Dear Alan,
Today's sermon was just awesome! Never before in my personal life have I needed more to hear about the redemption that is offered on so many levels in the breaking of the bread. I was so moved by your words. It made me all the more anxious to get an early start on next week's service!
As I did my preliminary research on the lectionary texts, I was struck by many themes -- the idea of the different voices we hear in this world (thinking of the reference to the sheep recognizing Jesus' voice) and also the image of Jesus being the Gate, the Door. Since my maiden name means "Gatekeeper," I decided to run after that rabbit. I ran across the following writings by Edward Markquart on the website “Sermons from Seattle,” which I quote verbatim below:
To understand the Biblical parable of the sheep and the door, it is helpful to trace our steps back two thousand years into the time of Christ. So we momentarily need to go back to the time of sheep and shepherds and watering holes. During the time of Jesus in the land of Palestine, during the evening, the shepherds would bring the sheep down from the hills to protect them at night when the wolves and mountain lions were hunting their prey. At night, the shepherds would gather their sheep together and lead them into large pens. These large pens were called sheepfolds. These sheepfolds or sheep pens had large walls which were made out of rocks. The walls of the sheep pens were about five feet high. On the top of the four stone walls were briars or prickly branches. These briars or prickly branches would be used for the crown of thorns on Good Friday. The shepherds put the prickly briars along the top of the wall, so it was like our barbed wire today on the top of walls. The result of all of this is that the mountain lions and wolves couldn't get inside the sheep pen.
Now, the door way was about two feet wide. This wide. Not wide at all. It was a small entry. It was like one small gap in the wall. So I ask you: what was the door made out of? This is crucial. Was the door made out of wood that a carpenter had constructed? Was it made out of wool, a wool blanket that a weaver had woven? Was it made out of stones that the shepherd had piled up? Was it made of out sticks, all laced together to form a barrier? Was it made out of leather, a hide from the sheep? Was it made out of linen, like a linen cloth hanging there in the gap in the wall? What was the door made out of? Wood? Wool? Stones? Sticks? Leather? Linen? What was the door made out of? That is the key to the story.
There was no door. The shepherd himself was the door. At night, the shepherd himself would sleep there in the small opening of the rock wall. He would sleep there, by the fire, with his rod and staff. If any mountain lion would come, the shepherd would fight it off with his weapons, his short stocky club or his long pointed staff. Literally and actually, the shepherd himself was the door. (end quote)
The use of the gate/door/Way image appeals to me very much. I have written an introduction to the service which plays with this idea. I attached the "skeleton liturgy" to this e-mail so you can look it over. Let me know if you want to go in this direction with your sermon, or if you will go another way. This will help me pick the right music.
Love,
Jo Anne
P.S. You may post this letter on Hermeneutic if it is helpful. I couldn't get it to post — probably forgot how — lol.
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