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May 6, 2007 Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Don Evans Lost & Found To the faithful saints of Bethany UCC, I bid you the peace that Christ so lovingly bestows. Let me tell you about a tragic conflict. There was a nation of people living proudly in a land of their own. But alas, their leaders failed to do their jobs, which weakened this nation. This nation was facing a dire future as neighboring countries had set their sights on conquest. A conquest that would expand their area of power and would help them secure their future. Not only did this nation of people, who had a proud heritage, face conquest by bullying nations around them, they faced their own failure as a nation. Their leaders had failed them and they had failed each other. They were lost in inaction and the mentality of expecting the miraculous to be done by someone else. Then it happened! Another nation did rise up against them. It invaded their country, destroying villages, enslaving people and even destroying a special place for their worship. With military might wielded by leaders who were more focused and dedicated to their mission, a mission that most certainly seemed to them to be a move to secure their own survival. Not only did they conquer a big portion of this territory, they carried the captured away to their stronghold, a land far to the south. The conquered were forced to live and work in a land they knew little of, among people they had very little in common. Here they settled in subservience, apathy, living what was probably a humiliating existence. Their leaders continued to fail them by allowing the people to lose sight of their identity, their faith and their heritage. Some undoubtedly became accustomed and complacent in their living. The people failed to hold their leadership accountable for help. They failed each other by losing faith. They were not living happily ever after. The people had lost their homeland and lived a lost existence. Since I am an educator, I often give a homework assignment. I might yet today but for now a pop quiz will have to suffice. The story I just told was not a work of fiction. It was a very real conflict. So, think for a moment and see if you can figure out where it took place and jot it down on your bulletin. Could it be from one of the great wars of this century? Or could it be a modern conflict like we see in the news on the Middle East, Asia and Central America? Or was it an American tragedy that we do not like to admit happened. As Americans we don’t like to think that our country would engage in behaviors such as the white man’s triumph over the native Americans or that of our slave trade? A lot of these conflicts have met the criteria of the story today . And the answer is; (drum roll please) It was the lost people of Judah, the Israelites that were driven from their homes by the Assyrians. It is what Ezekiel used as the setting leading up to today’s Hebrew lesson. Does anyone want to acknowledge that they got it right? (Comment -great if anyone got it and add -I wouldn’t have got it either ) - I only knew it because of preparing for the sermon. The forced study that is required in sermon preparation really is a blessing for me. Remember I said the last time, when you graciously allowed me into your pulpit, that I really do admire the prophets and that I like the challenge of preaching from the O.T. For me it is the challenge of preaching God’s love from settings quite different from our own. Here we see a great example of the courage and conviction of someone called by God to do His will among His people. While in exile, Ezekiel was pretty well off. He was a learned man from a priestly family. He had skills the conquerors could use. He led a relatively comfortable life with house and position. Yet he accepted his call to be God’s servant. Ezekiel was willing to move from his comfort zone into the uncomfortable zone of the people who needed to hear and heed the word of God. He was willing to leave his station and mingle with the masses; willing to reach out to them as God’s messenger. God was speaking then through Ezekiel in a message quite clear. Hear again these words, ”I will rescue them from all the places where they are scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the nations.” This was God’s promise; not just words spoken by a concerned member of the lost community. It was the Word of God - and it was the Holy Spirit using a faithful vessel to carry the message to an unhearing, unheeding, unaware lost people. It was God’s promise that He will find them no matter where they were. It was God’s promise to find them all, no matter where they were ; no matter if they were in a group like a flock or a lost sole wandering, like a lost stray lamb. See it was not hard for me to come up with sermon title “Lost and Found”. They were lost and God could find them. But there is also two other significant messages in the text. God will also judge and care for the people. Listen to the text,” I will bind up the injured and strengthen the week, but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep”. God not only promised to find them, but also to protect them, and be their judge. It was a promise that I believe was meant for both captive and captor. It was also a message with dire consequence. It was a message full of grace punctuated by warning of judgment. God was speaking to them then, promising as their creator that he would take care of them because they were his people and would also destroy their captors. BUT those that failed to hear him, failed to hear those words of salvation would be lost forever. And forever is a very, very long time! While reading, studying and researching this portion of scripture I chose to focus on the part about being lost. I am not going to elaborate any further on the judgment part and speak just a little on the caring part. So, your homework for this week- pause - and you thought you were just going to have to answer the quiz part! - your homework is to reread Ezekiel and N.T. texts and listen to what they are saying about judgment and about strengthening and caring for the injured. In returning to the focus on the lost people, all they had to do to be found was to listen and obey. The people needed to allow their shepherds to guide them with the help of the Holy Spirit. Their shepherds needed to step up to the plate and heed the will of God. They needed to get with it. They needed to heed the words spoken by Ezekiel. They needed to take an active role in helping God both find them and help in the process of getting them returned to their homeland. God was speaking to the people of Israel them, but how is he speaking to us now? My, Oh my, how the world has changed in the last 26 hundred years, since Ezekiel spoke such prophetic words. To maybe help us understand how and where God can find us, we need to find out where we can be lost. That’s right folks we too can be lost. Maybe not physically lost in another country like the Israelites but lost nonetheless. Could we be lost in the unending tedium we find in daily life? Are we lost in the maize of our fast paced, hectic, and information overloaded lifestyles? Are we lost in keeping up with the Joneses? Are we lost in our struggle to make ends meet, or in efforts to shepherd rambunctious offspring? Are we lost in sorrows that that inevitably come our way? Are we lost in the many addictions our world has to offer? The kind of addictions us “good people” shouldn’t have, drugs, pornography, alcohol & gambling to name a few. Or could we be lost from God simply because we fail to acknowledge his Holy Presence? I would like to share an example of being lost. It was me that was lost. A little over six years ago I decided it was a time for a job change. I had been the A.P. at Southeast for nine years. I took a similar job in a larger school in an adjacent county. Have you ever heard the phrase “jumping from the frying pan into the fire”? Well that is exactly what I did. And not being shy, I jumped in head first to boot. The stress of that job and the personal relationships there built and built and by mid year I was a mess psychologically. What I know now was that I was in deep depression accompanied by moments of panic attacks. I was lying awake at night with thoughts of violence towards myself and another. I dreaded going to work and while I was there I wasn’t functioning very well. Days were filled with anxiety, indecision and despair. Yep, I was a real mess. I did not know what to do, nor did my wife, Marie, who I was most certainly scaring the dickens out of. Sure I attended church and I was active in many church activities. But I was lost in my own life and struggling to find help. Turning to scripture helped some but was not the solution. There was no one in the workplace to turn to. I was just as turned about, out of sync and lost as the Israelites of old were. I was lost. But I had something going for me that they did not. They just had the one lone voice of Ezekiel urgently trying to help them. My wife Marie was my Ezekiel. She nudged, comforted & urged me in different directions for help. What I had in addition to my Ezekiel were others being shepherds for me. In fact I had at least four! There were many others who helped with prayer and encouraging words, but I had four key shepherds. The solution to my being lost came from four totally different directions. My first shepherd was Rev. Ruth Chartier, who was my faith guide & prayer partner. We would light a Christ candle and sit, sometimes talking, sometimes praying. This is something you might want to do when you are praying with someone or even when you are praying alone. Light a candle and allow the light of Christ to be with you. Rev. Ruth prayed with me and for me. She also helped me learn how to pray for the person I perceived as the “problem”. That took a long time for me to come to terms with. It took even longer for me to actually do. Just like the alcoholic needs the various steps outlined by alcoholics anonymous, it was a very important step for me to take towards being found. Praying for my perceived enemy brought a deep sense of peace to my soul. The second shepherd was my family doctor. Thankfully he is a man with deep spiritual convictions. He provided the medicine that turned off the violent thoughts and provided a calmness in which to function. He also provided what proved to be a huge part of my healing and return from my being lost. By writing and order keeping me from returning to the workplace, he essentially lifted me out of the fire giving me time to land in a place other than returning to the frying pan where I originally came from. He gave me time that allowed other people to shepherd me. He also gave me directions to another shepherd. My third shepherd. This shepherd was like the cop on the corner or the guy at the gas station that you stop and ask directions from when your lost when traveling. He came into my life briefly and helped get me pointed in the right direction. He was a psychologist. We met six times over a period of months. To this day I could not tell you what he did, but I felt better each time I left his office. He too recommended that I not return to the place of fire in my life. When I left his office after our last session, I knew I was going to be OK. My fourth shepherd did not do anything in particular but he was there, just like a shepherd standing by his flock providing a sense of security. His name is Richard, just an ordinary guy being an extraordinary friend during my six month period of being lost. We would meet on an occasional Saturday and go to his hobby farm in Jefferson County. On the way we would talk about tractors or trucks. We would listen to each other complain about stuff that really is insignificant in the scheme of things. When we would arrive we would dig into a repair project of some kind, or walk in the woods which we both find very comforting. It is like being alone with God and his creation. We would usually share a meal cooked, and sometimes burned, over an open fire. On the way home we would continue our talks maybe about the wild animals we saw on his farm that day or the ones we wished we had seen. Never once did he find fault with what I said or did. He was never judgmental. He accepted me for who I was. He was a shepherd of security. You know what happened at the end of that time? I was lost no more. I had regained my self confidence and trust in the Lord. I gained the courage to resign from the job of fire and search anew for a workplace where I could again flourish, even though I did not have a new job on the horizon. I worked at Sea World as a security guard until I landed my current job. I knew God, knew his presence as the Holy Spirit in my life. God found me, cared for me and healed my brokenness and made me more keenly aware of his providence. So, no matter what happens to you that might lead you into being lost, look for your shepherds. Do not wait for a miracle to happen like the Israelites, but let the shepherds around you help. They are all around you in places you’ll never imagine, placed there by God. That is the miracle for us to be in awe of. God will find you and guide you. Accept your call from God, God will also use us to help him find others. The next time you feel like God can’t use you, just remember – The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember... Noah was a drunk. Abraham was too old. Isaac was a daydreamer. Jacob was a liar. Leah was ugly. Joseph was abused. Moses had a stuttering problem. Gideon was afraid. Samson had long hair and was a womanizer. Rahab was a prostitute. Jeremiah and Timothy were too young. David had an affair and was a murderer. Jonah ran from God. Naomi was a widow. Job went bankrupt. John the Baptist ate bugs. Peter denied Christ. The Disciples fell asleep while praying. Martha worried about everything. The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once. Zaccheus was too small. Paul was too religious. Timothy had an ulcer...AND Lazarus was dead! Go forth and be a shepherd for God. Let the Lord use you in the quest to find the lost. AMEN. |
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