achievements, obviously it was Paul. Look at this list: orthodox circumcision (it’s the mark of Abraham and Isaac), of the chosen people of Israel, and a Benjamite – Benjamin was the only patriarch born in the holy land, it’s the most elite of the tribes of Israel: the Shekinah – the divine Glory of God was believed to dwell in the tribe of Benjamin, and it was the tribe of the first King. Paul is a Hebrew; born of Hebrews – not a Greek-speaking Jew who knows a bit of Hebrew, no – linguistically, culturally he’s one of them. He’s a Pharisee – a master of the law trained by the Rabbi Gamaliel – the greatest Hebrew scholar of the day. And was he passionate? He was present at the stoning of Stephen – the first Christian martyr, and as for keeping the law – blameless. He had it down pat.

The triple-emphasis is here twice, and parallels verse 2: Paul was circumcised, of the chosen people, of the divine tribe. jewish, Jewish, JEWISH. And here are the parallels: he was a Pharisee of the law – obedient as a dog; a persecutor of the church – working in evil; blameless in righteousness – tore himself to shreds keeping the law.
Paul. Was. The Man.

You see what he’s built up here – three levels of triple emphasis, starting with what to beware, and using examples from his own life to point out his status as an individual, and the success of his achievements. Here’s who we oppose; here’s who I am; here’s what I’ve done. I have every reason to be confident in the flesh, three times over – every single one. I could be the king of all Judaizers.

YET.

The fun thing about Greek is that they have prepositions that bring logical flow to a screeching halt. Our words in English – yet, but, although, however… all kind of have a conjunctive – connective – property… the ideas sort of keep on going. Not in Greek. The word here is al-LA - yet. Usually the word for but, for, yet is de in Greek, which is a soft way of transitioning to the next thought. You’ll get that word in verse 13 to say “not that I have already obtained it, but I press on etc…”

Here Paul is building this house: Beware the dogs, the evil workers, the flesh mutilators, and I get it – I’m orthodox, of Israel, of Benjamin; a Pharisee, a zealot, blameless!

And then al-LA – Stop. Yet! HOLD ON!! It’s like the end of a cheap rollercoaster at a second-rate carnival. He pulls the E-brake, everything in the car goes flying into the foot wells, you come to a stop – just as you’ve arrived at the pinnacle!

God did something in Paul’s life and grabbed him.

Let me very clear on this point: Paul is not saying that he tried to get to God through the law and failed, far from it. Paul did the law – he DID IT. He was blameless – he had no reason to turn his back on it. It was done.

BUT! God has shown forth his righteousness in Christ and laid hold of Paul through that – which far surpasses the righteousness through the law that Paul achieved. THAT’s the problem now – everything he did before has to stand in contrast to Christ. In that light - what he realizes about all that stuff – his life, his achievements – is that it’s trash.

vv.7-8
7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

These are accounting terms – he’s adding stuff up that was an asset in his account before, and he’s taking another look:
1) All those things that were gains before – are now losses.
2) More than that – the second layer – everything (not just the gains) is considered a loss in view of knowing Christ.
3) But wait – there’s more! Not only are his gains a loss, not only is everything else viewed as a loss in light of Christ – but FOR HIS SAKE - in the transcendence of identification with Christ – everything else is sewage.

Verse 8 is huge here.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

The word here translated rubbish is “skubala,” and it is used once in the entire Bible: right here. The only place we see this word pop up in Greek texts of the period is to describe excrement, refuse, the most offensive crap of the ancient world. There are other words for “rubbish” if rubbish is what you’re trying to say; skubula... means... “excrement.”

The three sentences from 7-8 layer up, expanding to every part of Paul’s life. His achievements are a loss; everything is a loss; for the sake of Christ everything of the world has been metabolized by the cosmic digestive tract and is discarded like the most common scat – not good enough to fertilize a daisy. It does not get more earthy than this. When he describes a transcendent life, he means it – your life in Christ is literally beyond this world; the life you had before has been sent out the back. It is no longer a source of life for you – it is worthless, has no value, it is the waste, the chaff, the excrement of your metabolism.

And all these things – but for the single purpose of being found in Christ.

verse 9

9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.

It’s only in Christ that you’re found. St. Augustine said “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Everything we thought we had in the past, were under the impression were of some advantage, are surpassed and overwhelmed by the discovery of Christ. Not meeting God’s standard by working up to it, but by having that standard given to us, as God’s gift to us – the righteousness, or justice – balance of the scales – as a gift from God. As Paul says in Ephesians 2 -

8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

WE ARE WHAT HE HAS MADE US – he has made us righteous through Christ, he has balanced the scales, done the work, surpassed everything that came beforehand – everything we thought we had before.

On this verse, John Calvin writes, “as soon as Christ shines forth, all those things which formerly dazzled our eyes with a false splendor instantly vanish.” Or as I heard Brennan Manning describe it a few years back, “The day you experience the love and heart of Christ, nothing will ever taste / look / be / love the same, or satisfy you more, than that experience.”

When he says, in verse 3, that “it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh” this is what he means. Nothing we do can compare to Christ.

“Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!” Why – because the goods they sell are nothing but complete BS. They sell you on the achievements of the law, the strivings of your flesh, the pursuit of worldly gain, and ignore – at their peril! – the singular identification with Christ that transforms your life, transcends the world, and transfigures you into the resurrection of Christ. That brings you out of the dead ones – out of the death of this life.

I’ll just ask it this one last time – how’s your life?

Is your entire soul bent on knowing Christ and moving beyond this world, or are you stuck among the dead, trying to go it on your own?

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.

Folks – the God we worship will far surpass everything in this world you’re striving for. Not to say that he makes the hard stuff go away, or makes it any easier. From a human experience perspective, it may actually be harder. That’s certainly been true in my life.

But when you truly stand in the light of Christ and experience the love of God that plumbs depths further than you’ve ever known were possible. Nothing – I promise, nothing – in your life, will ever be the same again.

If you don’t know Christ tonight, that love I’m talking about – I challenge you to ask him into your life tonight and find out. Talk to me, Chris, Keenan, your goofy Christian roommate – possibly – it’s worth it. He’s worth it.

Far more than anything this world has to offer.

Let’s pray.

Small Group Questions:

3For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh

1) What is the difference between boasting in Christ and having confidence in the flesh? What does it look like in your life?

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

2) Do you have a list like Paul’s – things that make you “more religious” than the next person? What’s on your list?

3) Andy used a quote from John Calvin that said, “So soon as Christ shines forth, all those things that formerly dazzled our eyes with a false splendor instantly vanish.” Has this been your experience? If not – are there things in your life holding you back?

There's a Bottle of Glenlivet Missing!

This is another entry from my sermon files. This one was delivered at the Memorial Service of my grandfather, Kenneth Jackson Silberberg: affectionately referred to as "Papa," who entered the Lord's presence on October 1, 2006. He enjoyed drinking Scotch, hence the sermon title, but you ought to know that my Grandmother ("Granny") strongly disapproved of it at the time:

"Papa would have loved it, Gran"
"But he's not going to be there!"
"Okay Granny. I'll take it out."

So - the title didn't make it into the program, but it stayed on my preaching copy, and I know that it fit with Papa's very dry sense of humor; much like his scotch. I still miss him, as I know my entire family does.

*****

Our reading from the Hebrew Bible comes from the 23rd Psalm, out of the King James version. Hear the Word of the Lord.

1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

(Let us pray)
Bless us, Oh God, with a reverent sense of your presence,
that we may be at peace.
And Grant that the Word you speak this day
may take root in our hearts,
and bear fruit to your honor and glory,
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.





My mom called to deliver the news I’d known would be coming – and she mentioned that it happened rather quickly, in the sense that one moment Papa was breathing and then – he wasn’t. When it comes right down to it – that really is the distance between that place and this one. You’re here, and then you’re not.

We’re told that while we have these times with each other we ought to enjoy them. And I think it’s fair to say, looking over it, that Papa was a man who in addition to having a life filled with years – was certainly a man who had years full of life.

My memories of Papa usually involve other family members – you see, holidays are a big deal in our family. Thanksgiving and Christmas especially, but then in early Spring we’d get together for the birthdays of Anne, Marshall, Meghan, Sally, and George. We’d usually combine Father’s Day with Papa’s birthday in June, and on the 4th of July we’d be at Lacy Park to watch fireworks. In the fall we would celebrate Ryan, me, Granny and for the past twelve years my brother-in-law Duane’s birthdays.

Then we’d be back at Thanksgiving and Christmas – combining Christmas with Scott’s and Linda’s birthdays – much to their chagrin - and starting the whole calendar over again. Really – I’m not sure we were all that concerned about celebrating the big events as much as we just wanted to get together – in fact, I’m not convinced that it’s the holidays that are such a big deal in our family as much that it’s family that’s a big deal in our family. At any rate, at every season in life we were together – and at the head of everything was Papa.

I learned from him about all the things you’re supposed to learn from your grandfather. I learned about fishing, golf, cigars and the joy of a very-old scotch opened up with just a splash of water. These are also the things Presbyterians love talking about from Methodist Pulpits – and I think he would get a kick out of hearing me speak of them.

When I was younger, I’d go to Granny and Papa’s house with my parents, and he would bring me into his dark room as he was developing film, usually after he and Granny had come home from one of their trips. He’d have taken hundreds of pictures – in the days before digital cameras when taking pictures involved actual film and actual talent and actual surprise when you got home and saw the pictures for the first time. As he developed the film he’d tell me about what they did and where they’d been – a lot like a slide show, but with chemicals, darkness, and strange smells from bottles and trays… it had a bit of mad-scientist flair to it, and it was pretty cool. Papa knew how to entertain us when we were small, educate us as we grew, and encourage us as adults – it’s like he always knew what we needed, and was always there.

He was injured during the War, as we know, which brought him home, but didn’t bring him down. He had a stroke in the 80’s which gave him pause – a bit - and then cancers of assorted varieties that tried to get him – but didn’t. And after a while, even though he was moving slower, it just seemed like nothing would ever stop him.

Which, of course, made it so strange a few years ago when he started to stop. And if it seemed strange to us, it was doubly strange for him. Not that he’d admit it, of course: he bore the weight of his failing body with the same dogged determination that drove him across the dunes of Iwo Jima. And you got the sense he wasn’t ready – he wasn’t done – there were things he still wanted to do; that he loved life, he loved his family and he wanted more of both.



I was thinking about this last week, and was reminded of a work by the poet Dylan Thomas:

“DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT”
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Papa looked at me on Father’s Day, and from a pair of tired eyes said simply, “it’s no fun getting old,” and I think he knew somewhere deep down that what had previously held him up was now giving way. I think the great tragedy of his passing is the obvious one – that it wasn’t so much that Papa stopped, but that his body, tired with its long raging, and spent from a life of not going gently – finally went, finally left.


Someone named John Calvin once said that “True and solid Wisdom, consists… of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” Knowing ourselves reminds us of our limitations – our mortality. Knowing God reminds us of hope, and our eternal destination.

It’s situations like this when we are reminded that we are human, and God is not. When, echoing the sentiments of David who wrote the 23rd Psalm a better part of 3,000 years ago, we come back to knowing that we are but sheep in a pasture, and the Lord is our shepherd.

On the subject of sheep, I was reminded of my time in Ireland a few years ago. I decided I wanted to have my picture taken with some real Irish sheep, and as my friends and I were looking at some ruins in a field, there were sheep about 50 yards away; so I wandered over to say hello.

About 49 yards out, they saw me coming and wandered away. I started walking a little faster, and so did they. I saw that this was not going to go well, so naturally I did what any mature adult would do in the middle of an Irish pasture. I started chasing sheep.

Now sheep aren’t too bright, but they know who they belong to, and I was not that person. I was not their master, they did not know my voice. It probably also didn’t help that I was wearing an overcoat made of black wool, and that probably made them very nervous on a whole other level. But they have one defense mechanism – and it is housed entirely in their feet. A sheep in danger runs away.

But with a shepherd, there is nothing they lack. He has a rod to protect them, and a staff to guide them. There is food, drink, rest, and life. A sheep without a shepherd is a sheep in trouble. A sheep who wanders alone is not going to make it very far.

Halfway through his Psalm David shifts perspective from 3rd person to 2nd – from talking about the Lord to talking to the Lord. We move from the imagery of a sheep to that of a refugee. We know from the story of David’s life that he experienced both worlds – he started out in the fields as a shepherd, and then he killed Goliath and achieved notoriety to make the current King Saul jealous. Saul, of course, decided that if he couldn’t be more popular than David, he could at the very least have him killed – so David went into hiding.

And it’s from this life – begun in the fields guiding and protecting sheep, and running from powerful figures bringing death in their wake, that David writes this metaphor of dependence on God – recognizing who we are, and who we are not.

Scripture tells us – not just here – but everywhere from beginning to end, that God is our provider, supplier, guide, guardian – through darkness, beside stillness, in the presence of evil, that he restores our soul and overfills our cup….

On the night he was betrayed Jesus told his disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you” and as the Good Shepherd Jesus pointed into eternity he indicated – that’s where this all ends up, and that’s what this is all about. By the next evening Jesus had been killed, and three days after that he rose from the grave on that first Easter morning to break open the reality that eternity is our destination, and by faith in Him through his gracious, unconditional gift we will live in the house of the Lord forever.

And not because we’ve done anything special, or behaved appropriately – Lord knows it’s not because we behaved appropriately – but it’s because God’s goodness and mercy pursue us all the days of our lives – this shepherd does not lose track of his sheep. We will dwell there forever because he chose us, and by his grace we know that when our time in the pasture is through, we’ll go home to our place that Jesus has been preparing for us.

The sheep in Ireland knew I was not their shepherd, and they ran away, probably looking for him. If we are sheep – in God’s big pasture – it raises a question… can you tell the difference between the Lord as your shepherd, and something else? And – if you are on your own, or relying on something else – how’s that working out for you?

If you’ve felt something pulling at your heart, I wonder whether it might be a shepherd’s staff giving you a nudge. And if it is – my fellow sheep – maybe it’s time to let the shepherd take the lead, and stop trying to go it alone.

The great writer Henry Van Dyke, reflecting on the meaning of death and immortality, writes: “I am standing on the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, “there she goes!”
“Gone where?” Gone from my sight – that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and span as she was when she left my sight and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There she goes!” there are other eyes – watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes! Here she comes!” on the other shore.

After a long, full life Papa has gone home – and as we say to ourselves, “there he goes,” we know that somewhere on the other side a great chorus is ringing “here he comes!” “Here he comes!” Would that we all recognize the Lord as our shepherd, and that we all shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Amen.