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Being One Flock
My dear friend Deacon Martha de Tamayo I’ll never forget. Give her the 23rd Psalm we share today and she soared. It was her Psalm. It was her plea. Give her a reason or occasion, she would burst into the Lord is My Shepherd. I remember her today with so much love and devotion as we concern ourselves with the Lamb of God, the Shepherd who leads us, if we just follow, and the endless love that we are given by our Lord Jesus Christ, which we remember during Eastertide.
 It is ironic that not too long ago, we witnessed, with horror in our hearts, a bloody, terrible shooting by a desperate, rejected, mentally ill youth in Florida - who killed 17 of his classmates and teachers in 4 minutes. When I read today’s John’s gospel, I could not help but compare the “hired hand” to a hired hand, a citizen police guard, present outside the school - as they are in every school in my city of Memphis and most large cities because of the crime and the power of Mafia and/or gangs. There is so much violence that teachers cannot walk to class in some areas without a police escort -but in Florida, it was not that intense, and particularly in this upper-class area of Parkland, at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School, where a messed-up teen, who had lost both mom and dad, and who had spent most of his life trying to get some sort of attention, joined the category of serial shooter. He wanted to be a shooter and shoot up a school. That was his ambition.
This school resource officer, member of the Sheriff’s office, trained as a first responder was paid to care for the sheep so to speak, to pay attention and prevent any sort of interruption of the daily schedule or any crime or gang activity to occur. I doubt he was trained in handling mental illness, but still. A gun shot is a gunshot. He was outside the facility. But when he heard the gun shots, it appears there was no way he was going to lay down his life for the sheep. Or he didn’t know what was going on and should have investigated. He balked. He failed to respond. The wolf was able to assassin the sheep because the shepherd was either not paying attention or was a coward.
As chaplain of my police precinct in Memphis, and for the MPD, a force of about 2000, I never met one police officer or sheriff or fire fighter or first defender, who failed to do his duty because they are truly heroes, the shepherds for us sheep. They know what their role is in our urban society. They are the only ones whom we are supposed to be able to count on, to trust to rescue us from frightening situations and yet, they are the ones who are cursed, attacked and are now shot at regularly. Every time an officer approaches a stopped car, and walks up to the window, he is taking a risk there is gun in the car and he will be shot. It happens all the time. It’s frightening to me when our police have to be warriors defending not only you and me, but themselves as well. This is one reason an officer in my part of the world is required to have a back-up when approaching an unknown situation.
Our shepherds have had to learn the tactics of modern crazy wolves, and be cognizant of the scent of fear, violence and death. All the time. Never a hand down. The shepherd must protect himself as well as the sheep in his pasture, or it’s useless. Our Great Shepherd had his Father for protection. and now we can call on him as Our Shepherd who leads us beside still waters and restores our souls and shows us the paths of righteousness for his name sake. I love the emphasis that is put on the line “He makes me lie down in green pastures “ is a vision that is primary in the faith of so many of our African Americans, who have been abused, ignored, enslaved and violated for too many years. And yet, they don’t lose that hope. When I pray for the many African American friends, whom I miss so much, and those who really raised me and my brother, I always ask God if He has opened for each one of them, the gates to those green pastures beside the still waters. That was their dream that carried them through life’s inequities and the disrespect that they suffered.
Our police, sheriffs, first defenders today don’t only deck out in hard to wear uniforms with bullet proof vests and now many must wear 24-7 cameras on their chests. They must be willing to lay down their lives for all citizens in their precincts, whether their skin is black, white, yellow or red. Whether this is out of love or out of duty, that’s personal to each one. But as we learn in 1 John - We know love by this - that Christ laid down his life for us - and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.
How can God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? That’s the big question. Are we greedy or generous? Are we afraid or just too busy? Jesus shows us that Love is action. Not just a word. Love is taking a chance the hard way, not the easy way, to help, rescue, comfort, heal and support those in need and in crisis. When we can do this, then we are following Jesus Christ, following his command to love one another - ALL one anothers, not just the ones beside us, like us, who already are in pretty good situations. All we sheep need to work together to support our shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in His Hands. He is our Savior. We are surely blessed.
And I thank Deacon Marta for keeping alive that blessed Psalm Number 23 so we can dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
www.audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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