Opening Our Heart to God
PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for opening your heart to us generously and faithfully. Grow our faith so we can open our hearts more generously and faithfully. Speak, Lord, to each of us for all your servants are listening. Amen.
The gospel story of the lost sheep takes me back to the summer my son, Aaron, trained to be a shepherd. Aaron’s teacher at school ran a sheep farm and Mr. Beal invited Aaron to raise a lamb for the 4-H competition at the fair. So that spring and summer I spent a lot of time with sheep.
Aaron named his sheep Bobo and began his shepherd lessons. Aaron learned how to feed and groom Bobo and how to keep him safe from stray dogs running onto the property. The hardest thing Aaron had to do was teach Bobo to follow beside him in his wheelchair.
Well, sheep don’t like to follow a wheelchair. They’d rather eat the rubber on the wheels. Bobo would bolt at the littlest of things. Bobo yanked Aaron to the left and to the right. Aaron almost lost all patience the day Bobo took him on a 360 turn in his chair. Yet Aaron continued to faithfully love and care for Bobo. Finally, Bobo got it. When Aaron moved forward, Bobo moved forward. When Aaron stopped, Bobo stopped.
I remember the day Aaron had achieved true shepherd status. Aaron and Bobo just finished practicing the walking route used in the exhibition ring. Aaron stopped. Bobo stopped. Bobo turned and looked at Aaron. Aaron tapped his knee and called Bobo’s name. Then, Bobo rested his chin on Aaron’s knee and Aaron petted him. It was a very tender scene.
For the FIRST time, Bobo was opening his heart to Aaron because all spring and all summer long, Aaron, the Shepherd, had opened his heart to Bobo.
It’s the same way in our gospel story today. When the shepherd found the lost sheep he found a sheep that he knew by name, a sheep that he had cared for constantly, week after week, feeding it good food, keeping it safe, and a sheep he had taught to follow him in/out to pasture. The shepherd rescued a sheep that he had ALREADY loved faithfully for a very long time.
Sometimes we can feel like a little, lost sheep.
One way I felt like a little, lost sheep was when I neglected my prayer life. There are many obstacles to prayer.
We are busy people. Where do we find the time to pray? ·
We ask for the right thing but for all the wrong reasons. ·
We ask for the wrong thing but for all the right reasons. ·
Some times we just expect God to know all our needs so why bother talking to God at all. ·
Sometimes we need to repent and we’re just not ready to do that yet.
The greatest gift of prayer is being with God. When we neglect our prayer life we become little, lost sheep because we have lost that very precious time together with our Lord.
There are prayer classes every Tuesday night in Oct. that will help us open our heart to God. We have 5 different classes every week – short, easy prayers for busy people, prayers that help you see what God is doing in your daily life, how to pray with the Bible and listen to God, how to open your heart and write out your prayers, and one class listens to Christian music and how discusses how it opens our heart to God. I hope you’ll be adventurous this Tuesday and try one of these classes.
Another time I felt like a lost sheep comes to mind as I think about our stewardship emphasis this month. I remember a time when I struggled with giving money to the church. I grew up in a loving but secular home. My parents taught me to be generous in helping my family and in helping the poor living in our community. I was taught to be generous with my time, food and old clothes but I was not taught to be generous with money. Instead I was taught to be a good saver and good investor.
As an adult I looked to the church to teach me how to be a cheerful giver only to discover that most churches don’t like to talk about money. I felt like a little, lost sheep for who will teach me how to give to God if the church won’t teach me?
So I turned to books and read some great books on stewardship. I learned that giving money isn’t really about giving money, it’s really about expressing the faith that lives in my heart. It’s living life out of gratitude and letting my gratitude to God show in what I do with my money.
Then I discovered that one of my girlfriends had the spiritual gift of giving so I asked her to mentor me. For 2 years she answered the many questions I had after reading the books. She picked me up every time I tried and failed to give more generously to the church. Her spiritual gift of giving money was a wonderful light for my way as a little, lost sheep. God used her spiritual gift to guide me well.
One thing I know without a doubt – God has always been a generous and cheerful giver to me.
God gave me life and created me in God’s holy image. God gave me all the written stories of my brothers and sisters in faith throughout the ages to teach and guide me. God poured out grace and mercy upon me and forgave me many times over. God led me back every time I strayed. God gave me hope when all I saw was the end of the road. God gave me light in my darkness and strength when I was weak. Most of all, Jesus gave His life for me on the cross and that is the most generous way that God opened His heart to me.
God opens His heart to us and after we have received abundantly, more than we could ever ask for or imagine, THEN we open our hearts to the Lord. We open our hearts in prayer eager to chat a while with the Great Giver. We give money generously because we’re living life out of gratitude for all that God has done for us and we want our money to be God’s medicine on a wounded world.
I love a story with a happy ending. There are two happy endings this morning.
The first is – my son did succeed at becoming a good shepherd and he has the blue ribbon to prove it.
The second is that our gospel story ends on a happy note. Joy bubbles up in the Shepherd’s heart after he rescues the sheep. The shepherd joyfully carries the sheep home (smiling, singing), he gives a party with friends and neighbors to celebrate (the kind of joy that must be shared) and all of heaven rejoices (in God’s eyes every lost sheep is so precious to God).
We open our hearts to God because God first opened His heart to us …. week after week after week … century after century …. generously …. patiently … faithfully …. week after week after week.
We open our heart to God because God first opened His heart to us …. and we say thank you with ALL that we are.
Thank you, Lord.
Amen and Amen.