Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 19 July 2009 by the Rev. Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Jeremiah 23:1-6 and Mark 6:30-34, 53-56.


Prayer:
Dear God, we humbly ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit. May your Spirit inspires us to understand your will and truth. Amen.

Yesterday when typhoon number 3 was hoisted and a higher level of typhoon would be hoisted as warned by the Government Observatory. I started to think of the arrangement for today’s Sunday Service. The first thought that came to my mind was Worship should be continued any way no matter what the weather might be. When I left the church and returned home in the evening, I continued to consider this matter. By that time, I have thought more of the safety of the people coming to the church. I thus called up Council members to discuss and make suggestion for contingency plan. If typhoon signal number 8 has been hoisted and still remained effective by 8:00 am, the Sunday Service will be cancelled. I don’t wish to risk anyone, both sisters and brothers, and also our staff Ah Hing. Thank God, the typhoon signal was lowered and the wind has turned weak. We are able to have the Sunday Service as usual, and we can worship God together.

Worshipping God can be conducted at anytime and in any place. But coming to the church sanctuary to worship together is never something that can be taken for granted. We have to appreciate every opportunity to have a safe place to worship God and treasure time with other sisters and brothers to serve God together.

Today my sermon is focused on the good shepherd. I feel that the words of God from the bible today is very timely reminder for our situation when there was a sudden change of bad weather and potential risk to other people (my sheep) that I serve as minister.

The analogy of shepherd and sheep has been used often in the biblical text to signify God’s servants to serve and God’s people being served.

From the scripture of Mark, it revealed a kind of relationship between the shepherd and the sheep:
- Need of the sheep goes first
From the story revealed in the scripture we read this morning, Jesus Christ has once again demonstrated to us that in his ministry of serving his people, he would take the need of the people as priority. Jesus Christ is the good shepherd of all people, he cares about his sheep. He cares about their health. Thus he would heal the sick. The healing stories of Jesus had been mentioned times and again in the four gospels.
- The sheep will look for their shepherd. And the shepherd will make himself available whenever he was recognized and was needed.
- Jesus will help those who help themselves and have the strong intention to change. If Jesus was ready to serve, but if people do not go to him for help, the presence of Jesus would be useless. Sisters and brothers, let us reflect on whether we have committed our relationship to our Lord Jesus. Do we invite Jesus to be our shepherd and ask him to intervene in our life?
In Mark 6: 34, “Jesus saw a great crowd and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” My first response to this description was, Jesus was good and always have compassion. When I read more carefully, I found that Jesus’ compassion to the crowd was grounded in a fact that the people were like sheep without a shepherd.

What happens if the sheep have no shepherd? They will not be well taken care of and would lose direction. In here, the scripture brings us to understand our Lord Jesus. Jesus cares if we have direction and goal in life. Life goal and direction are important matters to everybody. Life without goals and direction would be terrible. It is because people will get lost.

This episode inspires me to think of a recent social issue about the increasing number of young people taking soft drugs in HK. This has been a headache for the government, teachers, school masters, and parents. In response to this drug problem, the government has recently introduced a new measure by testing students’ urine randomly. The test is to identify if students have taken drugs in school. This is a measure to deter students taking drugs at school. However, the effectiveness of this kind of tests is questioned by some students and social workers. A student in an interview responded by saying such new measure is no use for students would simply change the place to take drugs. Students will not stop taking drugs because of this test but they will change the place in which to take drugs.

Some social workers try to address the drug problem of young people, saying it is more important to help young people identify their life goals. Besides, more support and supplementary services should be provided if the number of cases of identified drug-taking increased. Students’ privacy and the negative impact of labeling are issues that they should be well aware of.

The model of the good shepherd by Jesus has given professionals and parents a reminder that love and care to the youth, and helping them to identify direction and life goals are something more important in the long run. The youth needs life goals and direction, we adults need that too.

This social problem of youth taking drugs has given me some thoughts of our youth ministry in the church. Do we have compassion for our children and youth in the community in general and in our own congregation in particular? Rev. Kwok, our former senior minister had persistently stressed the importance of developing the youth ministry. He urged that a congregation must develop and nurture our own young people. We develop and nurture our young people, not only out of concerns for the church to serve the world. It is not only because the church needs the youth to sustain the church and the mission in the long run. This is important. However, the fundamental motive to develop our young people is because we love them and we care for them. To nurture them and the church become their shepherd in itself is intrinsically valuable.

In the past year, there are more sisters and brothers involved in the children ministry such as the Sunday School. This is very good. However, we need more. We need a youth ministerial team that has strong compassion to serve this group of children and youth. With stronger compassion, the leaders will pray for the children and youth more often. They will spend more time with the youth, and to prepare and equip themselves for the service in a more regular and systematic manner. The church is in need of sisters and brothers who care and guide the faith development of the children and youth in their developmental path.

By the end of July and the first week of August, we will organize a few sessions of youth program for the children. We are pleased to have a number of sisters and brothers from the church to come to lead the group and spend time with the children. After these youth programs, there may be more children coming to the church for Sunday School and worship on Sunday. Are we ready to receive these new young friends in our congregation by sharing our love and wisdom to teach them?

Are you ready for this ministry my friend? Maggie our assistant minister and some other sisters and brothers have been involving in Sunday School and youth fellowship. That is very good. I wish you will continue if you have already involved. For others, I invite you to act if God has moved you today.

If we are called by God and committed ourselves to serve God and be a good shepherd, we have to be prepared to give ourselves and pay the cost.

One of the costs that we need to pay is that the more successful we are, the more we have to give. In Mark 6, we saw that the disciples and Jesus had to work for very long hours. They did not even have enough time to eat. We may have to make some personal sacrifice. Yes, if we want to be Jesus’ disciples we have to pay some cost. The sacrificing love is our source of encouragement. As our Lord has done so much for us and all humanity, shall we in return share what we have to God and for God, by serving people in need?

To be God’s servant, follow Jesus by taking up the role of shepherd sounds difficult. But don’t worry, Jesus Christ is well aware of human needs. In Jesus we will have rest and live in peace. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus our good shepherd has given us the most comforting words. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Our shepherd Lord Jesus Christ knows about our needs and life situation. There is time to serve and there is time to rest. He knows and invites us to act accordingly.

In Jeremiah 23, the author has told us clearly that God was unhappy with shepherds who did not do their job to nurture the flock. Instead, God will be the shepherd himself to gather the flock. God will nurture them to grow and build up their life. Moreover, God will raise up shepherds to tender the flock. The flock shall not fear any longer, or dismayed, nor shall be missing.

God will raise the shepherd who is from the righteous branch, this branch shall execute justice and righteousness. The Lord is our righteousness.

God has set a goal for good shepherds to tender the sheep by keeping them safe and live in peace. Are you ready to become God’s shepherds and serve his people?