By Archbishop Linda Nicholls
Last Sunday (April 26th) was Good Shepherd Sunday. The Gospel and Psalm for that day invited us to consider the voice of the shepherd who knows the sheep and calls them – calls them into the safety of the enclosure at night; calls them to follow him into green pasture and leads them beside the still waters that will nourish them.
From the very beginning of the record of God’s relationship with humankind we hear story after story about human beings trying – and most often failing – to trust that the voice of God is the way of life. Adam and Eve thought they knew better than God and soon discovered the cost of following their own voices! Both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament record over and over the yearning of God for a relationship of faithfulness. Human beings often turned back to God’s voice until fear turns them away to seek seemingly safer or easier paths following the voices of alliances or conquerors or simply shutting their ears to the persistence of the prophets crying out for justice and mercy and God’s ways.
Chapter 30 of Isaiah is a microcosm of this pattern. Judah has turned to Egypt for protection from Assyria, a bad alliance at best. Isaiah points out their unwillingness to trust in God – yet even so he reminds them in todays passage that:
….the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
Isaiah offers the promise that:
…when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.“
God’s voice – the voice of the shepherd will be with you. Jesus came to earth, in the incarnation, to show the way in person – with the voice of compassion and mercy and healing – teaching the ways of God’s love that infuse the law with hope and life. The disciples know in him the voice of forgiveness and grace that, after the resurrection, fills them with peace and sends them out shouting their joy even in the face of difficulties, imprisonment, suffering and death. Jesus is the voice of the Good Shepherd for all people.
I was deeply touched when I was preparing this homily when I read this passage from Isaiah. It took me back to 1977 as I was preparing to leave home and take up a teaching position at a school in the Indian Himalayas. A high school friend who had shared in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship bible studies with me came to say good-bye and brought with her a small locket as a gift. Inside that locket was this verse from Isaiah 30. The locket has long since been lost but that verse still echoes in my ears and my heart as a touchstone. The voice of the Shepherd speaks quietly in our hearts and our ears to guide us.
Today we gather we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of someone who has listened to the Shepherd’s voice and has faithfully responded to that call. Sr. Jocelyn heard the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calling her into this community – the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine. She knew Jesus as the way, the truth and the life and responded, beginning the journey that has brought her to this day.
Jocelyn has trusted that voice – in her ear and her heart – to guide her and this whole community through tumultuous times – as branch houses have open and closed, the Convent has moved location, pastoral ministries have shifted; spiritual direction and support for guests has increased and the community has welcomed and farewelled many Sisters, postulants and novices. Sr. Jocelyn has given years of dedication to producing the white work linens that grace the eucharistic tables of many parishes to this day. She delights in the healing ministry of the church and has supported its extension and gifts as a lay anointer in the diocese and member of the Order of St. Luke. She could hardly have imagined all the changes that lay ahead when she made those final vows in 1976!!
50 years offers many opportunities for our human hearts to turn away from God’s voice or to simply stop listening. It requires faithfulness that is humble and discerning. It is the commitment so beautifully expressed in todays portion of Psalm 119 as translated in the First Nations Psalms and Proverbs that Sr. Jocelyn chose,
Grandfather, guide me as I learn to walk in your ways,
and I will follow your good road to the end.Help me understand the meaning of our sacred traditions,
that my feet might have a clear path to walk.O Great Spirit, let your instructions guide me, for they make my heart glad.
Guide my heart in the way of your sacred instructions,
and away from any desire for selfish gain.Turn my eyes away from worthless things
and show me your road of life again.Stand up for your servant and do what you have said,
and then all who see will show respect to you.Remove my fear of bringing shame to my family by the insults spoken against me,
for you always decide what is right.I long to walk in your ways.
Remain true to who you are and give me life.
It is the heart prayer of one who longs to stay close to the way, the truth and the life trusting that God will always remain true to God’s nature and will give life – as the spring of the water of life always available to us.
Thank you, Sr. Jocelyn, for your faithfulness to the voice of the Good Shepherd – your trust that life is found in listening to that voice – in good times and in bad – in sickness and in health, as I know you have learned – and are a witness to God’s love and grace through religious community to a world longing to believe abundant life is truly possible.
May God continue to give you grace and courage to fulfil the vows you made those 50 years ago and give each of us grace and courage to listen to the voice of the shepherd calling us afresh each day.