Sunday Worship
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.00 at St Thomas'. If you are unable to be with us in person, you can find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "As we are Gathered, Jesus is Here"
Today's Gospel
1 John 10: 11-18 The Good Shepherd
“I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep. When the hired man, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees a wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away; so the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them.
The hired man runs away because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep.
I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. And I am willing to die for them.
There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them, too; they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
“The Father loves me because I am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again.
No one takes my life away from me. I give it up of my own free will. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it back. This is what my Father has commanded me to do.”
Reflection
If you were asked to describe a shepherd, I wonder what image might come into your minds eye?
Maybe you would think of a middle aged man in green wax jacket and flat cap or a young man in jeans and a woolly jumper like the characters on Emmerdale. In the fields near where I live, I sometimes see a lady shepherd covered in tattoos, wearing a baseball cap and riding a quad bike. Perhaps some of you would picture a man in a long robe with a belt around the waist and shepherds crook in his hand.
This is a sort of stereotypical image that I suspect most people associate with Jesus.
However, the reality would have been somewhat different. The life of a shepherd would have been hard and rugged. They would have been out all night and day for weeks at a time and unable to go to the Temple to worship.
Most of the grazing would be in harsh and dirty areas of the wilderness, in all weathers and conditions. So they certainly wouldn’t be wearing pristine white robes.
Shepherds were considered to be unclean, low class and not the kind of folk you would want to associate with.
You might wonder then why Jesus would choose to describe himself as a shepherd when those around him were debating whether He was the Son of God.
If we look at the prophet Ezekiel, Jesus is making a direct comparison to where Ezekiel describes God’s promises to search for, look after, rescue, gather, and pasture the sheep in good grazing land. God says, “You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign LORD”.
Therefore, by describing Himself as a shepherd, Jesus is also reminding us of God’s love and commitment to us, His beloved people.
So, Jesus is not afraid to describe himself as a shepherd and moreover a shepherd who is committed, loyal and willing to sacrifice Himself for us. And He doesn’t just say it once, He repeatedly tells us that He is the Good Shepherd and each time He stresses a deeper level of His commitment to us.
In this short passage he tells us four times that He is willing to die for us.
Jesus isn’t just any old shepherd, He is the Good Shepherd. The one who is fully committed and willing to go the extra mile.
I wonder how many of you have seen people at work who are not fully committed. Perhaps you’ve heard someone remark, “that’s above my pay grade” as an excuse to avoid doing something important. Or maybe they have an attitude of superiority and say something like, ‘’it’s not my job to clean up the mess”. That’s the attitude of the hired hand.
In a previous job when I was a project manager, we often had tough deadlines to meet and at times the company would hire in contractors or consultants, often at really expensive rates of pay. They would come in, roll their sleeves up and get stuck in. But it was only when they left that we would realise that whilst they appeared to be totally committed and doing a great job, they had cut corners.
Quite often they failed to document what they had done, so if something went wrong after they’d left, there was no way of working out how to fix things without going right back to the beginning. Often causing significant extra cost and delays and inconvenience for those who were impacted by whatever had gone wrong.
There’s a pithy American phrase, ‘to have no skin in the game’. It describes an attitude where someone who doesn’t have to pick up the pieces afterwards if something goes wrong, doesn’t show the same level of diligence as someone who does have to sort out things that go wrong. It describes the attitude of the hired hand.
But Jesus makes it abundantly clear that He is not the hired hand.
But Jesus doesn’t just look out for the few. He knows each of us deeply and calls us by name. He asks for us listen to His voice and to follow Him. He is always looking to bring in others from outside the flock and He wants us to bring others into the fold who haven’t yet heard His wonderful Good News.
Interestingly, today is Vocation Sunday. A day to reflect, thank God, and celebrate what God has called each of us to do as we follow Jesus as members of His flock. For most, that doesn’t mean training to become a lay or ordained minister. Rather it’s how, in our daily lives, we can repay with thankfulness and love what Jesus has done for us. How we help one another.
As we follow Jesus, we are not called to be passive sheep. We are called to be active disciples showing God’s love to others in our everyday life at work or school, or even in the pub and local shop.
In the reading from Acts 4 8-12, we hear how Peter, who had previously denied knowing Jesus three times, stood up to the leaders and elders and told how he and John had healed the lame man through the power of the risen Jesus. He was no longer scared and running away; he was no longer like a hired hand in the face of a wolf.
So let us pray that we, like Peter, may be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to share the Good News of the risen Jesus and welcome others to His flock. Paul
Our Prayers
Heavenly Father, thank You that sent your Son Jesus to be the Good Shepherd
and that He knows each of us that are the sheep of His pasture.
Thank You that in Your grace, Jesus sacrificed his life for us and was raised from the dead.
We pray that you will give us wisdom and confidence to follow Him as true disciples.
AMEN.
Today's final hymn is "Loving Shepherd of Thy Sheep"
Notices
Our Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be on Sunday 5th May, immediately after a 10 am Parish Eucharist here at St Thomas’. There will be no service at St Agnes’ on that day. This is where we review the reports from the previous year and elect our new Churchwardens and Parish Officers for the coming year. There are several vacancies for PCC members and also a Churchwarden, so if you are interested in any of these (or other) posts in the Parish please collect nomination forms from the back of church.
