“The Faith We Sing: In the Garden” by Rev. Cody Sandahl – July 2, 2017
Lay Reader = Psalm 5
1Give ear to my words, O Lord; give heed to my sighing. 2Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch. 4For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil will not sojourn with you. 5The boastful will not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. 6You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful. 7But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house, I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.
Introduction
We’re going to approach sermons in the summer a little differently this year. On the first Sundays of the month, like today, I’m going to look closely at classic hymns and the stories and Scriptures behind them. On the other Sundays, like next week, we’re going to look at the seven churches listed in the book of Revelation and ask what they can teach us today – spoiler alert, it’s quite a bit.
This week we are using the hymn, “In the Garden” as our inspiration. It was written by C. Austin Miles in 1912, and he actually gave his own account of how the hymn came to be. He had a vision of a scene from John 20 where Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene on Easter. Here’s what he said.
“It was though I was in a trance, as I read it that day, I seemed to be part of the scene. I became a silent witness to that dramatic moment in Mary’s life, when she knelt before her Lord and cried, “Rabboni”. I rested my hands on the open Bible, as I stared at the light blue wall. As the light faded, I seemed to be standing at the entrance of a garden, looking down a gently winding path, shaded by olive branches. A woman in white, with head bowed, hand clasping her throat, as if to choke back her sobs, walked slowly into the shadows. It was Mary. As she came unto the tomb, upon which she placed her hand, she bent over to look in, and ran away.
John, in a flowing robe, appeared looking at the tomb. Then came Peter, who entered the tomb, followed slowly by John. As they departed, Mary reappeared leaning her head upon her arm at the tomb, she wept. Turning herself, she saw Jesus standing there, so did I. I knew it was He. She knelt before Him, with arms outstretched, and looking into His face cried, “Rabboni”.
I awakened in sunlight, gripping my Bible with my muscles tense, and nerves vibrating, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I wrote as quickly as the words could be formed the lyrics exactly as it is sung today. That same evening, I wrote the tune. It is sung today as it was written in 1912.”
That’s a powerful vision! The first two verses and the refrain to the hymn come from that vision, but the last verse seems to come more from John 10, which is our second text for today.
John 10:1-18
1“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
What You Need to Survive
As you know, I love Star Wars. But I like to branch out a little bit, too. I also love Space Balls, the parody movie that makes fun of Star Wars. I have range, you know. As I thought about shepherds, I was reminded of a scene where they’re in the desert after crash landing. The heroes are slowly trekking across the dunes with copious amounts of her royal highness’s matched luggage. The rescue of the princess isn’t going well. And finally the main character drops the large suitcase and kicks it open. He turns with an incredulous look on his face and demands of the princess, “What is this? I told you to only bring what you need to survive!” “It’s my industrial strength hair dryer. AND I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT!” For some reason the starship captain didn’t think that fell into the “need” category.
Have you ever been confused between what you want and what you need? Do you have any industrial strength hair driers in your life that you’re toting around with you? Or making someone else carry?
In our text today, Jesus says that he is the shepherd, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. Now, I’ve shared several times before my disdain for sheep – an opinion born out of experience – but they are interesting nonetheless. For instance, sheep fall into the grazing category. That means they are fairly nonspecific about what they put into their mouths – whatever’s in front of them looks mighty tasty – they NEED that grass. Or that rock. Or that cable.
And as much as I like to deride sheep, I can’t claim that we’re much different. We just call it impulse buying. Oh look! It’s “as seen on TV!”
One of the jobs of the shepherd is to show the sheep what they really need. The sheep are focused on whatever is in front of their faces, but the shepherd knows whether this field is actually nourishing or if it’s just full of weeds. The sheep are mozying in a general direction, but the shepherd knows if that’s a smooth path or a steep cliff. The shepherd knows what the sheep really need, even if the sheep “BAAA” in protest when he wants them to move.
Jesus says that if we know his voice and follow it, that’s what we need. Trust in the good shepherd. The hymn says “he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am His own.” Trusting that Jesus is walking with us, trusting that Jesus is talking with us, trusting that we belong to Jesus – that’s what we truly need. Not an industrial strength hair drier. Not this patch of grass we’re clinging to.
Wool Blindness
Sheep not only get stuck on getting whatever’s in front of them. They also try to avoid things that might help them. There are a fair number of sheep in New Zealand, and one of them disappeared in 1998. His name was Shrek. And after a while, his owners gave up the search and lamented the loss of their beloved Shrek. But in 2004, six years later, Shrek wandered back to the fold. In addition to the impressive feat of surviving that long on his own, Shrek also sported six years of unshorn wool – enough to make 20 men’s suits. Can you imagine walking around in the summer with 20 suits on? I’d die of heat stroke! His wool was so thick, he effectively had blinders on. It’s called wool blindness. He ran away to escape being shorn, it’s kind of like going to the dentist – you might know you need it but you’d rather avoid it, right? So he ran away to avoid four minutes of annoyance. And he accumulated 20 suits’ worth of insulation and wool blindness.
How far will we go to avoid discomfort? There are one-handed bottle openers for those times when it’s too hard to use two hands to open your beverage of choice. There’s a tie with built-in water bladder and straw – like a camelback for your office – so you don’t have to get up from your desk to refill your water bottle. There’s a baby jumpsuit with microfibers on it so the crawling baby cleans your floors as it goes. OK, let’s be honest. That one’s genius! Maybe we’re superior to sheep after all!
But seriously, how much of your life is spent trying to avoid pain or discomfort in the future? How much time do you spend worrying about potential problems? Have you ever been tempted to lie because it would avoid pain in the moment? We do these things all the time!
Jesus says in our text today, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” There are sheep who, like New Zealand Shrek, are running away from the Shepherd. But that wouldn’t include anyone here, right? No one here would ever try to avoid hearing the hard thing Jesus is saying to them? I know I’ve never done that. And I also have some oceanfront property in Arizona for you!
I think we avoid what Jesus says because we hear the hard part – we hear that we are to copy the good shepherd who “lays down his life for his sheep.” He risks for his sheep. That’s not safe. But our hymn today says, “He speaks, and the sound of His voice is so sweet the birds hush their singing, and the melody that he gave to me within my heart is ringing.” Following the voice of the shepherd isn’t easy – but it makes your heart ring. Would you rather sit around contemplating your fear of everything that could go wrong? Or would you rather have your heart ring as you follow the risky voice of the shepherd?
Outward
The last verse in the hymn really gets to the heart of the matter. It says, “I’d stay in the garden with Him, Though the night around me be falling, But He bids me go; through the voice of woe His voice to me is calling.” The author would rather just sit around enjoying the presence of Jesus in the garden. But Jesus tells him it’s time to move on. It’s time to do what needs to be done. It’s time to reach those sheep who aren’t in the fold.
This happened with Peter, James, and John when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain top and he was joined by Moses and Elijah. Remember that? Peter proposes making a camp on top of the mountain and staying there forever, but that’s when the vision ended and Jesus led them back down off the mountain and into the plain to continue their mission. The voice of the shepherd doesn’t JUST lead us to green pastures and still waters. The voice of the shepherd also calls us out to do the work of his Father.
The Tree Logo
So really there are three main points we see from this hymn and from Jesus being our good shepherd. First, we receive what we truly need from the shepherd, even though we’re distracted by whatever is in front of us. Second, we find our heart ringing when we follow the voice of the shepherd, even we would rather avoid the shears and just keep our wool. And finally, the shepherd leads us to nourishment and comfort BUT ALSO leads us to our most important places and tasks.
When we have TRUST in the shepherd, we receive the nourishment we need to be STRONG, so that we can make a DIFFERENCE in his name.
Are you with me?
Those are the main points behind the new church logo you’ve been seeing in our publications and emails. Take a look at the back of your bulletin and you’ll see the tree with the cross coming out of the trunk.
We were trying to communicate a few things with that logo. One is the need for strong roots. We need roots that are strong and deep. We need trust placed in the good shepherd, not our own abilities.
With those roots in place we can grow up healthy. We aren’t meant to be static. There was an ad many years ago where a guy is on his computer and he looks with amazement as he reaches, “the end of the Internet.” He’s done! But that’s only funny because we know that’s impossible. No one can read everything on the Internet because more content is added each day than you could read in a lifetime. In the same way we can’t reach the end of our growth in our faith. We are never finished. We never arrive. Just as a tree adds a ring each year it’s alive, we keep growing in our faith as long as we have those sturdy roots.
And finally, a tree branches out so it can help grow the forest. A single tree on its own will disappear someday, but a forest can last. We aren’t just about ourselves. We are about our community. We are about making a difference in Christ’s name. We are about helping new trees grow.
So you can think about this in your own life. How are my roots of faith? How visible is my faith in my family or at work or in my friendships? And finally how much of a difference am I making as I branch out in Christ’s name?
No sheep can do that on their own. But if the sheep are following the voice of the shepherd, they can get there. So what is the shepherd saying to you? It might be a word of comfort and nourishment. It might be a word of purpose and challenge. It might be a word prodding you to get out of the garden and into the world. Whatever he’s saying, follow the voice of the shepherd. Amen.
