Overland Park Christian Church
(913) 677-4646
  • Home
  • About OPCC
    • Guest Information
    • Vision & Core Values >
      • 2023 Missional Planning
    • Our Team
    • Our Story
  • Worship
    • Worship This Week
    • Virtual Worship
    • Sunday AM Worship
    • Worship Arts
    • Children in Worship
    • Children Worship & Wonder
    • Funerals >
      • Digital Funerals
    • Communion
  • Ministries
    • Stewardship Ministries >
      • Stewardship
      • Online Giving
      • Landscape Ministries
    • Children's Ministries >
      • Nursery
      • Children Worship & Wonder
      • Children in Worship
      • Vacation Bible School
    • Family Ministries >
      • Families, Youth & Children During COVID-19
    • Youth Ministries >
      • Youth Group
    • Young Adult Ministries
    • Adult Ministries >
      • Christian Ed for Adults
      • Empty Nesters
      • Men's Fellowship
      • Girlfriends Unlimited
    • Caring Ministries >
      • Pastoral Counseling
      • Congregational Care
      • Caregiver Support
      • Grief Support
      • 12-Step Support Groups
    • Music Ministries >
      • Choir Recordings
  • Outreach & Missions
    • Global Outreach >
      • Mission Trips
    • Local Outreach >
      • Local Assistance Info
      • OPCC Food Pantry
    • Building Use Ministries >
      • Wedding Information
      • Building Use Requests
  • Get Involved
    • Calendar
    • Opportunities to Serve >
      • Serve in the Church
      • Serve in the Community
      • Serve in the World
    • Joining our Faith Community
    • Affiliations
    • 2023 Missional Planning
  • News & Media
    • Newsletter
    • Virtual Worship
    • Worship Bulletins
    • Social Media & Blogs >
      • A Community of Voices (Blog)
  • Contact Us
    • Employment Opportunities

A Shepherd in Vibrant Colors

5/9/2014

 
Picture
How long will grown men and women in this world keep drawing in their coloring books an image of God that makes them sad?                                                                                
                             - Meister Eckhart 


Reading:
“Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.” Jesus told this simple story, but they had no idea what he was talking about. So he tried again. “I’ll be explicit, then. I am the Gate for the sheep. All those others are up to no good—sheep stealers, every one of them. But the sheep didn’t listen to them. I am the Gate. Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out, and find pasture. A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary. A hired man is not a real shepherd. The sheep mean nothing to him. He sees a wolf come and runs for it, leaving the sheep to be ravaged and scattered by the wolf. He’s only in it for the money. The sheep don’t matter to him. “I am the Good Shepherd.”
                                   - John 10.1-14a (The Message)


Reflection:
When I was in graduate school, Dominic Crossan delivered a lecture series on the parables of Jesus at my university. His work on the parables is first rate, top drawer, and comes highly recommended. And this lecture series was no different. An exchange during this series made a lasting impression on my spirit, and has stuck with me for years. In one lecture Professor Crossan discussed the various ways that Jesus’ parables can confuse and call into question our long cherished ideas, thus allowing new meanings to take their place. And they can do this again and again. One pastor in the audience was scandalized by the very thought that the parables refuse to be reduced to one and only one meaning now-and-forever-more-amen. They can continue to interact with our spirit – and mess with our confident knowledge – and introduce new, profound notions that enrich our understanding and our faith if we will simply allow it.

This passage from chapter 10 is as close as John comes to a parable. Even though it focuses on Jesus rather than the Reign of God (as in the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke), it shares some of the characteristics that make Jesus’ parables so enigmatic, profound, and a fertile ground for new meaning. Specifically, this narrative identifies Jesus as both the gate through which the sheep enter, and the good shepherd that cares for and protects the sheep. This ambiguity tends to throw us off balance - we are much like the scandalized pastor, and want one, clear identification and one definitive meaning - and in this way create an opening for new, more profound meaning.

Jesus as shepherd… well, we know just how to make this image boring and mundane. This Jesus is harmless, gentle and oh so sentimental and, to be honest, would fit best in a velvet painting (much like the ones that depict Elvis’ blue swede shoes). Forget the fact that this shepherd cares passionately for the sheep, and protects them even if self-sacrifice is involved. There is nothing sentimental about this shepherd.

Jesus as sheep gate blows sentimentality out of the water. Get past the double image of Jesus and the confusion it causes, and what appears is the notion that Jesus is not only the shepherd that protects us, but is as well the protection itself. Think about that… the shepherd who protects is identical with the One from whom all things come – our creator God – and the unique, reliable source of protection .

This shepherd, this Jesus can be trusted absolutely with all we are and all we have. This Jesus would never abandon or inflict pain into our life. This Jesus cannot be painted in sad, somber colors, and depicted as an ill-tempered judge (and jury!). This Jesus can only be painted in vibrant, rich colors that reflect fulfillment, peace and joy. Need I say more? Perhaps… perhaps we should pray:

“We’re ready God… ready to worship. We’ve all brought along our coloring book; that palette nestled deeply in our heart on which we draw your image. We rarely show this sketch to others, because we’re not sure what colors to use, or what name to choose as a title. We can easily see you in dark, somber colors. Such images are as varied as they are numerous, yet they reveal a common thread of distant, brooding authority, hungry for adulation and ready to pass judgment. Then that weaver of tales comes along and draws a shepherd in simple, gentle words; a guardian strong yet loving, firm yet protective, always given to laughter and joyful exuberance. Such a one is beyond our ability to draw. The colors required surpass our wildest imaginings in their brilliance and beauty. And the names…. the names are as numerous as the stars, as deep as love, as broad as compassion. Draw this image in our heart, O God, so that we may draw near to you, and find in you all that we need…”


Comments are closed.
    Permission to use and stream music in our worship services obtained from ONE LICENSE #A-730652
    and CCLI #36152
    and CSPL #143030. 
    All rights reserved.
    ​

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Acts
    Advent
    All Saints
    Amy Luckenbill
    Ann Weems
    Bo Crowe
    Body Of Christ
    Bonhoeffer
    Children
    Compassion
    Crucifixion
    Discernment
    Early Church
    Eastertide
    Encounters With God
    Epiphany
    Faith
    Faith Community
    First Corinthians
    Forgiveness
    Fred Craddock
    Frederick Buechner
    Generosity
    Genesis
    God
    God As Present
    God In Our Image
    Gospel Of John
    Gospel Of Luke
    Gospel Of Mark
    Gospel Of Matthew
    Grace
    Holy Books
    Holy Friday
    Hope
    Humility
    Image Of God
    Isaiah
    Journey Of Faith
    Joy
    Justice
    Laura Phillips
    Lent
    Light
    Lisa-setty
    Living Faith
    Love
    Madeleine L'Engle
    Maya Angelou
    MLK Jr.
    Narrative Lectionary
    Peace
    Poetry
    Prayer
    Psalms
    Rainer Maria Rilke
    Reconciliation
    Reel Theology
    Reign Of Christ
    Resurrecting Easter
    Sacred In The Secular
    Spiritual Life
    Stewardship
    Struggle
    Thanksgiving
    The Lord's Prayer
    The Star Of Bethlehem
    Trinity
    Unity
    Vbs
    Vision
    Vision & Mission
    William Sloane Coffin
    Women In The Bible
    World Communion
    Zachariah

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Donate to OPCC Online
Picture
Calendar
When viewing our calendar:

OPCC
= Overland Park Christian 
RAV = Rios de Agua Viva Iglesia
IHN - Interfaith Homeless Network

CMS = Case Management Services
AIM = Advocacy in Motion
​HBCS
 = Honeybee Community Services
Monarch = Monarch Montessori Preschool
Most other names of groups are 12-step support groups.

Church Office Hours: 
Monday - Thursday: 9:30am - 4:00pm
Friday: 9:30am - 3:00pm


©2013-2022 Overland Park Christian Church
​7600 West 75th Street
Overland Park, KS  66204
(913) 677-4646
office@opccdoc.org
Worship Schedule:
10:30am Sundays In-Person
and Online Live-Stream Worship
913-299-9002 Sunday Worship by Phone