My friend Tom Rickenbacker grew up in Virginia. He loved to go down to the pond behind his house and fish or just mess around, daydreaming. His parents were constantly scolding him for going off alone. But he loved the outdoors.
It was winter one year when Tom was about six. He awoke on a Saturday and there was frost on the ground, not a normal occurrence in the south. He ate breakfast and horsed around with his brother until about eleven o’clock. His mother told him that he was not allowed to go down to the pond. “It might be dangerous!” she said. She was always overcautious and forbid him from going down to the water alone. But Tom’s brother was content to read and he was bored.
He went downstairs. Phew! No one was in the kitchen! Tom snuck out of the house on his way to the pond. “I wonder if there is ice!” he thought. And if there was ice, was it strong enough for him to walk on? He was excited by the glittering beauty of the frost and the iceickles hanging from the trees. It was a glorious day.When he reached the pond, he was pleased. There was ice and lots of it. He put his foot on it and pressed down…nothing. It appeared thick and strong. Tom stood on it, knowing that if the ice broke, he would do nothing but get his sneakers wet, since the water was so shallow. Then he shuffled a bit further out. The ice seemed to hold. It was incredibly beautiful. “What if I got cut a hole in the ice and tried to fish like an ice-fisherman that I saw on TV?” Tom got more and more excited with this idea. He went and collected a big rock.
Moving out further onto the ice, carrying the rock, Tom carefully eased his way to the center of the pond. Now, if he fell in, he would surely get really wet and have to pull himself out. He knew that he shouldn’t be doing this, but the thrill was so great. It was just like the movies! He was about ready to throw the stone on the ice to make a hole, when he heard a voice. It was very quiet for it was a long way off, but he heard it distinctly.
“HMM!!” It sounded a bit like his mother. He couldn’t make out her word, but it sounded like his name. Was she calling for him? She would be furious if she knew that he had come down to the pond again and gotten on the ice. Maybe he was hearing things. Maybe he hadn’t heard anything at all.
He waited. Nothing. Thank God, it was just his imagination. He got ready to throw the stone. “TMMM!” Oh, no, there it was again! The voice. It sounded much more familiar and it must be moving closer because it was louder. Could he pretend that he didn’t hear? Should he run and hide?
“TOMMM!” Now that was definitely his mother. She didn’t sound so happy. He inched his way off the pond with the stone, going the other way so that he could hide from her in the woods. Maybe if I run and hide, I can get back to the house the long way and pretend that I was there all the time.”THOMAS MICHELLE RICKENBACKER!!” Oh no. That name. She used his full name. She was mad. He stood on the side of the shore of the pond, put down the stone and waited for the worst to happen.
“THOMAS MICHELLE RICKENBACKER, you come home this minute!!” Oh, well. The gig was up. He began to run back towards the voice. On and on he ran, expecting a punishment any time. He got to the house. His mother stood on the porch, he hands on her hips. “Come Inside” she said.
So inside he went, into the large kitchen. And there were all his friends from first grade. Andy and Allen and Scott and Ricky. And there was a huge cake and presents. He had forgotten that it was his birthday. His dad, even his granddad and grandma were there. He had forgotten that it was his birthday.
In today’s gospel, Jesus is walking in the temple at the Feast of the Dedication, what we call Hannukah. The Jews are trying to get him to admit to being the Messiah so that they can arrest him. But Jesus tells them that they are not his sheep. So it doesn’t matter what he tells them. They will never believe.
My sheep hear my voice, he says. And I know them and they follow me.
There are only two things that you need to do to be a sheep in the flock of the Good Shepherd. You need to hear his voice and you need to follow. Notice that Jesus does not say that his sheep know him, rather he says that he knows them. “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.”
If we are really quiet, many of us can hear God’s voice. Now I’m not talking about a verbal voice, though some claim to have heard that. No, I am talking about the call of God. I like to call it the Pull, because it is not necessarily verbal. It an be a sense, a feeling, a knowledge. What is pulling on your heart? What gives you peace? What do you know God would take joy in? Where is the light in your life, the right, the courage, the life? Ask yourself these questions and you will experience the the pull. Something will urge you on in the direction that Christ would walk. And then you know that you have heard the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Most of us in this church and trying to follow that call from God. But most of us spend a lot of time stalling and questioning, doubting and hiding. Like my friend Tom, I think that we believe that if we truly follow the pull of the Good Shepherd, that we will be punished. We hear the voice but we are scared and so we pretend that we didn’t hear it. Or we make excuses saying that God was not clear enough, that we could not be sure it was God, when, deep down inside, we do know.
So may people have said to me, “Oh, I don’t hear voices!” Of course you don’t, but when you are quiet and when you pray, can’t you often identify the way that is most loving? And if you do identify it, what are you waiting for? Sometimes there are many directions in which God calls us, but I believe that most of you know what is best for you and hSo why do we run when we feel the pull to move closer to God? Or why do we pretend that we don’t hear? Why do we inch away or ignore? I think that we expect God to make us work and suffer for our faults. I think we find ourselves unworthy and we are scared of loosing our comfort. Like Tom, we want to run and hide from God’s voice when all God wants to do is throw a party for us.
There is an old folktale about a man who gets to heaven and St. Peter is standing at the gate. (I remind you that I don’t believe in this scenario, because I think that God will run to us like the Running Father in the story of the prodigal son.) The man goes up to St. Peter. St Peter asks him his name and occupation. “John Fowler” he says. “Engineer.”
“Oh, yes, Welcome Home John!” St Peter opens the gate wide and invites John into heaven.”Wait!” John says. “That’s it? What about the time that I lied and almost cheated on my wife? You’re just going to let me in??”
“Yes, John, that’s the way it works.” John could see streets of gold inside, more beautiful than anything he had seen before, but he backed up a step. “No, this isn’t right. I am not ready. You don’t mean me.”
“Oh, yes we do, John. We mean you.”
“No, that is too bright. I have too many faults. God must not be aware of my faults.”
“Oh, but he is, John and he welcomes you inside.”
With each word, John took another step back until finally he said, “I just can’t do this.” And he turned around and walked away from heaven.
I want to suggest to you that you do hear God’s voice. All of you! After all, you are here. Most of you, deep down inside, know right from wrong and what God would have you do. What we lack is the strength and courage to actually follow, because the way is unfamiliar and its bright and we would rather argue within ourselves about whether we can actually hear God. Or feel the pull. We would rather waste our time arguing about issues that are not central to our faith, complaining about our neighbors, worrying about our business. We do so many things to drown out the voice of the Good Shepherd! We stay so busy, with so much noise in our lives, that we can’t listen to anything! But deep in your hearts, no matther how busy you are, he continues to call.
Trust that you do hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Trust that you have known all your life about God’s love for you and God’s will for you. And begin to move in the direction of that pull, of that voice.
The Easter joy awaits us all who have the courage to move closer to God. But sometimes we pretend that we don’t hear and we spend our lives waiting on the periphery of joy, taking a step back whenever we are invited to move inside. Have courage! God has something in mind for you which is so much greater than you can imagine if you would only trust and follow, trust and follow.
