Theological Status: COMPROMISED (Worldly/Sloppy)
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Pergamum
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Compromised Parallel
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
Why strictly "Mark & Avoid"?
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
We do not issue this rating to attack the speaker, but to protect the listener. This ministry's overall teaching trend consistently deviates from sound doctrine. As per Romans 16:17, we identify these patterns so believers can guard their hearts.
🧐 Overview
Theological Verdict & Summary
Sermon Summary: In a world filled with competing voices, how do we distinguish the gentle lead of Christ from the noise of modern life?
Pastoral Analysis: This sermon offers a comforting and relatable exploration of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, using engaging agricultural anecdotes to illustrate the safety found in following Him. However, the message is significantly weakened by a failure to anchor these applications in the Gospel. By focusing on moralistic discernment and personal belonging without addressing the necessity of grace and regeneration, the sermon risks reducing Christianity to a system of self-improvement and behavioral adjustment.
Biblical Parallel (Archetype): Pergamum — The sermon exhibits a compromised theological state by tolerating a moralistic framework that relies on human discernment and behavioral application rather than the power of the Gospel. While not fundamentally heretical in its Christology, it fails to maintain the boundary of sound doctrine by omitting the core engine of grace, resulting in a message that accommodates worldly self-improvement rather than pointing to divine transformation.
Big Idea: Jesus identifies as the open gate and good shepherd, offering belonging, safety, and abundant life to all believers regardless of their behavior or ability to hear His voice, inviting them to trust His leadership over the noise of the world. [00:36:35 ▶️ 📄]
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: John 10:1-10
- Usage Classification: Thematic
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ✅ PASS - The speaker maintains a respectful and pastoral tone throughout, with no coarse language or inappropriate pejoratives.
✝️ Christological Focus: Moralistic/Imitative
"Jesus is presented primarily as a model for behavior (following His voice) and a source of comfort, rather than as the atoning sacrifice whose work enables the believer's response."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 10 | Referenced: 5 | Alluded: 0
📖 View 1 Passages Read Aloud
-
John 10:1-10
[00:34:58 ▶️ 📄]
"Very truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief, an abandoned. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him. And the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when He has brought out all His own, He goes ahead of them. And the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from Him because the strangers, because they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus was talking to the people, and He used this as a figure of speech with them. But they did not understand what He was saying. And so Jesus again said to them, Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and I will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."
Key References: John 10:1-10, John 10, John 14:6, John 11:25, John 8:12
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 1,899 words
📌 View 7 Key Topics Addressed
-
Liturgical Prayers and Community Concerns
[00:18:42 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor facilitates a time for sharing joys and concerns, including health updates for Jane Click, Tom White, and Karen Seibert, as well as celebratory news for Mary Jo Brewer and family members. -
Scripture Reading ([John 10](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+10&version=KJV))
[00:34:07 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor introduces the Good Shepherd Sunday reading from John 10, focusing on Jesus as the gate and the shepherd who leads his sheep by voice rather than force. -
The Shepherd and Sheep Metaphor
[00:36:35 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor uses anecdotes from Nadia Bowles Weber and a sheep farmer to explore the reluctance of humans to be 'sheep' and the nature of being led by Jesus' voice rather than coercion. -
The Metaphor of the Gate
[00:40:37 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor explains the gate as a proper entrance and exit, emphasizing that Jesus is the gate through which sheep find safety and pasture, contrasting it with thieves who climb over walls. -
Sheep vs. Human Independence
[00:44:07 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor addresses the cultural dislike of being 'sheep' due to associations with lack of independence, noting that humans often prefer to be 'black sheep' or leaders, but spiritual development involves letting go of the need to be in charge. -
Noise and Discernment
[00:46:07 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor discusses the difficulty of hearing the shepherd's voice amidst modern noise like pharmaceutical commercials and social media algorithms, warning that people may disguise themselves as the shepherd. -
Unconditional Belonging
[00:47:19 ▶️ 📄]
> Citing Nadia Bowles-Weber, the pastor argues that the shepherd's care is not contingent on the sheep being 'right' or 'good,' but that belonging is inherent, even for rebellious or 'smelly' sheep.
🖼️ View 4 Illustrations & Stories
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Sermon Illustration
[00:36:35 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor recounts a story about Lutheran pastor Nadia Bowles Weber, who described her flock as 'disobedient and a little smelly' and stated she would rather be a wolf than a sheep. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:39:03 ▶️ 📄]
> An anecdote about a friend from a sheep farm who explained that sheep are not dumb, but simply prefer to be led rather than herded from behind like cattle. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:41:33 ▶️ 📄]
> A personal story about working on a farm in East Bend, North Carolina, observing a cattle farmer who led cows similarly to how a shepherd leads sheep. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:41:33 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor shares a personal anecdote about working on a farm in East Bend, North Carolina, where a cattle farmer would lead cows across a road to a new field using a bucket of food. The pastor notes the field was overgrazed, muddy, and filled with non-nutritious buttercup weeds, and the hay was often moldy, illustrating the contrast between poor leadership/environment and the 'abundant life' promised by the shepherd.
🚀 View 1 Calls to Action
-
Pastoral Charge
[00:49:15 ▶️ 📄]
> To work for peace in the world and serve through Jesus Christ
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Compromised / Weak
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ❌ FAIL | The Gospel Engine is not intact. The sermon failed to substantively preach the core message of Total Depravity, Penal Substitution, and Monergistic Regeneration, instead relying on a thematic and moralistic framework. |
| Soteriology | ⚠️ WEAK | The sermon implies that belonging to the shepherd is an inherent state but fails to explain the mechanism of how one comes to trust Him, omitting the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | The sermon treats the biblical text as the foundation for its message, though the application drifts from exegesis to thematic moralism. |
| Hermeneutic | ⚠️ WEAK | The text is used as a springboard for a thematic message on discernment rather than being expounded upon for its redemptive-historical context. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | The description of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is biblically accurate and orthodox. |
| Sacramentology | ⚪ N/A | No sacramental errors detected; no sacraments were observed or referenced in a way that required evaluation. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ SHALLOW | The sermon lacks depth in explaining the 'why' and 'how' of salvation, focusing instead on surface-level applications of following Jesus. |
⚙️ The Core Gospel Framework
What is this? This section checks if the sermon contains the essential building blocks of the Gospel. We look for explicit, substantive mentions of God's holy standard, human inability, and Christ's finished work on the cross.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
Why it matters for the final verdict: A complete Gospel framework protects a sermon from becoming man-centered. If a preacher gives commands for good behavior but leaves out the grace and atonement of the Gospel, it often results in a 🔴 Critical or 🟠 Major error for Moralism (teaching human self-improvement rather than reliance on Christ). However, if these Gospel elements are missing simply because the pastor is preaching a highly focused, practical message to mature believers (e.g., instructions on biblical marriage), our system applies a "Safe Harbor" pardon, graciously reducing the omission to a 🟡 Minor error.
❌ The Law And Wrath: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Total Depravity And Inability: Not observed in the sermon.
❌ Active Obedience Of Christ: Not observed in the sermon.
✅ The Cross And Atonement:
"We thank you that Christ laid down his life for us" [00:49:05 ▶️ 📄]
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🟠 Major Assumed Gospel (Thematic/Moralistic)
Root Cause: Moralism
The Belief/Behavior: The speaker presents the Christian life as a matter of choosing to follow the shepherd's voice and discerning His truth amidst worldly noise, implying that the primary barrier is human confusion or distraction rather than spiritual death.
Why It's Dangerous: This reduces the Gospel to a moral choice, leading the congregation to believe that spiritual growth is achieved through better discernment and effort, rather than relying on the transformative power of God's grace.
Biblical Correction: Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
🟡 Minor Etymological Inaccuracy Regarding 'Pastor'
Root Cause: Linguistic Error
"Maybe you don't, but the word pastor actually is the Greek word for shepherd." [00:37:02 ▶️ 📄]
The Belief/Behavior: The speaker incorrectly asserts that the English word 'pastor' is derived from the Greek word for shepherd.
Why It's Dangerous: This creates a minor confusion regarding the linguistic history of church offices, though it does not alter the biblical mandate for shepherding.
Biblical Correction: Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
✅ Commendations
Illustration | Engaging Agricultural Anecdotes
The use of personal stories about farm life and the contrast between cattle and sheep leadership effectively illustrates the concept of being led by a shepherd, making the abstract concept of spiritual guidance tangible for the congregation.
Pastoral Tone | Comforting Affirmation
The pastor offers a direct and reassuring affirmation that belonging to the shepherd is not contingent on perfect behavior, which provides comfort to those struggling with performance-based faith.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:00:00] Good morning, you guys. Happy Sunday. Would y'all stand as you're able to sing something with us?
[00:00:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:00:23] Gold child, see the walls. Let the gates of glory open.
[00:03:13] Jesus Christ to y'all. Y'all take a moment to pass the peace. Y'all grab a seat.
[00:08:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:08:39] Joining church today, and I'm going to introduce you to them. Yeah, yeah.
[00:08:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:08:59] Y'all know how to do that. At 10 o'clock, they were all like, they were whispering.
[00:09:09] No, but they got mobbed. That must be it. Well, the quiet people do, but they mobbed them afterwards.
[00:09:15] They did a good job of that. So I'm going to introduce these folks to you if I can, but I have a cheat sheet.
[00:09:21] So there you go.
[00:09:23] This is the most very reverend Randy Hudson.
[00:09:27] All right.
[00:09:28] Now, if you all don't know Randy, he has come here a lot to the 1115 service.
[00:09:32] He moved away to take a job in Charlotte.
[00:09:35] He got another job, and he came back.
[00:09:37] So now he's here with us.
[00:09:39] Randy lives in Greensboro but travels over here for work.
[00:09:43] He's a dental hygienist.
[00:09:44] He comes from Lake Lure, North Carolina.
[00:09:47] And when Randy had moved, he sent me videos of his little town just washing out in the flood and really, really scary.
[00:09:59] He is a pianist.
[00:10:00] That's right.
[00:10:02] A pianist.
[00:10:03] He knows all the old Baptist hymns.
[00:10:05] He knows them all.
[00:10:07] Randy is a Southern Baptist in recovery.
[00:10:09] Randy doesn't claim that title but they wouldn't take his name off the roll so you know it's like once you're in you can't get out so I told them I'd send them a transfer letter but they're not going to take that
[00:10:24] so Randy it's great having you back and now you know we were in negotiations right before he left and he said yeah I'm not going to be here so but now we got him back
[00:10:36] alright this is Miss Where is your name? Gail Bowes. Gail is a neighbor. She lives here in the neighborhood, has lived here about 11 years. Yeah. Yeah. And she also grew up Southern Baptist and is in
[00:10:52] recovery. Gail is a retired teacher. She's already volunteering with the kids and family ministry, and she is coming from St. Anne's Episcopal Church. And so we are so happy to have Gail with us. She's been hanging out and wanting, and I said, well, you know, you don't have to
[00:11:10] join alone, but then it took a while to gather some other folks, and we did this week. So, all right. Welcome, Kim. This is Karen Craft. She is adjacent to the Trinity Diaspora.
[00:11:27] She's transferring her membership from Trinity Methodist Church, and she is a nurse. She's already been volunteering at our food pantry. She wanted to jump in. She said, I think that we're supposed to do something, which I thought was great. In fact, she's making a lot of you look
[00:11:43] bad. So this is Diana Holler, also a volunteer on Thursday nights at the food pantry. And Diana is also a nurse. And she spent some time outside the United States in South America and made it back
[00:12:00] in. She has an adult daughter we're looking forward to getting to know. And she likes yoga and hiking and gardening.
[00:12:08] Not all at the same time, but there you go.
[00:12:10] So, all right.
[00:12:11] And this lady at the end here, this is Pamela Marawa.
[00:12:16] She comes from a little county over called Zimbabwe.
[00:12:22] And she came from Zimbabwe to China, where she studied in medical school and learned Mandarin.
[00:12:31] And then she learned English to talk to all of you people and came here.
[00:12:35] Now, Pam, you should know, she is a doctor.
[00:12:39] She is a researcher of regenerative medicine, doing some work there while she's waiting to start a surgical rotation.
[00:12:46] She's, you know, really challenged in lots of ways.
[00:12:51] The other night when we were talking, we found out that she speaks three different languages, and Jerry goes, so you only speak three?
[00:12:59] That was funny, I thought.
[00:13:01] And she is a friend of Precious Mediwa, for those of you that know Precious.
[00:13:06] And so y'all, just really glad to have her with us.
[00:13:11] So this is it, y'all.
[00:13:12] There they all are.
[00:13:18] They all made their pledge at the early service.
[00:13:20] But if you look in your bulletin, in our worship order, you know we have a worship order, right?
[00:13:25] All right, look under there.
[00:13:26] There's a congregational response.
[00:13:28] And so I'm going to ask you this question, and you guys can respond in this way.
[00:13:32] If you will have these folks to be members alongside you in this community of faith, if you will guide them and direct them and also follow them when they lead and journey with them as they grow in faith here at Ardmore United Methodist,
[00:13:47] then I invite you to respond as is written.
[00:13:51] We rejoice and welcome you.
[00:13:55] So they were mobbed earlier in the service.
[00:14:08] Some of these folks will stick around, let you mob them again at the end of the service, but some of them are not going to sit through a second sermon, so just letting you know.
[00:14:19] It's real honesty.
[00:14:25] She didn't need to hear it twice.
[00:14:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:26] No, I get that.
[00:14:27] I get that.
[00:14:27] I got it.
[00:14:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:28] I only require that Eddie has to stay for both services.
[00:14:32] All right.
[00:14:33] Friends, welcome you all.
[00:14:35] Give them another hand.
[00:14:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:14:40] Hugs again.
[00:14:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:14:41] Thanks, girl.
[00:14:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:42] all right seriously y'all can cut out when you need to all right grace has some announcements
[00:14:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:14:55] for us we welcome all of you to the service of worship today if you're visiting in person today thank you for coming in the seat back pocket we have a visitor card and they're easy to fill out
[00:15:09] and if you want you can even fill them out online there's a qr code in the bulletin we'd love to know that you're here and perhaps be in touch with you we have many people joining us
[00:15:20] on our service via live stream as well, and we hope that this service is meaningful to you as well. This afternoon, Pastor Kelly will be going to a district gathering on immigration at Marvin United Methodist Church. It will be a time to hear firsthand from our fellow Methodists who are
[00:15:35] immigrants and their experiences. If you're interested in joining him, see him after church.
[00:15:40] This Tuesday, the Young at Heart gathering will meet with our preschoolers of Through the Week school for a special grand lunch bunch. They will have activities, lunch, and a craft. If you're planning to attend the Young at Heart this week, please let Mary Jo know today. We call your
[00:15:56] attention to the information in the bulletin and insert about Project Agape, one of the mission projects that we support. If you would like to learn more, we encourage you to speak with Sandy Waldron. We are looking forward to having the director of Agape with us in person this summer.
[00:16:11] And that's all, and Pastor Kelly will come for a time of prayer.
[00:16:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:16:15] I've been involved with Project Agape from its origin in 1992.
[00:16:31] I was part of the first group that visited Armenia after their major earthquake, after communism fell, and while they were being blockaded by all the surrounding countries.
[00:16:43] Since then, Project Agape has worked in the area where Azerbaijan has since taken over, and all the people, 200,000 people were displaced from their homes, from their livelihoods, and are now, they're just dispersed everywhere as well into Armenia.
[00:17:03] We had to move the center to another city, but they still are working very hard with all the displaced families and have kept track of every single one.
[00:17:13] We have a cattle project.
[00:17:15] We have a vocational school.
[00:17:17] We disperse all humanitarian supplies of all kinds.
[00:17:22] And this has been going on for well over 30 years, and we're still going strong.
[00:17:27] So I hope you'll come on July 1st.
[00:17:30] Nara, the in-country director, will be here at Ardmore, and I hope you will come and hear more about the project and more about the people of Armenia because they are just great.
[00:17:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:41] Y'all just need to know Sandy's commitment to that project, and she's brought that to us at our church.
[00:17:49] Project Agape was very smart. They knew that so many of the people that were connected to the project, some of them were in rural churches that were going to disaffiliate, many were going to stay.
[00:18:04] And so what they did is they created a board of a nonprofit, and they invited people from both kinds of communities onto it so that they could continue the good work that we could do together.
[00:18:15] And so I thought that that was really visionary, and I'm really excited to learn so much more about this.
[00:18:22] And I tell you, Sandy keeps me updated.
[00:18:24] She sends me stuff all the time.
[00:18:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:26] Yeah, right, exactly.
[00:18:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:18:32] That's right.
[00:18:35] Yeah, it's great.
[00:18:37] Homegrown in Abidjan.
[00:18:40] All right.
[00:18:42] How about some joys and concerns that you might want to share with us today that we can remember as we go for a time in prayer?
[00:18:51] Any of you all got?
[00:18:52] I'll mention a couple to you.
[00:18:54] Jane Click went to the hospital with a little spell that she had.
[00:18:58] She's doing fine.
[00:18:59] She's recovering well.
[00:19:00] And she is expected to go home either today or tomorrow.
[00:19:05] And I want you all to keep in your prayers Tom White.
[00:19:09] Tom is very near death.
[00:19:13] Eddie is his Stephen minister.
[00:19:14] He's just a really wonderful, gentle, beautiful man.
[00:19:19] His wife, Sarah, died in 2024.
[00:19:23] And anyway, he has not been in good health and he's really been struggling.
[00:19:27] I went to see him on Thursday and spent some time with his daughter.
[00:19:30] He's not communicative, but I had a prayer with him and his daughter and just want you to keep him in your prayers.
[00:19:38] It probably will not be long.
[00:19:42] He did.
[00:19:44] Oh, that's wonderful.
[00:19:45] That's great.
[00:19:46] That's really great.
[00:19:47] Yeah, Sandy.
[00:19:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:53] Yeah, thank you, Sandy.
[00:20:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:09] What's his first name?
[00:20:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:11] Sammy?
[00:20:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:12] Sammy is a retired fireman his wife had died recently and he's actually getting ready to relocate so pray for him others?
[00:20:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:20:25] so she got the award and then couldn't
[00:20:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:52] come to church?
[00:20:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:20:54] yeah oh I see party
[00:21:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:21:01] okay yeah she wasn't in it alright Mary Jo I know you're watching this no y'all I got news on this somebody called me and wanted to share that news So it's a big deal.
[00:21:13] She's been elected into the Hall of Fame.
[00:21:16] She's in our Hall of Fame, but for the, what is it called, the ADK, right?
[00:21:22] Alpha Delta Kappa.
[00:21:23] All right, yeah.
[00:21:24] So this is a teacher sorority, and so proud of her, all the work that she's done.
[00:21:30] She's been a consummate teacher, so yeah.
[00:21:33] And what was it we weren't supposed to tell her?
[00:21:36] I'm kidding.
[00:21:38] No, you all ask her about it.
[00:21:41] Yeah, she won't tell, okay, yeah.
[00:21:45] So now you all know.
[00:21:46] You all know the secret.
[00:21:47] it's public it's out there so yeah right yeah Terry say that one more time okay oh good so Ashley a granddaughter passed a test to get into radiology all right very good can I ask you guys
[00:22:18] about the other grandson that had a procedure great that was last Monday right yeah okay All right, great.
[00:22:34] Excellent.
[00:22:35] Good news.
[00:22:38] Any other?
[00:22:38] Yes.
[00:22:40] Yeah.
[00:22:50] Yeah, a prayer for our community and the hospitals and the community working together.
[00:22:54] Yeah.
[00:22:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:22:55] Others?
[00:23:00] Yeah.
[00:23:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:23:07] What?
[00:23:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:23:12] Karen Seibert walked up mountains?
[00:23:19] Y'all, that is a miracle I never thought I would hear.
[00:23:25] And I think that's great, Karen.
[00:23:27] I'm so happy for you.
[00:23:29] Karen was able to walk up and down mountains to go visit waterfalls.
[00:23:32] I love it.
[00:23:35] That's great.
[00:23:38] Well, you know what's next, Everest.
[00:23:40] So, yeah.
[00:23:45] Any others?
[00:23:49] Friends, let's have a word of prayer together.
[00:23:52] And as we go to prayer, Casey will give us a little music to give us something to focus in on.
[00:23:59] And let's just take a nice deep breath, shall we?
[00:25:05] Gracious God, we give you thanks this day.
[00:25:11] Thanks for new relationships that are opening up as people have kind of come into our community.
[00:25:19] And we give you thanks for a place where we can gather and feel love and support from fellow disciples seeking out some wisdom and ways to follow in your way.
[00:25:37] Crack open our hearts today so that as we hear some scripture, some music, some reflections that we might know you as our good shepherd and follow in the ways in which you guide us. God, we pray for Jane Click as she received some healing and some wholeness to move
[00:26:08] back to her home. And we pray for Sammy and the losses that he has experienced and now getting ready to relocate and move. God, we give you thanks for the great successful surgery for Sawyer
[00:26:29] and for Ashley getting into study of radiology. And God, we celebrate the good news of Karen Seibert becoming a mountain climber. And we give thanks for the ways in which you are always about the work of healing and moving us towards wholeness.
[00:27:02] God, we say a special prayer for Tom White and his family today.
[00:27:12] Soon you will embrace him and welcome him into your arms and the fullness of your very presence.
[00:27:26] God, we pray for our community and our world, the ways in which our world is so war-torn and struggling, and we pray for all of those who are in the work of health in our communities.
[00:27:43] the hospital's being so close to our location right now.
[00:27:48] And we pray for the ways in which they can do some mending work for all of us who may find ourselves in need.
[00:27:57] God, we celebrate the news of Mary Jo Brewer's new award and well-deserved, and she's always been in our Hall of Fame, but we're glad she's getting the recognition even on a statewide level.
[00:28:20] Pray, God, that you will continue to bless us and direct us in ways that we might be about the healing and the wholeness for our whole community.
[00:28:32] We pray for our world that is so war-torn and for all of those who are victims in this war.
[00:28:39] Remind us always that everyone is a child of God, made in your image, regardless of what language they speak or country they are in.
[00:28:51] And help us understand that even in the midst of warfare, we are responsible for the sacred gifts of life in others.
[00:29:02] Be with us as we gather in this service and feed us and break us open so that we may be put to use.
[00:29:12] Direct us always in your love.
[00:29:15] We pray all of this in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, who taught disciples to pray together.
[00:29:21] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:29:26] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from
[00:29:44] evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen
[00:29:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:29:51] He's with somebody less than perfect. I wouldn't choose me first if I was looking for a champion.
[00:30:43] In fact, I'd understand if you picked everyone before me. That's just not my story. True to my heart.
[00:31:00] Something out of nothing.
[00:31:03] You do roar like a lion. I like that. It's a song for Jerry.
[00:34:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:34:07] Yeah. Today is the fourth Sunday of Easter. And you know what that means? You don't have any idea, do you? What's that? Yeah, John. John. More John. That means that today is Good Shepherd Sunday. So the fourth Sunday after Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday.
[00:34:41] It is the time in which we always look within John's gospel, especially in the 10th chapter.
[00:34:49] And so I'm going to read for you the first 10 verses of John 10.
[00:34:55] So listen for the word of God.
[00:34:58] Very truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief, an abandoned.
[00:35:07] The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
[00:35:11] The gatekeeper opens the gate for him.
[00:35:14] And the sheep hear his voice.
[00:35:15] He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
[00:35:19] And when He has brought out all His own, He goes ahead of them.
[00:35:23] And the sheep follow Him because they know His voice.
[00:35:28] They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from Him because the strangers, because they do not know the voice of strangers.
[00:35:38] Jesus was talking to the people, and He used this as a figure of speech with them.
[00:35:42] But they did not understand what He was saying.
[00:35:45] And so Jesus again said to them, Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
[00:35:53] All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them.
[00:35:57] I am the gate.
[00:35:59] Whoever enters by me will be saved, and I will come in and go out and find pasture.
[00:36:07] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
[00:36:16] The word of God for the people of God.
[00:36:18] Would you pray with me?
[00:36:23] God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight.
[00:36:29] O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
[00:36:32] Amen.
[00:36:35] You've heard me talk about Nadia Bowles Weber, the Lutheran pastor.
[00:36:40] She was a pastor of a church, the House for All Sinners and Saints.
[00:36:45] She had quite a diverse community that would gather of ragtag members.
[00:36:50] and she was asked once by her father.
[00:36:54] Her father is the only one in her life who called her a shepherd.
[00:36:59] Now, you all should know this.
[00:37:02] Maybe you don't, but the word pastor actually is the Greek word for shepherd.
[00:37:07] Okay, so she's a pastor.
[00:37:08] He calls her a shepherd.
[00:37:09] And so he once asked Nadia, he said, so Nadia, how's your flock?
[00:37:13] To which she said, same as ever, disobedient and a little smelly.
[00:37:23] She says these words, The truth about sheep is, I do not want to be one.
[00:37:29] Given the choice, I'd rather be a wolf, maybe a shepherd, but never a sheep.
[00:37:35] I want to make my own choices, go my own way.
[00:37:38] Even, it should be noted, I want to go my own way if those choices and that way is killing me.
[00:37:48] So on this Sunday, after Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday, the gospel lesson always comes from John 10.
[00:37:57] and the verses are broken up over three years in the lectionary.
[00:38:03] And it comes from John 10, which is one of the I am sermons of Jesus.
[00:38:11] Only through John does Jesus keep identifying himself in different ways.
[00:38:15] He says, I am the way, the truth, the life.
[00:38:18] I am the resurrection. I am the light of the world.
[00:38:21] And later in this chapter, Jesus declares, I am the good shepherd.
[00:38:26] And so we preachers step up into the pulpit, try to squeeze out a little bit more meaning from this metaphor of shepherd and sheep.
[00:38:36] You know, the problem with it is, is that even if we do get to some understanding of Jesus as the shepherd, we actually have to realize that that makes us sheep.
[00:38:47] Not very flattering.
[00:38:51] As Nadia says, the truth about sheep is I don't want to be one.
[00:38:58] Someone once talked about a friend who grew up on a sheep farm in the Midwest.
[00:39:03] And according to the sheep farmer, she declared, sheep are not dumb.
[00:39:09] She said, it is the cattle ranchers who are responsible for spreading that ugly rumor, all because sheep do not behave like cows.
[00:39:18] Cows are herded from the rear by hooting cowboys and cracking whips, but that's not going to work with sheep at all.
[00:39:25] You stand behind them, make loud noises, and all they will do is run around behind you because they prefer to be led.
[00:39:35] You push cows, but you lead sheep.
[00:39:38] And they will not go anywhere unless someone else is going there first.
[00:39:48] If you look closely at Jesus' words, you can actually hear that metaphor right at work.
[00:39:53] Jesus breaks down at this metaphor of the shepherd who goes through the gate and he leads them out of the gate.
[00:40:00] He comes in and he leads them out.
[00:40:05] No whip, no lasso, just his voice.
[00:40:09] This little lesson within Jesus' sermon falls flat on the entire audience.
[00:40:13] The text says that they didn't even understand this figure of speech.
[00:40:17] I didn't know figure of speech was in the Bible until this morning when I was looking at that.
[00:40:21] I was like, oh yeah.
[00:40:22] This word picture, this story example doesn't quite hit home with Jesus' audience.
[00:40:28] And so, you know, what does he do?
[00:40:30] He just pounds the metaphor a little harder, you know?
[00:40:33] And he talks about the gate.
[00:40:37] I am the gate, says Jesus.
[00:40:42] I like this idea.
[00:40:44] The gate is a proper entrance and an exit.
[00:40:48] It's a place where you come in and you go out.
[00:40:51] The sheep know the gate.
[00:40:53] They know about it.
[00:40:54] They know how it works.
[00:40:57] Jesus gives a warning.
[00:40:58] Anybody that doesn't come through the gate, that's probably a thief or a bandit.
[00:41:01] They're jumping over the wall, climbing over the fence.
[00:41:02] But the sheep doesn't follow because the gate.
[00:41:06] The gate is the proper way out.
[00:41:09] And it's not even just a place to go out.
[00:41:11] It's the ritual.
[00:41:12] The shepherd comes in the gate and then walks them out, leads them through.
[00:41:18] They know from experience that the shepherd is leading them, and they're probably pretty excited, because he ought to be leading them to a place where the grass is green, where there is all this life and abundance.
[00:41:33] Some of you all know I spent some time in East Bend, North Carolina, working on a farm out there and just down the road from us was a cattle farmer who must have taken notes from a shepherd because we watched him every once in a while he would change fields
[00:41:50] he'd take the cows in one field and he'd walk them across the road into another and he would actually lead them he didn't drive them he could just open the gate walked into the gate across
[00:42:01] the road and in there, and the cows would follow. Now, he cheated a little bit, okay? He didn't talk to him or anything like that. He carried a bucket with some food in it, okay? They followed him right
[00:42:12] over. But you know, the sad part of that situation was that this farmer had overgrazed the field that the cows were in. There were too many cows for the size of the field, and the grass,
[00:42:30] you know the grass was not even very good quality grass for them to eat it was in the springtime it was filled with buttercup weeds you know it was pretty but it wasn't nutritious the fields were
[00:42:43] were muddy he would come by i mean just with all of the hooves it would just be pounded out there was more mud than there was grass he would come each day and he put out hay for the cows and one
[00:42:56] of the horses but you know i was working with some people that knew something about horses and they were they were very frustrated with him because even the way the hay was kept it was kept outside
[00:43:07] and so a lot of the hay when it was fed to the cows had molded and was not in good condition often wet so i love this idea of the gate as a passageway a gate as part of a fence or wall
[00:43:27] It's a boundary, you know, and it gives access in and out.
[00:43:33] But the transition from going one side to the other is led by a leader.
[00:43:40] And a trust is developed.
[00:43:44] So in this metaphor, these sheep who are looking to the shepherd, who knows his voice, they are planning to go out for safekeeping into a field where there is an abundance of food.
[00:43:58] So Jesus, therefore, is identifying himself as the open gate.
[00:44:07] You know, we insist oftentimes, you know, we talk about sheep that are following, and it's not really a very flattering picture.
[00:44:19] I mean, you know, sheep are not independent.
[00:44:21] They're not leaders themselves.
[00:44:23] They're only followers.
[00:44:25] Maybe it's my age.
[00:44:26] I'm getting to the place where I don't really want quite so much leadership all the time.
[00:44:31] And I'd kind of like to follow.
[00:44:34] So I'm trying to let go of the need to always be in charge of something.
[00:44:40] And that's part of my own spiritual development, being able to do that.
[00:44:47] But, you know, for a lot of us, we don't like the idea of being sheep because we don't want to be associated so closely with a whole group.
[00:44:55] We don't want to, you know, we're not joiners.
[00:44:57] We don't want to join in with people.
[00:44:59] We don't want to be, we'd like to be the black sheep, people that might be different.
[00:45:03] And we're on the outskirts and the edge of the field.
[00:45:07] And, you know, Nadia Bowles-Weber makes that point to her congregation.
[00:45:12] And she said, you know, one thing that we really want is to belong and to feel safe.
[00:45:20] But because we feel like we aren't like the other sheep, you know it is it is a complete lack of belonging then she shares the good news the good news is that even the needy proud distant rebellious kind vain glorious kind of sheep
[00:45:44] these are also the ones who belong to the shepherd i don't know about this whole idea of You know, a shepherd always being able to hear and obey and understand the shepherd's voice.
[00:46:04] I like the metaphor.
[00:46:05] I do like the whole idea of it.
[00:46:07] But we live in a world right now where we have so many voices going on in our heads, where we have so, so much coming at us all of the time, telling us how to be, how to be different.
[00:46:24] I mean, you know, how many, you know, commercials have you seen just last night of pharmaceuticals, right?
[00:46:32] I mean, they're just at us all the time.
[00:46:33] And, you know, you add social media in the midst of that, and the algorithms are going to tell you what it is that you like.
[00:46:40] And not only that, when you give them attention because you're angry, they're going to give you more of it.
[00:46:47] How in the world can the voice of the shepherd break through all of that noise?
[00:46:54] We sheep are going to have to just wisen up because we're going to have people that are going to disguise themselves in the voice of the shepherd.
[00:47:03] We hear in this whole story of Jesus that the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, but even the kinds of sheep that are rebellious and stubborn and they cannot hear.
[00:47:19] The shepherd's care is not contingent on the sheep being the right kind of sheep.
[00:47:24] as Nadia Bowles-Weber says the shepherd never holds auditions I like that never bases protection and love and concern for sheep by how they look or feel or behave it's never mentioned as a basis for
[00:47:41] belonging to the flock of the good shepherd we just already are and so part of this is an awareness of that really an awareness of the nature of the shepherd the voice of one who lays down his life for us
[00:47:57] lays down love for us, for those of us who are rebellious and smelly, and that is constantly saying these words to us again and again, you belong to me.
[00:48:11] You belong.
[00:48:14] You, all of us.
[00:48:21] I love this notion of the gate.
[00:48:23] Jesus says, I am the gate for the sheep, and whoever enters me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.
[00:48:34] That's really great.
[00:48:36] We'll find access both into safety and to the pen but also out into the abundant fields.
[00:48:43] I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
[00:48:51] Would you pray with me?
[00:48:55] Lord God of the sheepfold whose love is not for hire, who calls us to yourself, who calls to yourself the victims of the world, We thank you that Christ laid down his life for us
[00:49:12] when we could not help ourselves.
[00:49:15] And the weakness of his love give us strength to work for peace in the world to serve through Jesus Christ, our good shepherd.
[00:49:26] Amen.
[00:49:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:49:28] We all stand as you're able and sing one more with us.
[00:49:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:49:31] Let's go from this place.
[00:53:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:53:45] Know that the good shepherd is leading you out into the world.
[00:53:49] And so while you're a sheep, follow in that way, but know that there are others out there that need some shepherding as well.
[00:53:57] And so you can be a leader of them to bring them to an understanding of God's grace and do so through your example.
[00:54:04] So let us go from this place.
[00:54:06] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our creator, our sustainer, and our redeemer.
[00:54:11] Amen.
[00:00:00] Good morning, you guys. Happy Sunday. Would y'all stand as you're able to sing something with us?
[00:00:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:00:23] Gold child, see the walls. Let the gates of glory open.
[00:03:13] Jesus Christ to y'all. Y'all take a moment to pass the peace. Y'all grab a seat.
[00:08:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:08:39] Joining church today, and I'm going to introduce you to them. Yeah, yeah.
[00:08:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:08:59] Y'all know how to do that. At 10 o'clock, they were all like, they were whispering.
[00:09:09] No, but they got mobbed. That must be it. Well, the quiet people do, but they mobbed them afterwards.
[00:09:15] They did a good job of that. So I'm going to introduce these folks to you if I can, but I have a cheat sheet.
[00:09:21] So there you go.
[00:09:23] This is the most very reverend Randy Hudson.
[00:09:27] All right.
[00:09:28] Now, if you all don't know Randy, he has come here a lot to the 1115 service.
[00:09:32] He moved away to take a job in Charlotte.
[00:09:35] He got another job, and he came back.
[00:09:37] So now he's here with us.
[00:09:39] Randy lives in Greensboro but travels over here for work.
[00:09:43] He's a dental hygienist.
[00:09:44] He comes from Lake Lure, North Carolina.
[00:09:47] And when Randy had moved, he sent me videos of his little town just washing out in the flood and really, really scary.
[00:09:59] He is a pianist.
[00:10:00] That's right.
[00:10:02] A pianist.
[00:10:03] He knows all the old Baptist hymns.
[00:10:05] He knows them all.
[00:10:07] Randy is a Southern Baptist in recovery.
[00:10:09] Randy doesn't claim that title but they wouldn't take his name off the roll so you know it's like once you're in you can't get out so I told them I'd send them a transfer letter but they're not going to take that
[00:10:24] so Randy it's great having you back and now you know we were in negotiations right before he left and he said yeah I'm not going to be here so but now we got him back
[00:10:36] alright this is Miss Where is your name? Gail Bowes. Gail is a neighbor. She lives here in the neighborhood, has lived here about 11 years. Yeah. Yeah. And she also grew up Southern Baptist and is in
[00:10:52] recovery. Gail is a retired teacher. She's already volunteering with the kids and family ministry, and she is coming from St. Anne's Episcopal Church. And so we are so happy to have Gail with us. She's been hanging out and wanting, and I said, well, you know, you don't have to
[00:11:10] join alone, but then it took a while to gather some other folks, and we did this week. So, all right. Welcome, Kim. This is Karen Craft. She is adjacent to the Trinity Diaspora.
[00:11:27] She's transferring her membership from Trinity Methodist Church, and she is a nurse. She's already been volunteering at our food pantry. She wanted to jump in. She said, I think that we're supposed to do something, which I thought was great. In fact, she's making a lot of you look
[00:11:43] bad. So this is Diana Holler, also a volunteer on Thursday nights at the food pantry. And Diana is also a nurse. And she spent some time outside the United States in South America and made it back
[00:12:00] in. She has an adult daughter we're looking forward to getting to know. And she likes yoga and hiking and gardening.
[00:12:08] Not all at the same time, but there you go.
[00:12:10] So, all right.
[00:12:11] And this lady at the end here, this is Pamela Marawa.
[00:12:16] She comes from a little county over called Zimbabwe.
[00:12:22] And she came from Zimbabwe to China, where she studied in medical school and learned Mandarin.
[00:12:31] And then she learned English to talk to all of you people and came here.
[00:12:35] Now, Pam, you should know, she is a doctor.
[00:12:39] She is a researcher of regenerative medicine, doing some work there while she's waiting to start a surgical rotation.
[00:12:46] She's, you know, really challenged in lots of ways.
[00:12:51] The other night when we were talking, we found out that she speaks three different languages, and Jerry goes, so you only speak three?
[00:12:59] That was funny, I thought.
[00:13:01] And she is a friend of Precious Mediwa, for those of you that know Precious.
[00:13:06] And so y'all, just really glad to have her with us.
[00:13:11] So this is it, y'all.
[00:13:12] There they all are.
[00:13:18] They all made their pledge at the early service.
[00:13:20] But if you look in your bulletin, in our worship order, you know we have a worship order, right?
[00:13:25] All right, look under there.
[00:13:26] There's a congregational response.
[00:13:28] And so I'm going to ask you this question, and you guys can respond in this way.
[00:13:32] If you will have these folks to be members alongside you in this community of faith, if you will guide them and direct them and also follow them when they lead and journey with them as they grow in faith here at Ardmore United Methodist,
[00:13:47] then I invite you to respond as is written.
[00:13:51] We rejoice and welcome you.
[00:13:55] So they were mobbed earlier in the service.
[00:14:08] Some of these folks will stick around, let you mob them again at the end of the service, but some of them are not going to sit through a second sermon, so just letting you know.
[00:14:19] It's real honesty.
[00:14:25] She didn't need to hear it twice.
[00:14:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:14:26] No, I get that.
[00:14:27] I get that.
[00:14:27] I got it.
[00:14:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:28] I only require that Eddie has to stay for both services.
[00:14:32] All right.
[00:14:33] Friends, welcome you all.
[00:14:35] Give them another hand.
[00:14:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:14:40] Hugs again.
[00:14:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:14:41] Thanks, girl.
[00:14:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:14:42] all right seriously y'all can cut out when you need to all right grace has some announcements
[00:14:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:14:55] for us we welcome all of you to the service of worship today if you're visiting in person today thank you for coming in the seat back pocket we have a visitor card and they're easy to fill out
[00:15:09] and if you want you can even fill them out online there's a qr code in the bulletin we'd love to know that you're here and perhaps be in touch with you we have many people joining us
[00:15:20] on our service via live stream as well, and we hope that this service is meaningful to you as well. This afternoon, Pastor Kelly will be going to a district gathering on immigration at Marvin United Methodist Church. It will be a time to hear firsthand from our fellow Methodists who are
[00:15:35] immigrants and their experiences. If you're interested in joining him, see him after church.
[00:15:40] This Tuesday, the Young at Heart gathering will meet with our preschoolers of Through the Week school for a special grand lunch bunch. They will have activities, lunch, and a craft. If you're planning to attend the Young at Heart this week, please let Mary Jo know today. We call your
[00:15:56] attention to the information in the bulletin and insert about Project Agape, one of the mission projects that we support. If you would like to learn more, we encourage you to speak with Sandy Waldron. We are looking forward to having the director of Agape with us in person this summer.
[00:16:11] And that's all, and Pastor Kelly will come for a time of prayer.
[00:16:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:16:15] I've been involved with Project Agape from its origin in 1992.
[00:16:31] I was part of the first group that visited Armenia after their major earthquake, after communism fell, and while they were being blockaded by all the surrounding countries.
[00:16:43] Since then, Project Agape has worked in the area where Azerbaijan has since taken over, and all the people, 200,000 people were displaced from their homes, from their livelihoods, and are now, they're just dispersed everywhere as well into Armenia.
[00:17:03] We had to move the center to another city, but they still are working very hard with all the displaced families and have kept track of every single one.
[00:17:13] We have a cattle project.
[00:17:15] We have a vocational school.
[00:17:17] We disperse all humanitarian supplies of all kinds.
[00:17:22] And this has been going on for well over 30 years, and we're still going strong.
[00:17:27] So I hope you'll come on July 1st.
[00:17:30] Nara, the in-country director, will be here at Ardmore, and I hope you will come and hear more about the project and more about the people of Armenia because they are just great.
[00:17:41] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:17:41] Y'all just need to know Sandy's commitment to that project, and she's brought that to us at our church.
[00:17:49] Project Agape was very smart. They knew that so many of the people that were connected to the project, some of them were in rural churches that were going to disaffiliate, many were going to stay.
[00:18:04] And so what they did is they created a board of a nonprofit, and they invited people from both kinds of communities onto it so that they could continue the good work that we could do together.
[00:18:15] And so I thought that that was really visionary, and I'm really excited to learn so much more about this.
[00:18:22] And I tell you, Sandy keeps me updated.
[00:18:24] She sends me stuff all the time.
[00:18:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:18:26] Yeah, right, exactly.
[00:18:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:18:32] That's right.
[00:18:35] Yeah, it's great.
[00:18:37] Homegrown in Abidjan.
[00:18:40] All right.
[00:18:42] How about some joys and concerns that you might want to share with us today that we can remember as we go for a time in prayer?
[00:18:51] Any of you all got?
[00:18:52] I'll mention a couple to you.
[00:18:54] Jane Click went to the hospital with a little spell that she had.
[00:18:58] She's doing fine.
[00:18:59] She's recovering well.
[00:19:00] And she is expected to go home either today or tomorrow.
[00:19:05] And I want you all to keep in your prayers Tom White.
[00:19:09] Tom is very near death.
[00:19:13] Eddie is his Stephen minister.
[00:19:14] He's just a really wonderful, gentle, beautiful man.
[00:19:19] His wife, Sarah, died in 2024.
[00:19:23] And anyway, he has not been in good health and he's really been struggling.
[00:19:27] I went to see him on Thursday and spent some time with his daughter.
[00:19:30] He's not communicative, but I had a prayer with him and his daughter and just want you to keep him in your prayers.
[00:19:38] It probably will not be long.
[00:19:42] He did.
[00:19:44] Oh, that's wonderful.
[00:19:45] That's great.
[00:19:46] That's really great.
[00:19:47] Yeah, Sandy.
[00:19:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:53] Yeah, thank you, Sandy.
[00:20:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:09] What's his first name?
[00:20:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:20:11] Sammy?
[00:20:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:12] Sammy is a retired fireman his wife had died recently and he's actually getting ready to relocate so pray for him others?
[00:20:25] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:20:25] so she got the award and then couldn't
[00:20:52] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:20:52] come to church?
[00:20:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:20:54] yeah oh I see party
[00:21:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:21:01] okay yeah she wasn't in it alright Mary Jo I know you're watching this no y'all I got news on this somebody called me and wanted to share that news So it's a big deal.
[00:21:13] She's been elected into the Hall of Fame.
[00:21:16] She's in our Hall of Fame, but for the, what is it called, the ADK, right?
[00:21:22] Alpha Delta Kappa.
[00:21:23] All right, yeah.
[00:21:24] So this is a teacher sorority, and so proud of her, all the work that she's done.
[00:21:30] She's been a consummate teacher, so yeah.
[00:21:33] And what was it we weren't supposed to tell her?
[00:21:36] I'm kidding.
[00:21:38] No, you all ask her about it.
[00:21:41] Yeah, she won't tell, okay, yeah.
[00:21:45] So now you all know.
[00:21:46] You all know the secret.
[00:21:47] it's public it's out there so yeah right yeah Terry say that one more time okay oh good so Ashley a granddaughter passed a test to get into radiology all right very good can I ask you guys
[00:22:18] about the other grandson that had a procedure great that was last Monday right yeah okay All right, great.
[00:22:34] Excellent.
[00:22:35] Good news.
[00:22:38] Any other?
[00:22:38] Yes.
[00:22:40] Yeah.
[00:22:50] Yeah, a prayer for our community and the hospitals and the community working together.
[00:22:54] Yeah.
[00:22:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:22:55] Others?
[00:23:00] Yeah.
[00:23:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:23:07] What?
[00:23:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:23:12] Karen Seibert walked up mountains?
[00:23:19] Y'all, that is a miracle I never thought I would hear.
[00:23:25] And I think that's great, Karen.
[00:23:27] I'm so happy for you.
[00:23:29] Karen was able to walk up and down mountains to go visit waterfalls.
[00:23:32] I love it.
[00:23:35] That's great.
[00:23:38] Well, you know what's next, Everest.
[00:23:40] So, yeah.
[00:23:45] Any others?
[00:23:49] Friends, let's have a word of prayer together.
[00:23:52] And as we go to prayer, Casey will give us a little music to give us something to focus in on.
[00:23:59] And let's just take a nice deep breath, shall we?
[00:25:05] Gracious God, we give you thanks this day.
[00:25:11] Thanks for new relationships that are opening up as people have kind of come into our community.
[00:25:19] And we give you thanks for a place where we can gather and feel love and support from fellow disciples seeking out some wisdom and ways to follow in your way.
[00:25:37] Crack open our hearts today so that as we hear some scripture, some music, some reflections that we might know you as our good shepherd and follow in the ways in which you guide us. God, we pray for Jane Click as she received some healing and some wholeness to move
[00:26:08] back to her home. And we pray for Sammy and the losses that he has experienced and now getting ready to relocate and move. God, we give you thanks for the great successful surgery for Sawyer
[00:26:29] and for Ashley getting into study of radiology. And God, we celebrate the good news of Karen Seibert becoming a mountain climber. And we give thanks for the ways in which you are always about the work of healing and moving us towards wholeness.
[00:27:02] God, we say a special prayer for Tom White and his family today.
[00:27:12] Soon you will embrace him and welcome him into your arms and the fullness of your very presence.
[00:27:26] God, we pray for our community and our world, the ways in which our world is so war-torn and struggling, and we pray for all of those who are in the work of health in our communities.
[00:27:43] the hospital's being so close to our location right now.
[00:27:48] And we pray for the ways in which they can do some mending work for all of us who may find ourselves in need.
[00:27:57] God, we celebrate the news of Mary Jo Brewer's new award and well-deserved, and she's always been in our Hall of Fame, but we're glad she's getting the recognition even on a statewide level.
[00:28:20] Pray, God, that you will continue to bless us and direct us in ways that we might be about the healing and the wholeness for our whole community.
[00:28:32] We pray for our world that is so war-torn and for all of those who are victims in this war.
[00:28:39] Remind us always that everyone is a child of God, made in your image, regardless of what language they speak or country they are in.
[00:28:51] And help us understand that even in the midst of warfare, we are responsible for the sacred gifts of life in others.
[00:29:02] Be with us as we gather in this service and feed us and break us open so that we may be put to use.
[00:29:12] Direct us always in your love.
[00:29:15] We pray all of this in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, who taught disciples to pray together.
[00:29:21] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[00:29:26] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from
[00:29:44] evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen
[00:29:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:29:51] He's with somebody less than perfect. I wouldn't choose me first if I was looking for a champion.
[00:30:43] In fact, I'd understand if you picked everyone before me. That's just not my story. True to my heart.
[00:31:00] Something out of nothing.
[00:31:03] You do roar like a lion. I like that. It's a song for Jerry.
[00:34:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:34:07] Yeah. Today is the fourth Sunday of Easter. And you know what that means? You don't have any idea, do you? What's that? Yeah, John. John. More John. That means that today is Good Shepherd Sunday. So the fourth Sunday after Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday.
[00:34:41] It is the time in which we always look within John's gospel, especially in the 10th chapter.
[00:34:49] And so I'm going to read for you the first 10 verses of John 10.
[00:34:55] So listen for the word of God.
[00:34:58] Very truly I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief, an abandoned.
[00:35:07] The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
[00:35:11] The gatekeeper opens the gate for him.
[00:35:14] And the sheep hear his voice.
[00:35:15] He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
[00:35:19] And when He has brought out all His own, He goes ahead of them.
[00:35:23] And the sheep follow Him because they know His voice.
[00:35:28] They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from Him because the strangers, because they do not know the voice of strangers.
[00:35:38] Jesus was talking to the people, and He used this as a figure of speech with them.
[00:35:42] But they did not understand what He was saying.
[00:35:45] And so Jesus again said to them, Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
[00:35:53] All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them.
[00:35:57] I am the gate.
[00:35:59] Whoever enters by me will be saved, and I will come in and go out and find pasture.
[00:36:07] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
[00:36:16] The word of God for the people of God.
[00:36:18] Would you pray with me?
[00:36:23] God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of the hearts of all of us be acceptable in thy sight.
[00:36:29] O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.
[00:36:32] Amen.
[00:36:35] You've heard me talk about Nadia Bowles Weber, the Lutheran pastor.
[00:36:40] She was a pastor of a church, the House for All Sinners and Saints.
[00:36:45] She had quite a diverse community that would gather of ragtag members.
[00:36:50] and she was asked once by her father.
[00:36:54] Her father is the only one in her life who called her a shepherd.
[00:36:59] Now, you all should know this.
[00:37:02] Maybe you don't, but the word pastor actually is the Greek word for shepherd.
[00:37:07] Okay, so she's a pastor.
[00:37:08] He calls her a shepherd.
[00:37:09] And so he once asked Nadia, he said, so Nadia, how's your flock?
[00:37:13] To which she said, same as ever, disobedient and a little smelly.
[00:37:23] She says these words, The truth about sheep is, I do not want to be one.
[00:37:29] Given the choice, I'd rather be a wolf, maybe a shepherd, but never a sheep.
[00:37:35] I want to make my own choices, go my own way.
[00:37:38] Even, it should be noted, I want to go my own way if those choices and that way is killing me.
[00:37:48] So on this Sunday, after Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday, the gospel lesson always comes from John 10.
[00:37:57] and the verses are broken up over three years in the lectionary.
[00:38:03] And it comes from John 10, which is one of the I am sermons of Jesus.
[00:38:11] Only through John does Jesus keep identifying himself in different ways.
[00:38:15] He says, I am the way, the truth, the life.
[00:38:18] I am the resurrection. I am the light of the world.
[00:38:21] And later in this chapter, Jesus declares, I am the good shepherd.
[00:38:26] And so we preachers step up into the pulpit, try to squeeze out a little bit more meaning from this metaphor of shepherd and sheep.
[00:38:36] You know, the problem with it is, is that even if we do get to some understanding of Jesus as the shepherd, we actually have to realize that that makes us sheep.
[00:38:47] Not very flattering.
[00:38:51] As Nadia says, the truth about sheep is I don't want to be one.
[00:38:58] Someone once talked about a friend who grew up on a sheep farm in the Midwest.
[00:39:03] And according to the sheep farmer, she declared, sheep are not dumb.
[00:39:09] She said, it is the cattle ranchers who are responsible for spreading that ugly rumor, all because sheep do not behave like cows.
[00:39:18] Cows are herded from the rear by hooting cowboys and cracking whips, but that's not going to work with sheep at all.
[00:39:25] You stand behind them, make loud noises, and all they will do is run around behind you because they prefer to be led.
[00:39:35] You push cows, but you lead sheep.
[00:39:38] And they will not go anywhere unless someone else is going there first.
[00:39:48] If you look closely at Jesus' words, you can actually hear that metaphor right at work.
[00:39:53] Jesus breaks down at this metaphor of the shepherd who goes through the gate and he leads them out of the gate.
[00:40:00] He comes in and he leads them out.
[00:40:05] No whip, no lasso, just his voice.
[00:40:09] This little lesson within Jesus' sermon falls flat on the entire audience.
[00:40:13] The text says that they didn't even understand this figure of speech.
[00:40:17] I didn't know figure of speech was in the Bible until this morning when I was looking at that.
[00:40:21] I was like, oh yeah.
[00:40:22] This word picture, this story example doesn't quite hit home with Jesus' audience.
[00:40:28] And so, you know, what does he do?
[00:40:30] He just pounds the metaphor a little harder, you know?
[00:40:33] And he talks about the gate.
[00:40:37] I am the gate, says Jesus.
[00:40:42] I like this idea.
[00:40:44] The gate is a proper entrance and an exit.
[00:40:48] It's a place where you come in and you go out.
[00:40:51] The sheep know the gate.
[00:40:53] They know about it.
[00:40:54] They know how it works.
[00:40:57] Jesus gives a warning.
[00:40:58] Anybody that doesn't come through the gate, that's probably a thief or a bandit.
[00:41:01] They're jumping over the wall, climbing over the fence.
[00:41:02] But the sheep doesn't follow because the gate.
[00:41:06] The gate is the proper way out.
[00:41:09] And it's not even just a place to go out.
[00:41:11] It's the ritual.
[00:41:12] The shepherd comes in the gate and then walks them out, leads them through.
[00:41:18] They know from experience that the shepherd is leading them, and they're probably pretty excited, because he ought to be leading them to a place where the grass is green, where there is all this life and abundance.
[00:41:33] Some of you all know I spent some time in East Bend, North Carolina, working on a farm out there and just down the road from us was a cattle farmer who must have taken notes from a shepherd because we watched him every once in a while he would change fields
[00:41:50] he'd take the cows in one field and he'd walk them across the road into another and he would actually lead them he didn't drive them he could just open the gate walked into the gate across
[00:42:01] the road and in there, and the cows would follow. Now, he cheated a little bit, okay? He didn't talk to him or anything like that. He carried a bucket with some food in it, okay? They followed him right
[00:42:12] over. But you know, the sad part of that situation was that this farmer had overgrazed the field that the cows were in. There were too many cows for the size of the field, and the grass,
[00:42:30] you know the grass was not even very good quality grass for them to eat it was in the springtime it was filled with buttercup weeds you know it was pretty but it wasn't nutritious the fields were
[00:42:43] were muddy he would come by i mean just with all of the hooves it would just be pounded out there was more mud than there was grass he would come each day and he put out hay for the cows and one
[00:42:56] of the horses but you know i was working with some people that knew something about horses and they were they were very frustrated with him because even the way the hay was kept it was kept outside
[00:43:07] and so a lot of the hay when it was fed to the cows had molded and was not in good condition often wet so i love this idea of the gate as a passageway a gate as part of a fence or wall
[00:43:27] It's a boundary, you know, and it gives access in and out.
[00:43:33] But the transition from going one side to the other is led by a leader.
[00:43:40] And a trust is developed.
[00:43:44] So in this metaphor, these sheep who are looking to the shepherd, who knows his voice, they are planning to go out for safekeeping into a field where there is an abundance of food.
[00:43:58] So Jesus, therefore, is identifying himself as the open gate.
[00:44:07] You know, we insist oftentimes, you know, we talk about sheep that are following, and it's not really a very flattering picture.
[00:44:19] I mean, you know, sheep are not independent.
[00:44:21] They're not leaders themselves.
[00:44:23] They're only followers.
[00:44:25] Maybe it's my age.
[00:44:26] I'm getting to the place where I don't really want quite so much leadership all the time.
[00:44:31] And I'd kind of like to follow.
[00:44:34] So I'm trying to let go of the need to always be in charge of something.
[00:44:40] And that's part of my own spiritual development, being able to do that.
[00:44:47] But, you know, for a lot of us, we don't like the idea of being sheep because we don't want to be associated so closely with a whole group.
[00:44:55] We don't want to, you know, we're not joiners.
[00:44:57] We don't want to join in with people.
[00:44:59] We don't want to be, we'd like to be the black sheep, people that might be different.
[00:45:03] And we're on the outskirts and the edge of the field.
[00:45:07] And, you know, Nadia Bowles-Weber makes that point to her congregation.
[00:45:12] And she said, you know, one thing that we really want is to belong and to feel safe.
[00:45:20] But because we feel like we aren't like the other sheep, you know it is it is a complete lack of belonging then she shares the good news the good news is that even the needy proud distant rebellious kind vain glorious kind of sheep
[00:45:44] these are also the ones who belong to the shepherd i don't know about this whole idea of You know, a shepherd always being able to hear and obey and understand the shepherd's voice.
[00:46:04] I like the metaphor.
[00:46:05] I do like the whole idea of it.
[00:46:07] But we live in a world right now where we have so many voices going on in our heads, where we have so, so much coming at us all of the time, telling us how to be, how to be different.
[00:46:24] I mean, you know, how many, you know, commercials have you seen just last night of pharmaceuticals, right?
[00:46:32] I mean, they're just at us all the time.
[00:46:33] And, you know, you add social media in the midst of that, and the algorithms are going to tell you what it is that you like.
[00:46:40] And not only that, when you give them attention because you're angry, they're going to give you more of it.
[00:46:47] How in the world can the voice of the shepherd break through all of that noise?
[00:46:54] We sheep are going to have to just wisen up because we're going to have people that are going to disguise themselves in the voice of the shepherd.
[00:47:03] We hear in this whole story of Jesus that the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, but even the kinds of sheep that are rebellious and stubborn and they cannot hear.
[00:47:19] The shepherd's care is not contingent on the sheep being the right kind of sheep.
[00:47:24] as Nadia Bowles-Weber says the shepherd never holds auditions I like that never bases protection and love and concern for sheep by how they look or feel or behave it's never mentioned as a basis for
[00:47:41] belonging to the flock of the good shepherd we just already are and so part of this is an awareness of that really an awareness of the nature of the shepherd the voice of one who lays down his life for us
[00:47:57] lays down love for us, for those of us who are rebellious and smelly, and that is constantly saying these words to us again and again, you belong to me.
[00:48:11] You belong.
[00:48:14] You, all of us.
[00:48:21] I love this notion of the gate.
[00:48:23] Jesus says, I am the gate for the sheep, and whoever enters me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.
[00:48:34] That's really great.
[00:48:36] We'll find access both into safety and to the pen but also out into the abundant fields.
[00:48:43] I came that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
[00:48:51] Would you pray with me?
[00:48:55] Lord God of the sheepfold whose love is not for hire, who calls us to yourself, who calls to yourself the victims of the world, We thank you that Christ laid down his life for us
[00:49:12] when we could not help ourselves.
[00:49:15] And the weakness of his love give us strength to work for peace in the world to serve through Jesus Christ, our good shepherd.
[00:49:26] Amen.
[00:49:28] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:49:28] We all stand as you're able and sing one more with us.
[00:49:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:49:31] Let's go from this place.
[00:53:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:53:45] Know that the good shepherd is leading you out into the world.
[00:53:49] And so while you're a sheep, follow in that way, but know that there are others out there that need some shepherding as well.
[00:53:57] And so you can be a leader of them to bring them to an understanding of God's grace and do so through your example.
[00:54:04] So let us go from this place.
[00:54:06] We go with God who goes with us in the name of our creator, our sustainer, and our redeemer.
[00:54:11] Amen.
