Sermon
of November 20, 2005
Presented by Rev. Julia Williamson
Scripture lesson: Matthew 25:31-40
“Are You a Sheep or a Goat?"
So, would you rather be a sheep or a goat? I thought I’d do a little research on the matter, you know, goats versus sheep, and see what I could find out so we can all make an informed choice. First thing I found out was that both goats and sheep are ruminant animals. I had to look that one up. Basically ruminant means that they chew their cud. Funny thing is that ruminant also means “meditative” or “contemplative”. I guess when you need to chew your food so much, you have a lot of time on your hands, or should I say hoofs, time to think while you chew, and so you become somewhat meditative. Not such a bad thing!
Here’s some more things to ponder about goats and sheep. Goats are pretty hardy. They like to eat shrubs. They are really good living off land that’s useless for farming, like where it’s pretty rocky and hilly, you get the idea. They adapt well to the climate where they live. They are versatile animals. And they’re getting quite a bad rap here in this story, but let’s not dismiss them outright yet.
Now on to sheep. Sheep live the good life. They’ve got that shepherd taking care of them after all! They like flat ground and they eat their plants down to the root. I guess that’s the equivalent of the clean plate club. They like fresh air, but they need protection. They were most likely domesticated by 9000 BC. So they’ve been around awhile.
In order to make a well-informed choice, between being a sheep or a goat, we need to keep in mind that this story doesn’t mesh very well with other stories in the Bible which talk about God’s mercy and forgiveness. So we gotta think that Matthew is trying to make a point. You know when you’re trying to make a point you gotta tell a story with a little “umph!” I think that’s what Matthew is doing. And that point is that action counts. Yes, God is loving and merciful, but God also wants us to take action- to feed the hungry, visit the sick, and so on. I skipped the really, negative judgmental part of the story, but if you read on, you know it says that those goats are on the left. That would be over here, or if I turn around, over here. And those goats are not going to a pretty place. The king says to those on the left (could be over here, or over here!- and I could split myself down the middle): “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me, etc, ... And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Whew, pretty harsh!
So which would you rather be? Sheep- raise your hands! Goats? OK. Now I’m going to add a twist, or go out on a limb. If Chuck could do it last week, I can do it this week, right? So, for the sake of argument, let’s say that another name for goats is “members” and another name for sheep is “disciples.” How about that? If you heard Chucks’ sermon last week, you may remember that “Jesus didn’t say ‘go out into the world and make members.’ Rather he said, ‘go and make disciples.’”
I am a member of WNPR, public radio, only because they called me up on the phone personally a few weeks ago, and asked me to renew my membership which I had let slide. It’s only $30 a year. My brother-in-law really admires the way WNPR does their membership drives. He likes to imitate the way they say, “It’s you, you out there in radio land, listening to this station driving to work, or maybe relaxing at home. If you are listening to this station right now, then you are a special group. You aren’t like everybody else in our culture! You enjoy this programming. You appreciate the finer things in life– the fact that we have no commercials, no interruptions. We have quality news, informative programs and good music. You need to become a member and support this station. Call now. It’ll just take a moment of your time. And membership starts at only $30 a year.”
And still only 10% of listeners make that call. 10% become members. 90% of people listen to the informative news, good music and great programs, supported by the 10%. Here’s another 10% figure. Tony Robinson, who wrote this book called Transforming Congregational Culture says that on average only 10% of people in Seattle, WA go to a church on Sundays. (Probably on par with New England) In other words, it’s far from the norm in much, not all, of our country today to go to church.
So, onto the sheep, the disciples. The word disciple, as you may have guessed, comes from the same root word as discipline. Now who here likes to be disciplined? Discipline means following the latest diet, right?- no good food, no yummy splurges (unless you’re on Atkins and can eat big, juicy steaks), no ice cream sundaes, or late night pizza... Or discipline might mean getting up before dawn to exercise. A few people in our church do that. Good for them! Most of us do not. Or if you’re a child, discipline means you’ve done something wrong. You’re in trouble. You need discipline! I clearly remember one day when I was about 11 and my father decided I needed some discipline. I had been mean to the younger sister of a friend, and I really paid for it. I won’t go into details, but more than just my pride suffered that day and it’s been etched in stone, permanently in my memory bank ever since. Discipline can be a difficult and painful thing.
But there’s another side to discipline, and so there’s another side to being a disciple. The quote in the bulletin come from this book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. “Service that is duty-motivated breathes death. Service that flows out of our inward person is life, and joy and peace.” Now I don’t think duty is such a bad thing, except when it’s the only thing motivating you, then it turns into drudgery, right? So what brings you life and joy and peace? We’ve got lots of options here. We can feed the hungry, (and we will do that today already!) We can give clothing to those in need. We can visit those who are sick or in prison. I still remember the day when one of the NY Conference ministers came to visit me in the hospital. I was in for 9 days before my son James was born. And Judy Hjorth, who just retired last spring from being our regional minister here in CT, came to visit me at the hospital in Johnson City, NY. And it really meant a lot to me, that she took time out of a busy day. Out of all the things she could have been doing for our region of NY state, she chose to visit me in the hospital. And every time I see her, I remember that day she visited me.
So, we can do these good things for others. But we can also do these things without being at all connected to a church. In fact, more and more, that’s the norm. I had a nasty sore throat and headache a few weeks ago and I went to the doctor who was on call for my doctor that day. I had never seen this doctor before. I’ll call him Dr. D. When I walked into the reception area, my eye was immediately drawn to a collage of photos from New Orleans, labeled “Dr. D’s Photos- trip to new Orleans, Oct. ‘05.” Then when I get into the office, and I’m sitting there waiting for him, on the wall right next to the exam table there’s a thank you letter from shelter in New Britain, thanking him for his services, which he obviously had provided free of charge to the people at the shelter. The point is that is was very obvious to me that Dr. D. was a service oriented kind of person. He seemed to be living the life of a disciple. So he comes in and he says “Hello Ma’m” and then he says, “so what do you do?” And I say “I’m a minister.” And then he says, “Oh, so I should call you Pastor.” And I said, “Well, hardly anyone in my church calls me pastor, really.” Which prompted his comment, “Well, who goes to church anymore, anyways?” So there you have it! Who does go to church anymore anyways? And the answer is, “we do.” We are disciples of Jesus Christ, and we go to church.
We love this church. And I’m not talking about the building. I’m talking about the people. This church, (you all out there!) has made a difference in so many ways to a lot of people. I was talking to somebody after the church council meeting two weeks ago after we had wrestled with how large the deficit is this year, and what can be done about it. Her idea was to get people to stand up and give testimonies about what this church means to them. You could write it down, and have someone else read it, or you could tell it like it is yourself. You could start with “I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and this is what my church means to me.”
So I’ll start. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ and this is what my church means to me. Not to put other churches down, but this is the best church that I have ever worked for. Working here is a true joy to me. Basically because of you all; because of the joy and the humor, as well as the dedication and commitment that you bring to everything you do here: from teaching, to coming to meetings, to trying new things, like the memorial garden and the Victorian tea. Basically people are so positive here. There’s no bitterness or back-biting– and I’ve seen that at other churches. This church is healthy and has so much potential. And behind all these wonderful things is yes, God’s hand at work, but God’s hand at work through each one of you. So thank you for making my job so much fun, and a real source of joy to me.
Let’s close by singing our last hymn, Bringing in the Sheaves, which not only has a good Thanksgiving, harvest theme, but also talks about our work as disciples of Jesus Christ and the seeds that we can sow for others every day...