Share the Light: What is the hope that is in you?

Brad Sullivan
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, 27th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21


“To an unknown god,” was the inscription on an altar which Paul found in Athens, and that inscription goes a long way to describing the human condition. As human beings, we seem to have a need to connect with God. Whether God is believed to be known or unknown, near or far, loving or angry, people seem to have an innate need to search for and connect to God. Religion, having some kind of religion is shared in almost every culture and society, worldwide. There are atheists out there, folks who don’t believe in a god for one reason or another, but by and large, humanity seems hardwired to quest after knowledge of God. Paul even said as much in his address to the Athenians:
From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him – though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
Paul understood that God gave us all a desire for him. Paul understood that God gave us all a purpose, that we would search for him and perhaps grope for him and find him. Paul further understood something of who God is. Paul understood that God, whom the Athenians worshipped as unknown, is not an unknown, faraway deity, but God is near to each of us. We are in fact God’s offspring. We are known and loved by God who desires for us to know and love him.
This is one of the great joys of Christianity. God is not unknown. We do not follow blindly an unknown god, but we follow the light of Christ to God who has made himself known to us through Christ. What many proclaim as unknown, we can proclaim as known.
Peter invites us to proclaim God as known in his letter when he writes, “always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) We have been charged with proclaiming as known the God and Father of Jesus Christ who knows and loves each of us.
I would add a word of caution, however, as to the manner in which we make such proclamations. By proclaiming knowledge of God, we can rather easily sound presumptuous or even become presumptuous. “I have knowledge of God which I am now going to impart to you, little one.” I’ve experienced this kind of well-intentioned yet off-putting sharing of the light several times.
Once in college, several guys from one of the campus ministries at U.T. saw me walking to my dorm and asked if they could talk to me about the Bible sometime. I said, “sure,” figuring we’d have some Bible study, and I looked forward to talking with some other Christians about our faith. When they arrived at my dorm a few days later, however, we spoke together only briefly before they began telling me that they would teach me the truth about the faith. My 18 years as a Christian meant nothing. We had nothing to share. They were going to teach me the knowledge of God that I had been somehow missing. I didn’t continue meeting with them.
My senior year in college I went on a mission trip to help build a school and a home for the teacher of the school. Midway through the trip was our day for evangelism. I was nervous, but kind of excited as well, until we began. We went door to door in a small impoverished neighborhood to talk to people about Jesus, but we weren’t actually evangelizing. We weren’t sharing any good news.
I became fed up at one house when we met a woman was searching for God in many ways including voodoo. She had heard of Jesus and figured if he could help her out, then great, but she didn’t believe in him or in the Gospel (don’t know if she’d ever heard it). So, one of our group asked her, if she were to die today, would she have any reason for God to let her into his heaven. She didn’t know, we prayed for her to accept Jesus and we left.
At no point in that visit, did we actually share the Gospel with this woman. At no point did help make known to her the unknown god for whom she was groping. Threats of hell and telling people they are wrong for their beliefs and we Christians are right don’t generally share the light of the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. I remember talking to a Hindu classmate of mine in high school about religion and basically telling her she was wrong for worshipping multiple gods and that there was only one true God. Boy did I mess up. I think she wanted to have an actual conversation about our two faiths, and all I probably did was let her know, Brad is a jerk and so might other Christians be.
Peter tells us, on the other hand, to share the light, to make an accounting for the hope that is in us, but to do so “with gentleness and reverence.” An example of sharing the light with gentleness and reverence comes from Vincent Donovan, a Roman Catholic priest who, back in the 60s and 70s, was a missionary to the Masai tribes in East Africa. The Masai believed in tribal gods, and Fr. Donovan was telling them about the the God of the Gospel, the “High God,” who loves all the tribes. At one point he was asked, “Has your tribe found the High God? Have you known him?”
He “was about to give a glib answer” when he thought of all the fighting among Christians, the wars we fought and still fight in God’s name. He said,
No, we have not found the High God. My tribe has not known him. For us too, he is the unknown God. But we are searching for him. I have come a long, long distance to invite you to search for him with us. Let us search for him together. Maybe, together, we will find him. (Christianity Rediscovered, p. 46)
The tribe was converted to Christianity.
Fr. Donovan’s answer may seem problematic because he said God is unknown. Paul said God is known. Well, Fr. Donovan was not saying we have no knowledge of God. Rather, he was admitting to what Paul himself says about our knowledge of God. “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) Fr. Donovan was not claiming absolute knowledge of God which he would impart to the poor little Masai. Rather, he was journeying with them in their search for God as he told them about the Gospel. He shared the light with them rather than forcing open their eyes and blinding them with the light. He shared with them the good news of God who has made himself known to us through Jesus Christ so that in groping for God, we may find him. He shared with them the good news of God who loves all people and who is not far from each one of us. He shared the light.
Sharing the light is what we’ve been asked to do as well. We’ve been asked individually to share the light. Pastor Janie has also been using that term, “share the light” in reference to getting the word out about Emmanuel to people in the area around us. We’ve been hoping to get a “Share the Light” team together to work on publications which can be given to people, to homes, and to the many apartments around us. For lack of a better term, we’ve been trying to get some marketing done for Emmanuel, but so far, we don’t have people with marketing expertise to help in this area, or I should say, no one has stepped forward who has such expertise. So, if any of you have this ability and are willing to devote some of your talent to Emmanuel, please let us know. Talk to Pastor Janie, a vestry member, or me so we can begin letting the people around us know who we are, so we can share the light.
The other way we’ve been asked to share the light, again, is by being able “to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.” (1 Peter 3:15) So, to this end, please take out the blue insert in your bulletins. What I’d like each of you to do this week, or even today, is to take this with you and write down what is the hope that is in you.
Maybe the answer seems obvious, maybe it doesn’t, but take some time to think about what your hope truly is. Why do you come to church? Why do you have faith? You might say church just feels right, or it just feels good. I’m sorry to say, so does a cup of coffee in the morning. While church may just feel right or just feel good for a lot of us, but we need to be able to articulate what our hope is a little bit better than that. So sit with the question for a while. What is the hope that is in you? Wrestle with the question, pray about it, and write down and be able to articulate what your hope truly is. How is the Gospel good news in your life?
Then when someone asks, or it comes up in conversation, you’ll be able to tell people why you believe and what you believe with gentleness and reverence, and maybe even joy. If you are able to articulate what is the hope that is in you, then you will be able to share the light with others. Further, once you truly find out what is the hope that is in you, you might find a desire to share it with others. So, take the time to examine your faith and your hope, because folks all around us are groping for God. Many of them are groping for an unknown God, and although we can now only see in a mirror, dimly, we can still share the light of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Can we be shepherds with Jesus as the gate?

Brad Sullivan
Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A
Sunday, April 13th, 2008
Emmanuel, Houston
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10


There are two main points from our Gospel story which I’d like to discuss today. One is the idea of Jesus as the gate for the sheepfold, and the second is the idea of us as shepherds. Now, I might be preaching a little bit of heresy here, I’m not quite sure, but have a listen, and see what you think.
Jesus said he is the gate and only the one who enters the pasture by the gate is shepherd. I think he was referring to himself as the shepherd. Indeed, if we went on one verse farther than today’s reading, we would have read Jesus calling himself the good shepherd, but listening to the second half of the passage today, Jesus didn’t call himself the shepherd. Rather, Jesus called himself the gate.
Now, Jesus can be and is both the good shepherd and the gate, but looking only at Jesus as gate, he said “whoever enters by [him] will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture,” (John10:9) and earlier, he said the shepherd enters through the gate. Perhaps those who enter by the gate of Jesus are not only sheep, but also shepherds.
This is where the potential heresy comes in. I’m not sure about this idea of people who follow Jesus being not only sheep, but shepherds, but I want to work with the idea a little bit today. Can sheep act as shepherds? Well, in the reading we heard from Acts, the apostles were certainly acting as shepherds. Listen again to the passage:
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)
By that last sentence, we hear of Jesus as the main shepherd, “adding to their number those who were being saved.” Jesus was in charge of the whole flock, but we also heard of the people devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship. The apostles were sheep of the Jesus, the good shepherd, and the apostles also served as shepherds, little shepherds, say, for the believers. The apostles led the believers in the abundant life that Jesus gave. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they sold their possessions and gave to all as any had need. They spent time together in the temple and broke bread and ate with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” That’s abundant life. Would that we had that life. That was the life Jesus had taught the apostles, and the life, therefore, the apostles continued to teach as shepherds leading fellow sheep through the gate of Jesus.
Looking then, at Jesus as the gate, and the apostles as little shepherds going in and out through the gate of Jesus, I have three points I’d like to make as this passage relates to our lives.
First, we can all be shepherds at various points in our lives. As we live and continue following Jesus as our shepherd, we will continually change from sheep to shepherd, and from shepherd to sheep. We can each act as a little shepherd to each other as God’s Spirit moves in us and as need arises among us, and every little shepherd will need to be led as a sheep by others. Even the greatest shepherd within Jesus’ flock is still a sheep of Jesus.
This brings up the second point. While we can all act as shepherds to one another, we are all Jesus’ sheep. None of us possess the flock. While we are to devote ourselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, while we are to work for the needs of the poor and the oppressed, and while we are to devote ourselves to proclaiming by word and example the good news of God in Christ, we must remember that we will not add to our number those who are being saved. The Lord will add to our number those who are being saved.
Our responsibility is to be the best sheep we can be, hearing Jesus’ voice and following him. Our responsibility is to live as Jesus taught us to live, to live as the believers did in Acts 2. Our responsibility is to act as little shepherds to one another when the Spirit calls and the need arises. Our responsibility is not, however, for the ultimate salvation of the world. We do have responsibility to Jesus’ flock as shepherds and as sheep, but the flock is not ours to do with as we will.
The flock is not ours to control, nor will the flock live or die by any one of us. As written in 1 Corinthians, “[Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:7) None of us grows the flock. None of us controls the flock. If, as shepherds, we hold on too tightly and try to control the flock ourselves, then we begin losing our faith in Jesus, begin believing he is not actually in control of his own flock. Further, seeking to control the actions of the flock rather than guide the actions of the flock is not leading as Jesus led.
This brings me to the third point. If you are going to act as a shepherd, make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus. By this, I don’t only mean Baptism. Rather, when I say make sure you’ve entered through the gate of Jesus, make sure each time you begin shepherding others that you are doing so in the same manner that Jesus did. When we lead others, we need to lead them to the same place Jesus led, teaching the same lessons, and we must also lead others as Jesus led.
Continuing the previous example, Jesus did not lead by compulsion. He did not force anyone to follow him or to listen to his teachings. Jesus allowed people to reject him. As shepherds, then, we too are to teach as Jesus taught, to offer correction to one another, to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom, but we are not to do so through coercion or compulsion, or by vilifying those who don’t accept the story.
In other words, we are not to place ourselves above anyone else. Whenever we act as shepherds, we are to remember that we are also lowly sheep. Jesus, after all, “did not did not [even] count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:6-7) We, then, when acting as shepherds must humble ourselves, not becoming holier than thou or lording our perceived righteousness over others. Rather, we are to offer correction to fellow sheep with meekness and humility out of love for our fellow sheep.
One might say, “but what about when I know I’m right, can I then place myself above others to force them to be right?” No, even when we know with absolute certainty that we are right, we are still not to force others to be right. We are Jesus’ sheep, and he doesn’t force us to be right. Additionally, being right does lead to a life of abundance. Entering life through the gate of Jesus leads to a life of abundance.
Jesus is the gate through which we pass from a normal existence to a life of abundance. Jesus is the gate through which we pass as sheep, following him to this life of abundance, and Jesus is the gate through which we pass when serving as little shepherds to fellow sheep. Jesus is the gate through which the apostles passed when shepherding the early church. They passed through the gate of Jesus and served as shepherds like Jesus. Think again of the life described in Acts 2, a life of abundance, of harmony, and of trust in God. We too can live that life when we pass through the gate of Jesus. Amen.