May 2, 2004; The Fourth Sunday of Easter Readings: Acts 13:15-16, 26-33; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30; Psalm 100.   The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith The Shepherding Way Jesus is the shepherd of our lives. He will never leave us. He will never lead us astray. He gathers us to be his own—for our sake and for the sake of others. Everyday of our lives, Jesus reaches out to us in love. The transforming love of God is a love that never ends. The shepherding way of Christ reaches beyond time as we now experience it into eternal life. "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish." The Shepherding way of Jesus is for this life and beyond. Last Sunday I spoke about the great mentors that I had in college who inspired me to be a mentor to others. Through their example and their work with me, they taught me about the power of believing in someone. When we choose to believe in someone, we open up a world of opportunities for them. It is easy to discount a person. No one is perfect. It is easy to focus on what we think are a person’s limitations. By choosing to focus on the possibilities, and we reflect the love of God. Glorious things can come of that—I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen it happen in my life. I’ve seen it happen in the lives of people undervalued by society. When we mentor people we are acting as Christ’s hands in the world. I thank God for the people who have been shepherds to me. Who comes to mind for you? What did they do to help you believe in yourself? These people can help us get in touch with what it means to have Jesus as our shepherd. As wonderful as earthly mentors are, Jesus is the shepherd of our lives. Churches use the term "shepherding" for guiding members, often new members, to find their way in the church and in the faith. Shepherds help to build community. Sometimes "shepherds" are assigned to people who live in their neighborhood. In this sense the experienced church member becomes a mentor to a new person. Ultimately a shepherding group could come to share that ministry with each other. Jesus is our model for mentoring. He seeks us—he seeks the best for us. He believes in us. He will never leave us. Jesus is our model, but he is also so much more. No matter how great a job we do as shepherds—we are not the Shepherd. Keeping that in perspective is so important. I love the Eucharistic Prayer that we are using today, Prayer B, because it contains this firm statement: We pray to God through, "Jesus Christ our Lord, the firstborn of all creation, the head of the Church, and the author of our salvation." Jesus is our model, but he is much more. He is the Shepherd of our lives. When other people let you down, you can count on him. While other people might leave you, Jesus never will. Jesus gathers us to himself in this life and in the life to come. During Holy Week, I was walking my dog and I was approached to two teenagers. They handed me this flyer that says: "How To Know 100% For Sure, Without A Doubt, That You Would Go To Heaven." I looked on the back of the flyer and discovered that this youth group had come from West Virginia to save my soul! I went up to their adult leader and said, "You all have come a long way to hand these out." The Pastor said, "The Bible says to go into all the world, and Winchester is part of the world, isn’t it?" "Yes" I said, "but we do have plenty of churches here." "And do you think that everyone who goes to church is going to heaven?" he asked me. Hmmm, what to say? You know how in cartoons a little devil and a little angel appear and try to lead the person in different directions? The little cartoon devil to my left had one idea, but the angel to my right was saying: "take this opportunity to model something different—rather than hostility offer an idea of love." The angel won out and I said: "Well, I believe in God’s grace and love to reach us all. I believe that God is powerful and our ability to push God away is nothing compared to God’s ability to reach us." That was basically the end of our conversation. It ended well by all accounts. I could have talked with the man about Jesus being our shepherd. "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish." I get such a sense of peace from that verse. I get such as sense of safety and love. With Jesus as my shepherd, I am able to face all that life brings. Amen.