The Voice is Calling You

This is the message I delivered to our congregation today:

Gospel Message

The Voice is Calling You

April 26, 2015

John 10: 11-18

Please pray with me, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts together be pleasing to you, oh God.

“Build it and they will come.” the voice whispered…and the voice repeated, “Build it and they will come.”  The voice was heard by Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, Ray is a struggling Iowa Farmer who continuously hears this refrain, in the film Field of Dreams.  The voice and its meaning are a mystery.

Field of Dreams is a great movie.  In it we see Ray perplexed by the voice and the refrain, “Build it and they will come.”  The questions he has exposes him to many questions, build what, build it where, and why, and who is telling him to build it?

The film is set in Dyersville, Iowa, just 25 miles from where I was born.

I feel a special connection, you see, my dad played high school baseball against Dyersville High.  In the movie, when asked if this is Heaven, Ray replies, “No it’s Iowa.”  Which, understand, in my mind Iowa is as close as you can come to heaven on earth.

Ray, who has always had a passion for baseball, learns this unknown voice is telling him to build a baseball field in the middle of his corn field.  We learn early on that Ray had been estranged from his now deceased father.  We learn also, there was some brokenness between them, and too, his father was a baseball player struggling to make it to the big leagues.

The idea of building a baseball diamond in the middle of good productive Iowa farmland comes much to the dismay of his brother-in-law and all those who know him, who worries about Ray’s failing farm and how he is going to meet his financial obligations if he builds this he will further hurt his ability to avoid bankruptcy and losing the land.

I understand Ray’s passion, next to bicycling and annoying Susie, I too love watching baseball.  I am an avid Chicago Cubs fan.  Yeah, I know, it’s been a hundred years since they have won the World Series. Believe me you have to love the game to endure a lifetime of losing.

In the movie, Ray aided in his search for answers by the retired baseball writer Terence Mann, played by James Earl Jones (oh, now there is a voice) together they go in search for answers, led on by this voice and this mysterious refrain. 

Despite resistance from nearly everyone, the field is built, the lights come on and many of the greatest players of all time appear from out of the cornfield.

Among them is Ray’s father, from whom he had been estranged.

When we think of this movie, we think of it as a baseball movie, when in fact it is a story of a broken relationship restored between a son and his long estranged father.  It wasn’t ‘they’ who would come, but ‘him, Ray’s dad. 

It was an opportunity for them to restore a broken relationship.  To bring healing, we see it in a simple game of catch.

Throughout Lent we heard stories of brokenness and restoration.  In this time of Easter we hear of the great restoration.  Christ died on the Cross to restore us in our relationship with God

In today’s readings we hear of God’s continuing relationship with us.

Described as the Shepherd, God comes to us through Christ as our protector and our keeper. He is our familiar voice.

In the well-known 23^rd Psalm, David writes in v. 4; ...for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  The rod and staff are not instruments of punishment.  Rather like the shepherd they are to keep us from trouble and are to keep us safe. No one has been comforted by being beaten by a stick.  An experienced shepherd uses the rod and staff to guide the sheep and keep them safe.  Crook of the staff is used simply to bring the sheep back into the fold.

We worship a God of compassion and of love and we see that in the Good Shepherd.  We see it in a father who takes care of us.  Just prior to our Gospel, we are told in vs. 4, when he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.  You see sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd. 

Christ is the good shepherd, he is our shepherd, he is our familiar voice, calling us to him.  We find comfort and protection in the fold of the flock.  In v. 12 of our Gospel Jesus says, “The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.”

In our society today we find many who are given responsibility to care for others, who end up only caring for themselves, like the hired hands in the parable. Jesus goes on to say in our Gospel v. 16, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Christ is saying here that we need to be aware of those who profess religion or the church and not Christ.  We read daily of false leaders, fear mongers’, race baiters and the like.  Proclaiming their own gospel of self-interest.   Putting personal agendas ahead of the needs of those they are to lead.  We hear scripture speak to this in our Second Lesson today, from 1 John 3:17, how does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

I am reminded of the congressman from my home district in Illinois who recently resigned his seat as a because of financial impropriety.  Here was a man, a young man, the age of 33, who had it all and gave it up to fulfill his self-interests.  We also hear in the streets in Missouri and Baltimore from those who are enraged by shootings, who are spurred on in the anger by political and spiritual leaders who insist on race baiting, these leaders have chosen to proclaim their cause ahead of proclaiming the Gospel.  They choose to point to all that is wrong instead of working to find peaceful constructive resolutions.

But we know God has a vested interest in us through Jesus, sent to be our shepherd, who paid for us with his life.  The true Shepherds are tough, yet gentle.  They protect their flock from danger, yet offer compassionate tender care when needed.

I am reminded of a song by country singer Holly Dunn, entitled Daddy’s Hands.  The refrain goes: 

Daddy's hands were soft and kind when I was cryin´.

Daddy´s hands, were hard as steel when I´d done wrong.

Daddy´s hands, weren´t always gentle

But I´ve come to understand.

There was always love.....In Daddy´s hands.

            These lyrics speak well to the kind of compassion we can expect from God.  Listen He is calling…He is asking us to build the kingdom.  He is asking us to show compassion.  To reach out to those in need and serve them.  He is asking us to share the Good News of a brokenness restored.

We have a great illustration of this in today’s First Reading, Acts 4: 8-12  in it Peter responds to the Jewish leaders about authority, he responds, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is “the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.” There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’

Peter gives us the words and the encouragement to stand for the one true God, and the one true Savior.  When we listen to the one true voice, the voice of God, and stand on Christ as our cornerstone, we are on firm foundation to share the Good News of Restoration. 

Jesus calls us also to invite others to participate in His work.  In the work of the kingdom, to bring others to know Jesus, to know their brokenness is also restored, to hear and accept the Good News as news for them.

Are you ready to answer the call from God, he is asking you to help “build the kingdom and they will come!”

Amen