Rev. Cari Pattison
Woodstock Reformed Church
Sunday, May 8, 2022
“What Does Belonging Feel Like?”
John 10:22-30
22At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.
24Some of the Jewish leaders gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
25Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; 26but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.
27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. 30The Father and I are one."
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This is the 4th Sunday of Easter / also Mothers’ Day / also Good Shepherd Sunday
“Mirror mirror on the wall…”
Things I’ve imitated from my mom- and my brothers too-
Attention to detail
Neatness and cleaning
Love for reading
Curiosity and asking questions
Looking at all sides of a story and practicing empathy
Figuring out ways to communicate diplomatically and honestly, in a conflict situation
Honoring and nurturing your friendships
But sometimes I laugh when I hear my mom’s voice coming out when I talk to Ollie.
She used to say to my youngest brother, whom my other brother and I suspected was her favorite: “God love him and so does his mama!”
And maybe yes, I do say this to my dog, when no one’s listening…
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No mothers are perfect, but in their best moments- our mothers give us an early sense of belonging.
According to researcher Emily Esfahani Smith, who did an extensive study on how people find meaning- the most significant source of meaning is belonging.
Interestingly, Maya Angelou notes that when you belong nowhere you can finally belong everywhere. She says the most important form of belonging is to belong to yourself, and that’s somewhat aligned with what we hear in Scripture. But it’s not all.
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This passage Hetty just read, resembles a formal interrogation of Jesus by the religious authorities about Jesus’ identity as Messiah.
Jesus is in Solomon’s Portico- the eastern side of the temple at Jerusalem- a public place where even women were permitted. Jesus wants to make sure everyone has access to hear his teaching.
And this is all during Hannukah- commemorating the Maccabean rededication of the Temple after it had been profaned by the Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes in 2nd century BCE. So they are wondering- will Jesus, if he’s the Messiah, be the next one to deliver the Jewish people, this time from Roman rule? Will he set them free and bring them to power?
In one translation, the Jewish leaders ask: “How long are you going to keep us in this terrible suspense? If you’re the anointed one, tell us openly.”
And then Jesus goes into this whole thing about the shepherd and the sheep, and these are not battle terms and this does not sound like a triumphant takeover in the making, and the Jewish leaders gathered here are not impressed.
But Jesus doesn’t have planned a revolution of violence, he’s planning a revolution of transformation. He says, “The Father and I are one. We’re united in the work we do. And if you want to be a part of that, come be my sheep.”
He never answers their question, because he’s asking a different one:
“Do you know my voice?”
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That’s what we do when we gather on Sundays- together, we tune in to God’s voice. God’s voice in scripture, song, prayer, and the presence of one another.
When it comes to belonging, the church has something significant and rare to offer. Where else in modern culture can we gather for an hour every week—old and young, different backgrounds and professions, different neighborhoods, and come together across our political lines and theologies, and even church beliefs, so that we can be here together, that we can sing, and pray, and shake hands, and drink coffee, and hear teaching, so that we can come together and say, “Lord, what would it look like for us to be good news in the world together? How can we make a difference?”
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In Christian theology, to look at Jesus is to get a glimpse of the heart of God. Jesus woke up early each morning, we’re told, before the sun rose, so he could spend those quiet moments in meditation and prayer with His Heavenly Father, because He knew the One to whom He belonged.
So it didn’t matter what the Pharisees said about Him or which religious leaders excluded Him. That was never where He found His belonging. Jesus spent time with the twelve disciples, yes, but also with a whole host of other people, men and women, beloved and hated blessing society, and time and again with Jesus it’s around a meal table, or a fishing excursion, or a hilltop full of children, that He invited people to a whole new way of belonging.
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One of the most common things I hear from people, as a minister, are their experiences of not belonging. We all have them, don’t we?
Drill team…
People of color, people whose sexuality has been shamed or marginalized, people who are differently abled- whether physically or mentally, people who are neuroatypical- they can have even more profound and repeated experiences of not belonging, but we all know what it’s like.
But when you know what it is to be ignored, excluded, or misunderstood, then you are all the more equipped to tune in to others who may be feeling that. God may be forming you to be an agent of belonging for others.
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But I think sometimes we have a hard time letting go of these old ideas, where you walk into a certain place, or you’re with a certain group of people, and the storyline runs through your head again: “Oh, I don’t belong here.” What if God’s inviting you to let that go?
I love what Brené Brown says, in her book Braving the Wilderness. She writes, “Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don’t belong. You will always find it, because you’ve made that your mission. Stop scouring people’s faces that you’re not enough. You will always find it, because you’ve made that your goal. The truth about who we are lives in our hearts. Our call to courage it to protect our heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you.”
My friend Jana gave me an antidote to this fear of not belonging. She said, “When you walk into a room, presume love.” That is, whatever situation you’re stepping into, and however nervous it makes you, and however excluded you feel, and however awkward that one social interaction you think might be coming might be, you walk into that space and assume that love is already there. Try it. Belonging is something you carry in you, and when you know the source of your belonging, you can’t help but cultivate that outwardly.
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In our Reformed tradition, the Heidelberg Catechism is one of our primary confessions, and it was written in the 16th century by two men in their 20s, and the very first opening questions says, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” Answer: “That I belong, body and soul, not to myself, but to my Savior Jesus Christ.” When you know where your belonging comes from, it changes everything.
From this internal sense of belonging flows a spirit of reaching out, and that’s what church members express they feel, when they join this church, or bring a dish to a potluck, or volunteer for the gardens, or help with the building. It’s what choir and band members say that they feel when the harmonies come together in a beautiful hymn of praise. It is what our members of Bible study describe when they meet share their ideas about God’s word. It’s what you say you feel when you reach out with cards and calls and food- and receive cards and calls and food- in a time of sickness or grief.
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And friends, hear this, because it’s something people ask me often about as a pastor. You don’t have to fully believe to belong. Most of us have something in the faith that we are still wrestling with, some part of the Bible that still trips us up, some part of the church that we’re not fully on board with, some minister’s sermons that are too long. I don’t know what it is, but I know you don’t have to believe to belong. Like the prodigal son story, you already belong to the God who says, “Welcome home.”
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Belonging means taking the risk to ask for support when you need it, and to offer it before it’s asked for. Belonging means talking not just to friends that you haven’t seen in a while, but to extend yourself to someone you don’t recognize in the pew next to you, or at coffee hour, or in the foyer, and genuinely express a desire to get to know them.
Belonging means showing up for this hour of worship on Sundays even when you don’t feel like it, because maybe someone here needs your presence on Sunday morning, and maybe you can just let God surprise you when you show up. It means looking for ways to give of ourselves in ministries you care about. And as Maya Angelou said, it means in a sense not caring if you belong anywhere, because really if you know who you are, you belong everywhere.
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Suzanne Campise…
Paul writes, “Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future, all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” It’s funny how far this belonging can reach.
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Richard Rohr- Our work, and the only work of religion is to create unity wherever we go
One of my greatest desires in ministry is to help cultivate places of belonging, communities of belonging
Trademarks of true belonging:
1. Mutual service / kindness (Anne Lamott)
Annie Lamott- ER waiting room illustration
2. Knowing and being known / a mutual curiosity and interest (Cheers)
Forbearance and forgiveness – looking for the best in one another (Consistory; AT; Josh)
3. Encouraging each other’s gifts and value (WRC women + Carol)
4. Often something greater than ourselves as the focus or mission (AT, mission trips, volunteering on a project, colleagues at a job)
5. Ultimately we find our true belonging in God:
“My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them life that lasts for all time, and for all time they’ll never be destroyed, and nobody’s going to tear them from my hand.”
What does it mean- no one can snatch them from my hand?
In other words, Jesus is saying, “You cannot steal them from me. Don’t even try to take away this unity. Don’t try to steal my sheep from me or me from God or don’t try to steal yourselves from one another.”
Ultimately even our deepest experiences of belonging on this earth are fleeting glimpses- people die, people move away, relationships change…
But I think it was meant to be this way, because belonging on earth is penultimate- that is, it’s not the last thing- it’s a precursor to something better.
Scripture says we are just pilgrims passing through; our true citizenship is in heaven. We were created for a kind of community that even the best forms of it on earth are just proximations.
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Doppler and Queue (if you want to run farther…)