SERMONS, SHEPHERDS AND SHEEP

Bishop McConnell began his Convention Sermon last month that he based on Jesus the Good Shepherd Gospel passage by proclaiming, “I am not the Good Shepherd.”  He repeated that statement at least twice and then had all of us in the congregation say it along with him. To be honest, that is all I remember about his sermon. That is no reflection either on the sermon or on our Bishop. Most of the time, come Wednesday morning, I can’t remember what I preached about the preceding Sunday.

In fact, the fact that I can remember anything the Bishop said makes it a memorable sermon. I dare say that all of us have heard what we would call great sermons over the years and, in truth, can’t remember any of them no matter how great, how moving, how inspiring, how anything the sermon or sermons might have been at the time. It’s the nature of the beast.

So, if no one ever truly remembers what we say in a sermon, why do we insist on preaching in the first place? Is it simply an ego thing, namely that we like to hear ourselves speak and believe that we actually move hearts and minds with our words? Perhaps. Yet the reality is that sermons are teaching tools both for the preacher and those preached to. Every once in a while something is said that resonates with a hearer or two and that is enough. If most sermons fall on mostly deaf ears, so be it. One person getting something out of a sermon is enough to make the sermon worth preaching.

It was worth all the Bishop’s work in preparing his sermon even if I am the only one who remembers what he said and if all I remember those words, “I am not the Good Shepherd.” I, for one, at that moment in time, needed to be reminded that I am not the Good Shepherd. Only Jesus is. And yet, I am a shepherd. How good I am at shepherding is another question, one that I cannot answer. Only the sheep I shepherd can answer that question. If I want to know that answer, I will have to ask.

On further reflection, which is what makes the Bishop’s sermon memorable for me, I am also reminded that not only am I a shepherd, I am also a sheep who is to be shepherded. In fact, we all are. We are, each and every one of us both shepherd and sheep. Our faith in The Good Shepherd reminds us that we are called to watch over those entrusted to our care just as there are those who are called to watch over us because we have been entrusted to their care. We are to shepherds and to be shepherded.

There are no exceptions even as we at times wish there were, wish that we were. There are times when we wish we did not have to look after those over whom we have been placed as a shepherd because the work and time demanded is too hard. On the other hand, there are times when we wish our shepherd would go away and leave us alone because we want to live the way we want to live and not the way our shepherd is reminding us that we should live.

Shepherds and sheep, we are both. Whether that was the point of the Bishop’s sermon or not, he at least made me think about it. That was enough.