Every year when the Good Shepherd Sunday rolls around I remember my first years in ministry. The organist at that church was also a good shepherd. He would do the children’s sermon on those Sundays, sometimes bringing a real live little lamb in as a prop. Thirty years ago, our young families spent a great deal of time together; we were best friends. You know how it is when you just “click” with someone. We spent lots of time together. My husband helped them with lambing and haying. I never thought we would ever lose touch with each other. Yet, it happened.
At Christmas time this year I received a newsy, hand-written greeting from that old friend, filling me in on all the years since we had been in contact. They quit farming many years ago and he became a music teacher, his wife a nurse. I wrote back filling them in on all the changes in my life over the years. There is something wonderful about old-fashioned letters; they connect us in a tangible way. We have since connected virtually through Facebook too and that has been good too. Nothing new can break the bind of true friendship. It is a gift from God.
Today’s lessons are about the love of the Good Shepherd for us, about being known and abiding in love. One of the lessons is 1 John 3:16–24:
16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
23 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.
In the gospel lesson for today Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd who lives in union with the sheep and with the Father who sent him. He zeroes in on the idea of knowing and being known.
John 10: 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.
Later in the same gospel Jesus says:
John 15:15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
I think that last passage about being called friends by Christ is one of the best images for what it means to be “in Christ.” We are the friends of Christ. Wow! Think about that for a minute. Who are your best friends? What do they mean to you? What do you mean to them? What would life be like without best friends?
So much of what makes friendship important is simply spending time together. I’m reminding of a song from the 70’s by Michael Johnson. You can listen to it by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJHe6pXix1w
The lyrics go like this:
I’ve troubled for you from time to time
That’s why nothing new can break the bind
It’s the time you waste for them
That makes a friend a friend
Unique in all the world until the end
We’ve traveled for years through mindless miles
And shared us some tears through aimless trials
And though you’re old and worn
You’re the only home I’ve known
Through memories stretched beyond so many dawns
I find it hard to believe that time brings change
Now all of my friends are broken with age
But what’s essential you cannot see
I’m responsible for my friends and they for me
I’ve troubled for you from time to time
That’s why nothing new can break the bind
It’s the time you waste for them
That makes a friend a friend
Unique in all the world until the end.
This past year has physically separated us from so many of our friends and loved ones and forced us to connect in new ways. Steve and I are fully vaccinated now and past the two-week waiting period. We travelled to Arizona to spend time with my parents. I am writing this from their patio right now. How amazing it is to be together again, to play Bridge together, to hug and breathe the same air!
How wonderful it will be when we can gather in worship together again, to sing and pray and share together. Until then may we make the most of our time, find new ways to reach out and care for one another as friends in Christ. Amen