Good
Morning All,
John 10: 27;
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me”.
So the poll question for today is how
do you define church? Some would say
that it is the place where we gather to worship. Some would say it is the people who go to
this place to worship. Some claim that
the church is what’s left if the building burns down. A structured Lutheran definition is that this
is where the Gospel is rightly proclaimed and the Sacraments are properly
administered. These are all good answers
and there are probably many more. Yet
Luther had another way of saying it.
Martin Luther was a prolific writer. At one time, almost 25% of all printed
material was written by Martin Luther.
He was a man who took advantage of the current cutting edge technology
(the printing press) and used it to his advantage. So his writings had to appeal to the
theologian but also to the laity who read his writing. So in doing so, Luther would use phrases or
terminology that would resonate with the reader. It still does today almost 500 years later. So in one of his writings, Luther wrote this
“God be praised, a seven-year-old child knows what the church is: holy
believers and ‘the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.’”
You are the sheep that hear the voice of
the shepherd. Shepherds had to be very
patient with their sheep. They would
speak to them in calming tones. Sheep
could not be driven, they had to be led. So the shepherd would go ahead and
call them to follow him. He would call
each by name and they would follow him.
If a flock was so big that it had more than one shepherd; each shepherd
would call his sheep out and they would separate from the other sheep and
follow him. The shepherd would call the
sheep and then lead them to the lush green pastures. He would call them to the still waters for
them to drink. The goal of the shepherd
was to have calm and contented sheep.
They grew the best and were the least amount of trouble.
This is what Jesus wants for us here on
this earth. He desires that we live a
contented life. He provides for us all
that we need. He wants us to hear his
voice and we do this by gathering around his Word and Sacrament. We do this best as being in the flock. Flock as in plural not singular. We are a part of the larger body and we
receive the blessings of being in this larger flock. It is in the flock (the Church) where we
receive “the mutual conversation and the consolation that brothers and sisters
offer each other” (more Luther). So the
church, the place where we hear the Shepherd’s voice is felt and expressed by
as little as one or two brothers or sisters in Christ offering us hope,
comfort, peace, reconciliation or whatever we need. That is how God reaches us, through the
creation that he made. It is for us and
to be used to provide for our needs. God
calls you by name and leads you to safety.
Are you listening?
Savior of all, lead us to hear your voice. Help us to
find comfort and hope in your gentle word.
Be with those who do not hear. Be
with those who struggle with listening to you who have the world drown out your
voice. Guide them by your Spirit to come
home to your loving arms. In Jesus’
precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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