Come In!
April 13, 2008
David Brubacher
Text:
John 10:1-10
Psalm 23
Introduction: There is a myth that suggests men do not like to ask for directions. Admittedly it might be more than a myth. In my carpentry work, installing doors and locksets is a specialty of mine. At one time I prided myself of not needing instructions to install a lockset. I argued that once I figured it out myself I would remember better for the next time. One particular lockset did baffle me. I resorted to reading the instructions. To my surprise it actually worked very well to install the lock according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Today I generally read the instructions first.
Our gospel text for today invites us to do some theological reflecting on the place of locks and doors in our lives. Jesus is spoken of as both the good shepherd and as the gate (or a door). Together with Psalm 23 there is a powerful image of a loving shepherd gathering all people in a place of abundance and leading them in a place of security. As with locks and doors, do things in life go better when given due theological consideration?
Doors serve a dual purpose. We open them to invite people saying, “Come In!” There is nothing more delightful than being greeted by a gracious host with out stretched arms saying, “Come on in. Make yourself at home. You are welcome here.” We also use doors to shut out undesired elements such certain aspects of weather and those whom we suspect might intend to do harm. For those on the inside a closed door offers security and comfort. For those on the outside closed doors may represent painful exclusion.
There is an element of both as John 10 considers Jesus as gate. John’s gospel is clear that above all else, God is love. God as made known in Jesus is the source and pattern of a vision for unity. God’s love embraces diversity and difference and has no place for exploitation and marginalization. There is obviously a tension here as we think of Jesus as gate.
How do we at TUMC live within that tension? The first congregational conversation of our visioning process to be held next Sunday lives within that tension. How do we understand our identity and purpose as a congregation? Based on that understanding how will we embody God’s love to say, “Come in! Make yourself at home.” How will we determine what we will do and what we might not do as we reach beyond our community of faith?
The Listening Group consisting of Irene Krahn, Al Armstrong, Geisa Roveri and Anita Tiessen, working with Betty Pries and myself have worked extremely hard in the last weeks to lay a foundation for these congregational conversations. A listening process has by now engaged close to one hundred people resulting in sixty pages of data. Reflected are the memories that have shaped TUMC, and the hopes and dreams for TUMC’s future. A first step, as outlined in the bulletin insert for next Sunday’s conversation, is to distill these memories, hopes and dreams into some collection of words and images that might reflect an understanding of our calling as a community and faith and to guide how we might live out that identity.
Many interesting and inspiring things have been heard. Being TUMC, we do not speak with one voice. There are also different levels of feelings regarding the desirability of a stated identity and purpose. Yet within this tension there is a clear desire to find a shared way of being God’s people together as a community of faith that gathers here at 1774 Queen St. E.
TUMC’s collective memory recalls stories of people experiencing, “Come in! Make yourself at home!” Early on TUMC was a home away from home for those who came to Toronto to pursue education and vocation. TUMC also became a place where it was safe to ask and wrestle with theological questions. As people gathered they engaged in a variety of projects creating a sense of community. In coming together a sense of identity and purpose developed. Of course this coming and being together was not always perfect. For many the human sexuality process was an experience of something other than, “Come in! Make yourself at home!” Yet as the stories have been told there is a profound sense of wanting to be God’s people together in a way that embraces our diversity.
Collectively we celebrate our diversity. Some see us as extremely diverse and others not that diverse at all. The reality is, as we are able to say, “Come in! Make yourself at home,” we will become increasingly more diverse. In the face of given diversity and an accelerating rate of change how shall we know who we are and what we shall do together?
In my thirty years of congregational and denominational leadership I have come to recognize the importance of a set of words that articulate our identity as a community of faith and how we shall invest that identity in the mission of God’s kingdom. Clearly, such a tool is not the end all and be all. It serves first of all as a centre around which we gather and indicates directions in which we might invest our gifts.
It is highly unlikely that many more of TUMC’s pastors will be here for twenty years. When one person is here the length of time that Gary Harder was, that person becomes something of a centre which shapes a congregation. There is much good in that and to be highly celebrated. However, today it is generally agreed that it is better for a congregation to articulate its identity and purpose and call pastors with gifts to facilitate the congregation’s mission accordingly.
Having attempted to name something of TUMC’s current context, let us hear how the scriptures for today speak to us.
In my reading and reflecting on John 10 and Psalm 23 I came to recognize emotions similar to what I feel with, “Come in! You are welcome here!” It seems to me that extending gracious and hospitable welcome is at the very core of God’s mission. If it is God’s mission then being in partnership with God also makes it our mission.
Psalm 23 offers intimate metaphors for God: caring shepherd and gracious host. There is clearly a mood of serenity yet not far behind is a sense of danger. It is without a doubt the mostly widely known and favourite psalm because of its reflection of an intimate and caring relationship with a God who walks with us in life and death.
Rabbi Harold Kushner, in a meditation on Psalm 23 reflects the calming impact of the psalm. He recalls times of distress and danger when simply beginning to
quote the familiar words, “The Lord is my Shepherd…,” brought a sense of calm tranquility. He considers Psalm 23 as the answer to the question, “How do you live in a dangerous and unpredictable world?” In the face of such things he says, “God is good. Nature is not good. Nature is blind. Nature is amoral. Fire burns and bullets wound and falling rocks injure and disease germs infect everybody whether deserved or not.”
Rabbi Kushner articulates such an understanding of God in his well known book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People. The book is inspired by the death of his son who was born with an incurable illness and died at age fourteen. When all their strength, love and faith was used up, he says, “There really is a God who replenishes your love and your strength and your faith.” The role of God is not to explain or justify things that happen but to comfort, to take people by the hand and to show them into the sunlight again. Indeed God is a gentle shepherd and gracious host surrounding us with an abundance of steadfast love.
In John 10 Jesus is the good shepherd who leads people through the gate into abundant life. Just prior to John 10 Jesus found the man healed from blindness that had subsequently been ejected from his community of faith. Jesus’ invitation to “Come in!” opened the possibility for him to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. The community outsider became an insider. Is that not the good news we proclaim in Jesus?
But even in that context Jesus was a point of division. Some found it impossible to believe in Jesus and dismissed him as one possessed. Others like the blind man maintained Jesus’ healing must come from God.
Jesus continues to be a point of division. Do we see Jesus as “gate” to offer entry for all to come to God or as a gate to keep out those who are somehow determined not to belong? And who decides who does not belong? On what basis is it decided? How do we come to understand that we belong and others do not? We must be humble in our identification with Jesus. There is nothing more dangerous than a totally self-assured identification with Jesus that claims a fullness of belief to which every believer must aspire. As Christians we are called to make Jesus our cause, not to make our cause Jesus’ cause.
Jesus shepherds us into the sheepfold of God’s love. As gate Jesus has opened a way for us to God in his death and resurrection. By faith we step through this gate and as God takes our hand we experience a sense of home compelling us to embrace others.
Our Anabaptist-Mennonite understanding of faith in Jesus moves beyond a vertical relationship or mystical encounter to an active engagement in God’s mission to the world. The question still remains, do we see in Jesus the love God extends to the world as a source of unity? Or do we say unless you follow Jesus as we understand Jesus, God does not welcome you?
If, as I am suggesting, “Come in! Make yourself at home,” represents the heart of the good news of Jesus, then obviously it is the former. God comes to us in Jesus as a shepherd. As believers we are called to come to each other and those we encounter as a shepherd. Extending a hand we walk along side to journey from darkness to light. Along the way there is transformation. Sometimes the person to which we extend our hand is transformed. Some times we are transformed. God’s light shines when we make the cause of Jesus our cause. As plants orientate themselves to the sun, people orientate themselves towards the light of God made known in Jesus.
Conclusion: TUMC has a rich legacy of shepherding people toward Jesus here in the city of Toronto. We are not all agreed what that means. But in our diversity we find that Jesus holds us together. As we journey on the path of discerning an identity and purpose for the next segment of TUMC’s history may we endeavor to fashion what ever collection of words we chose to say, “Come in! Make yourself at home!” Amen.