St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

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Shepherd, Like A Savior Lead Us!

Isaiah 40:1-11

December 4, 2005

1. Once upon a time there was a young boy. He and his family had gone to the beach, and he had decided to climb up the little rock formation nearby. It did not seem to be dangerous – after all, being from the mountains made rock-climbing part of his life. But his back-home rocks were always dry, and these were wet from the waves that constantly crashed against them. He slipped, and fell into the treacherous riptide. Fortunately for him, a man was walking on the rocks from the other side. As soon as he saw the boy fall, he dove in after him, and kept that young lad from being swept out to sea. After the child recovered from his harrowing experience, he said to the man, "Thank you for saving my life." The man looked straight into the boy’s eyes and said, "That’s okay, kid. Just make sure your life was worth saving."

2. All the creatures in creation find themselves in a riptide of one form or another, and need someone to save them. Shepherds are much like that man; they are everyday saviors. They risk their own lives to save the life of one of their own who is in trouble. And they know that every sheep is worth saving. The people who heard these words from Isaiah’s mouth knew that better than we, having sheep and shepherds close at hand. We are so ‘city-fied’ that we don’t really know the dangers they willingly face to save their flock. Did any of you grow up on a sheep ranch? Some may remember Annabelle Green. She was an active member here until she had to move to Norman. But I remember when she was here, and how she would sit right there and nod her head up and down any time I talked about sheep. She knew the dangers and difficulties in raising sheep! And she knew that shepherding was a unique calling – not everyone could be a shepherds. Shepherds are innately saviors!

3. Shepherds know how to lead. This part of Isaiah’s prophecy tells us exactly what the shepherd does: Speaks softly; gathers the lambs in his arms, hugs them close as he carries them. Isn’t that a comforting picture? Shepherds know that sheep respond to gentle voices and loving actions, not scolding and yelling and whipping and prodding. Shepherds know how to lead, they know who to lead, and they know where to lead: Shepherds gently lead the most vulnerable ones to good pasture. He knows those lives are worth saving.

4. But shepherds cannot lead an imaginary flock! They need some sheep who will follow them. Can you think of any candidates? I can! I think St. Andrew’s would make a pretty good flock right now! We are pretty vulnerable. Why are we at risk? A tree fell on the walkway and the educational building last Sunday. A BIG tree. And the end result of that tree-falling incident is that we have broken windows, a roof that is pushed over a couple of inches . . . and a hole in it. We can stand back and get a panoramic view of the whole mess, and wring our collective hands with worry about how it will cost to have it repaired. Insurance will only cover so much, you know, and it’s $1,000 deductible insurance, anyway. We don’t know what it will cost. All that is still in the data-collecting/decision-making stage anyway. The insurance adjustor hasn’t come yet to give us any numbers. So one response is to fret and worry.

5. Another response is to look through that hole from below it – look up. There was a church that had a similar problem, only the tree fell through the stained-glass dome in their sanctuary. They worried and fretted and argued about how it happened and what they should do. After a few Sundays of worshiping under that gaping hole, they realized that it was a God-shaped hole, big enough for the Holy Spirit to blow fresh winds through that church. Now, our hole actually opened when the tree-cutter-downer stepped on what looked like a solid piece of roof only to find it was not solid after all. So our hole is technically not God-shaped, but Ryan-shaped. However, that is very much beside the point! The point is that we have a hole in our roof, and we can see it as a catastrophe or as an opportunity for God to save us from the mess we’re in – to send the fresh winds of the Spirit through our building this Advent.

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