This morning at church the guy who has been youth pastor for the last eight years gave his farewell sermon. I never really liked him. I found him superficial and had a disagreement with him when he recruited a volunteer to work with the high school youth several years ago. This particular volunteer thought that she had the corner on all of God’s truth and she was on a mission to teach each high school student the right way to view God. Within two weeks my daughter came face-to-face with her bigoted and narrow view of the world. Following several candid conversations with the youth pastor and finally one with the senior pastor this person was retired from her position with the senior high school youth group. Unfortunately, she and her family moved on to another church soon after. Back to the youth pastor; he does not listen well and hides behind his position when others ask questions or challenge him with new ideas. In fact, these are a few of reasons that this was his last Sunday at the church.
So, what could I expect to get out of his sermon this morning? Again, I was taught that God has a way of using even those that I consider most simple and inferior to get His message across to me. The youth pastor talked about “Killer Sheep.” His point was that when Jesus talked about sheep he was talking about one of the most non-communicative and stupid animals in the world; an apt image for how we humans relate to God. We, like sheep, must be led, even to drink water. Because sheep fear moving water a pool must be made for them of “still water” before they will drink. By the end of the sermon I knew I was the dumb sheep that God had in mind when he decided to use sheep as the image for his followers. The pastor’s sermon title “Killer Sheep” was his challenge to all of the dumb sheep in the congregation to stop acting like victims of the enemy. Instead he asked the congregation to turn the paradigm around and hunt down the enemy. He was saying that because of our association with the Shepard we have all that we need to hunt rather than to be hunted.
The paradigm shift was good for me. Too often I feel like the victim and like most victims just lay there and bleed. Instead, the sermon this morning challenged me to get up and chase what I have always considered the hunter. So, I decided to start a blog and begin to “chase the hunter” with words and thoughts. My hope is that through this process I will cease to be a victim of evil, challenge others to do the same and bring glory to my savior who bleed once and for all.
Maybe I should have listened better to what the youth pastor had to say long ago rather than waiting until his final Sunday.
