Sheeple, and proud of it.

This summer, when the COVID numbers seemed to flatten and then diminish, friends traveled to one of the nearby states to visit family, At the time the restrictions and requirement in that state were even more open that here in Illinois, yet the cautions remained…wash your hands, keep safe distances and wear a mask. My friends followed all those guidelines consistently but found in most of the states next door that few people practiced wearing a mask. In fact, there were several occasions where they experienced stopping for food or gas that people would whisper loud enough to hear…”Sheeple.”

DO you know what a sheeple is? Of course, we recognize it’s a term generated to despairingly refer to those of us who decided to take the advice of the experts and risk being overly cautious…OK…I know that is the nice version…I know it represents the idea that some people will follow blindly to their own peril...like lambs to the slaughter…

But in light of the texts for his Sunday…Of all the names I have ever been called I’d have to say that Sheeple might be one of the nicest things you could say about a person…Over the years I have learned that its not productive to get defensive or angry when people call you names…but it helps to take the time to understand the name and the source of the name calling.

In the case of the sheeple, I get it…folks are afraid, their concerned, they feel lost and unseen, frustrated hurt…Unfortunately, often times the leadership of influence that they have chosen to follow reflects more of the Shepherds identified in the Ezekiel passage that lead their sheep astray…offer empty promises, prey on their situations to fatten themselves and line their pockets, in order to retain power and manipulate them to create chaos and division. This pervades…politics, economics and yes, even religious influences.

But this is a time of crisis…not unlike the context of the Ezekiel passage, or even the Matthew text. The Empire is falling apart… the institutions, structures, unfulfilled ideals and ideas are losing their power and influence….challenges are being made that reflect the need for reform at best or total reconstruction. There is a cultural and may I suggest a spiritual revolution on the horizon and the people who have held power don’t like it…

But they don’t see or recognize that the power they are up against is not power from above. At least not their level of above…It is power that is bubbling up from below…from the foundations of the earth. It is the power declared in Ezekiel of God intervening…God reclaiming and raising up and Reigning down a restorative justice.

Four a whole year we have been listing to Matthew tell us about Jesus…witnessing to how God again interrupts/incarnates in the world to establish the foundation on which the New Heaven and New Earth will be built. He takes us to the mountain, the place where often in faith tradition and teaching God communicates/speaks to/inspires humanity. There Jesus give his “I Have A Dream” speech, announcing blessing to those who have lost hope yet remain faithful, to those who pursue peace in the face of hatred, and declares that justice is on the way for/through those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…

And then for 20 chapters we see Jesus living out how this vision is made manifest in real time. Someone once told me a vision without a plan is a wish. And as Jesus lived, he articulated the plan by living the plan…healing the sick, feeding the hungry, empowering people on the margins, Seeing/seeking out the lost, uniting strangers and friends around a table.

Things are about to change…and the Empire will wield what they believe is a final blow…refusing to concede to a peaceful transfer of power, they will attempt to restore their authority by striking down the front line of God’s revolution…telling lies, spreading rumors, bribing subordinates and stirring up militias…Are we talking about Matthew of now? The answer is yes.

But they can’t see it’s too late…because the power to change has already been given to those who have been following this Good Shepherd…who have been on the mountain time and time again with Jesus only to return with a deepening sense of Divine blessing…which comes with it the power to live authentically and generously the life of Love…

We (the Church) have been called a lot of names over the course of time…some deserved as we have wandered off, lost our way, forgotten who/whose we are, followed the wrong shepherd when we feared for our own survival or missed the green pasture and still l waters.

But this crisis has reawakened us…This crisis has challenged us…this crisis has enlightened us and invites us to follow The Way, The Truth and The Life we know in and through The Good Shepherd…One who walks with us through the Shadow of death. We follow Christ because we recognize through Christ’s example that everyone benefits when we practice compassion, everyone thrives when we make small sacrifices, everyone lives when we risk for Love…Love is the optimal solution.

On the Mountain today Jesus commissions the disciples to live in the world with his heart…to act in the world with his power…to see the world through his eyes…and not only sent out to recognize Christ in the world around them but also embrace the Christ alive in them…Healing them, empowering them…feeding their souls and relieving their thirst for righteous/tight living.

Wearing a mask these days is a small but powerful gesture and declaration…but this is not the first time our Lutherans congregations in have had to respond to a crisis/or change…leveraging assets to build affordable housing for seniors, opening doors to community children who need a safe place to go after school, standing with and being part of the path that welcomes LGBTQ Children of God as equal partners and members of the family, standing up against community opposition to make space and a home for individuals experiencing homelessness…

These are just a few of the ways that the sheeple of our churches have followed the Shepherds mandate…and they inspire and challenge us today…even as Jesus points us toward the hurting ways of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia that pervade our culture and even the church. Even as Jesus opens our eyes to the damages of an economic system that celebrates BILLIONAIRES while income inequality widens and more people go hungry, homeless or housing insecure, working at inadequate and slave wages, Jesus is opening our hearts to hold the anger, the fear, the despair of people who have been betrayed by leaders who don’t deserve their trust.

When my daughter was in grade school…she took a lot of bullying…she was/is smart in a system that had been failing, her family was obviously middle class with two professional working parents, we were one of only a few white families that remained in the public school as others …one day she came home crying after what had been a particularly brutal day with an account of the various taunting…”They call me smart…she wailed…”And proud of it!” I responded…What? And proud of it…maybe you will have to grow into it but when someone calls you a name you just tell them…you’re proud of who you are…and you hope they can become proud of who they are!

In the dark days of the coming Advent remember…if you deepen your resolve to work for justice…You just might be a sheeple. If you join in the call for accountability by public officials and public servants…you just might be a sheeple…If you support small businesses during this economic struggle…you just might be a sheeple…If you learn about and support the concept of reparations…you just might be a sheeple…If you put the pantry on a monthly giving plan…you might be a sheeple…If you learn to include/utilize preferred pronouns…you just might be a sheeple…and good lord, if you wear a mask wherever you go…even when you aren’t required..because you care about others who might get sick even if you might not get sick well…You ARE a sheeple…and Jesus is proud of it.