Easter 3, 2023

 Today we finally celebrate the baptism of Juniper!  We have been in such anticipation of this event, watching and waiting for the right time.  As I was stressing about finding the best time, among snow, ice, and illness, Rachel, Juniper’s mother reassured me, whatever day we do it will be the perfect time.   I appreciate that grace and reassurance!

            I’m going to talk today about being in the fold and flocks of Jesus and about Jesus as the gate. 

            This Gospel makes me a little nervous because I am afraid people will use it to justify rejecting strangers.  But in Jesus’ day and in ancient Israel, several flocks would have been housed together in the same enclosure.  Other sheep were not met with suspicion or fear.  In the morning when the sheep were let out of their pen, they would separate into their flocks by following the shepherd they knew and trusted.  Even though they were mixed together by night for safety, they found their way to their group by following their shepherd’s voice.

            Jesus is protective of his flock.  He claims today a lesser “I am” as he reveals himself to us.  Before he has said, “I am the bread of life,” “I am the light of the world” “I am the way the truth and the life” “I am the good shepherd.”  Today he is something maybe a little more boring.  He says, “I am the gate.”  Then he goes on to describe himself as the gate, the shepherd, the one with the voice, and the one the sheep can trust, so it’s a little convoluted.  The point is about who we trust and who our leaders are.

            It can be so fun to follow someone interesting and popular and charismatic, but Jesus is telling us to be trustworthy leaders and find trustworthy leaders.  First of all, we should be trustworthy leaders.  I was so frustrated last week when the email came to all of you, a scam, saying I needed your help and would you purchase gift cards.  I am working hard to earn your trust and now whenever you read my emails, you will be looking to see if it is really me.  It is good for us to be alert and awake to scams and the way human beings so easily turn toward self-interest.  Secondly we are urged to find trustworthy leaders.  At Trinity, we are careful to hold our staff and leaders accountable.  We all have a yearly evaluation in which we state our goals for the coming year.  Trinity has a staff support committee to ensure that the staff handbook is clear about accountability and vacation and sick days.  I have a pastoral support committee that brings to me concerns from the congregation and helps me focus.  That doesn’t mean that your staff and pastor won’t make mistakes or let you down.  It doesn’t mean that we are free from bias or human weakness.  Human leadership is problematic.  It helps when we hold each other accountable and ground ourselves in the word and leadership of Jesus.  All our ministries come from Jesus and ought to point to Jesus, our true leader, gate, and shepherd.

            Today we gain a new leader in our flock, Juniper.  Jesus centered people you’d never expect and pointed to them as examples and leaders.  Juniper has been such a trustworthy leader, curious, exploring, sharing her joys and insights, sharing funny stories about her brother, showing us grace as we learn to center children in our ministry of Jesus.  She’s a leader in our flock, welcoming other children and adults, bravely trying new roles and speaking God’s grace to us, “The body of Christ!” as she assists with Holy Communion.  She is a leader in our community, working with her family to clear blackberries from part of the Springwater trail and plant trees there that will bless her and future generations for many years to come.  Cassie has been a leader in Confirmation class, Alex has been a leader teaching us about Martin Luther King Jr. during the children’s sermon in January, John has been a leader with his attention to detail in his drawings that are inspiring and encouraging and Iona has been a leader holding out her little hands in trust to receive the body of Christ.

            New people are coming into this flock, and it is Juniper’s very special baptism day.  she’s always been God’s precious child.  Today she receives the outward sign of the faith that has been growing in her all along.  We get to take this time to reflect on our own journey of faith and baptism.  We get to be changed by Juniper.  She gets to be shaped and changed by us.  Our flock is joyful.  Our flock will never be the same, just as Jesus intended it.

            Our scriptures lay out today the possibilities for communities of baptized people, sharing everything in common, spending time together, eating together, praising God, following our shepherd through green pastures and valleys filled with dangers and shadows, and abiding together with God forever.  We are all on this walk together.

            The life of the baptized is one of blessing but not one free from suffering or pain.  When we follow our shepherd through the gate, we take the path that he did, that he does.  It is a path leading to abundant life, and that is not the easy path.  I suppose the easy path is to stay right where you are, but shepherds know what is good for the flock is to rotate in different pastures and to care for the land, to ensure the recovery and livelihood of the land so that it can support life for a long time to come.  Sheep face many dangers, predators, cliffs, bad weather, illness.  Through all of it, we have Jesus looking out for us.

            Juniper will know sadness and rejection.  She will face consequences for doing the right thing.  But she will never be alone in her troubles.  She will have a community of faith right there with her.  She will know the love and promises of God.  She will have the stories of her people, following the shepherd, going in and out of the gate, mixing with other flocks, finding their way, sharing love, sharing grace, growing and learning.

            What I love about Jesus being the gate is that there are times for coming in and resting and there are times for going out, exploring and growing.  The way sheep get lost is that they put their heads down to graze and when they look up again, the flock is nowhere to be seen.  Let us not get so wrapped up in a good thing that we don’t look up now and then to get our bearings and stay oriented with our flock.  Let us not seek to just stay comfortably in the pen, but follow our savior’s voice to green pastures and still waters and abundant life.

            We not only have the benefit of being in the flock, but we have the responsibility to extend the welcome of the flock to strangers, as Jesus has for us.  In our flock, Jesus has earned our trust with his grace and love and calls us forth, because we trust his voice.  Jesus has led Trinity through many crises, some of leadership, some of finances, some of growth and direction of ministry.  There will be new crises to come.  And still we listen for the voice of our shepherd and follow.  We welcome.  We accept grace.  We extend grace.  We come in by the gate.  We go out by the gate.  And we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.