Trusting in Our Shepherd’s Endless Mercy: Part 1

From the moment of our birth until the end of our days, our life is a journey. We are always moving, always faced with endless decisions & choices, always confronted with challenges. Every day brings a new experience, some filled with peace, joy, faith & hope & others filled with pain, suffering, doubt & fear. In the early years of 1960, there was a familiar phrase that everyone embraced. It is quoted as saying: “Life is a journey not a guided tour”. I interpret that to mean that we have choices to make in our life as we move through our days & it is up to us as to how we handle those choices & challenges. Some of the choices we make as we journey through life are shaped & informed by the beliefs we hold to be spiritually true, given to us through Holy Scripture & prayer. Other choices we make are informed by earthly things we have witnessed & deemed to be true. Some decisions bring us strength & comfort, & others bring us fear & pain.

At the writing of this sermon, we are entering a season of forty days that will lead us up to Easter. For Christians, Easter is known as the holiest day of the year for it marks the celebration of the day that Jesus overcame death & eternal life was offered to all believers. In the Bible, we read that during those forty days leading up to Easter, Jesus & his twelve disciples journeyed together to Jerusalem, preparing themselves for what had been proclaimed to them by the prophets, the holy scriptures & by Jesus himself over the years.

Only Jesus knew for certain what lay ahead. As they journeyed through those forty days the disciples encountered many people seeking healing & repeatedly witnessed healing miracles performed by Jesus as they grew ever closer to their teacher. Simultaneously however, they experienced increasing resistance & hostility toward their teacher from the leaders of the day.

The disciples all had choices to make on their journey as to who they would follow, who they would listen to & what resources they would need to live into the choices they made on their journey. With all the conflicting messages that surrounded them on their journey, not dissimilar for each of us today as we journey through our daily lives, though the disciples grew closer to their teacher every day, understandably they became increasingly confused & afraid about the future

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Pastoral Care Minister with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy