Sermon for Heather Bentley Hick's Ordination

I preached this sermon Sunday afternoon for Heather's ordination
The title - "Do you love me?"

15When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
16A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
17He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Feed my sheep

I Think about Peter – everything he has been through since the first time that he heard those words –from Jesus in John– come and see
He has Watched Jesus some amazing things,: Healing, exorcisms, miracles.
He has found himself at odds with Jesus, rebuked by him, he himself denied him,
He experienced his death and profound grief And then the wonder of the resurrection
and his appearance in the upper room. All that he has been through – and now this – at the end – It all comes down to this – private conversation
As Jesus comes to ask the big question – "Do you love me?"

And I think for Heather – after all is said and done,
After all the classes, the tests, the papers, after the graduation from Methesco,
After years of growing up in the church, working in various churches,, interning in this church , After being interviewed by the Commission on Ministry and the elders here at Gender Road
It all comes down to this – the big question – the pretty simple question
Do you love me

Now I have spent some time reading about this text and it seems to me we can to complicate it – talk about different kinds of love in the Greek. What do they mean?
Are the lambs different from the sheep? Do you love me more than “ these” what are the “these” – the nets, the friends? But that is not it.
But I think it all comes down to this questions – do you love me.

And the reasons is that Love is the center of the gospel, the call, his purpose, our lives, our God – LoveIt is love that rehabilitates Peter – from the one who denied Christ to become one of the Fathers of the Faith. It is love that shapes his life – as a fisher of people or as a shepherd of lost sheep

Peter is remembered in the Bible as a frail human being – sometimes strong, sometimes weak, sometimes impulsive, sometimes courageous
But after the resurrection he was brought again to his feet, brought to life and leadership by God’s generosity and grace and love.

And so dear Heather – that is your story – and my story – and the story of all of us who have heard the call of the Lord to pastor, to shepherd and it is a call grounded in love.

We are flawed and frail human beings - sometimes strong, sometimes weak, sometimes impulsive, sometimes courageous. We are loved by God, graced by God, called by God and empowered by God to shepherd God’s people.
Ordained – set apart – Holy

One of my favorite scriptures from John –
10:10 I came that you might have life and have it abundantly

And let me tell you – this life – that you are embarking on –
is an abundant life. Full of more excitement, joy, wonder and awe than you can imagine, I know this: you are going to be stretched and used by God
As shepherds - We pastor the people that God loves
• We are stewards of the mysteries
• We get to serve God through the body of Christ - the church.

Now – I am not saying it is always easy –
It is a weekendless life, often with a lot of meetings. We have to being available to people at what sometimes is inopportune time in our personal life.
We have to deal with things like budgets and stewardship campaigns.
And we serve in the midst of the rawness of life – we get to be with people in the most difficult and the most joyous times. We face situations that can almost overwhelm us.
And we get to see how people can respond well and poorly to trial
It is a multilayered, rich and abundant.life.

You know I love it – I love being a pastor and all that it is
And today as I pondered exactly what to say to you – I thought I would share with you 3 things I have found to be true As my best friend Oprah says – this much I know.
First I know is that we are called and gifted and grace to love the church. Because that is the only way that we can serve the church is to love the church. And we love the church the way we love our family – warts and all.
We love the church and we learn the beauty of the way God works throughout all the generations in the church –
– in the innocence and wisdom of children,
– in the skepticism and zeal of youth,
– in the busyness and dedication of working adults,
– and in the goodness and faithful witness of the retired saints.
And let me tell you about elders in the church – they are elders – for you they probably will be.elders but for all of us – they are a gift to the pastor as we share our faith and work together in ministry.


Remember Jesus said – Feed my sheep – it will never be YOUR church – it is God’s church.
And as someone once said to me many years ago – We are in the loving business –
God is in the changing business. We are called to love.
And God – our wonderful God– helps to love EVERYONE.

Does this sound like Pollyanna preaching – Maybe – but I can only tell you that if you ask God to open your heart to those difficult and hard to love sheep that are placed in your care – God will do that. I think it is an example of God’s supernatural power!
God will enable you to want to love them and to begin to see them as God sees them.
We feed the sheep as we love them with the heart of our Lord.

2. I know we have to keep learning.
When I was in seminary what I learned was so important – but so preliminary. You learn About the Bible, about pastoral care, about church administration, about church history and theology.
There is so much more to learn and keep learning.
For me and my generation – just keeping up technologically has been a task.
• But learning about the world, t
• Spend the rest of your life studying this treasure – which is the word of God,
• And learning about people and how they work and develop and grow and refuse to grow
• And learn about how to communicate with clarity and non defensiveness
• learning about yourself – your shadows and your gifts and your deepest desires
• Learn about the Holy spirit…. deepening your life in the spirit and finding out about what prayer is and does
This much I know – it is the greatest gift to the church for you to be a life long learner
And it is an act of humility as you live out the reality that there is always MORE to learn

3.I have one final suggestion = of what I know to be true
You should take notes – keep a record of what is happening because it is noteworthy.
Take notes on what you are doing and what God is doing through you and what God is doing around you.
These days we can blog and twitter and write in our facebooks – all of which are great.
But keep a journal and then in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years and more you look back in awe and what God has done. Our faith is a resurrection faith –
Resurrection means “return to life” and as God has called you to come into the life of individuals and bring God to them – You will experience and see Resurrection – you often will get a front row seat.

And Jesus said
I came that you might have life and have it abundantly
And Jesus said – Heather – do you love me?
Because love is the center of my life

You are being ordained today – set apart as a holy woman and responsible for paying attention to the Word of God in whatever locale God places you.

I want to end with a quote from one of my spiritual directors – Eugene Peterson said that the assumption of spirituality - is that God is always doing something before I know it.

“So the task is not to get God to do something. I think needs to be done,
but to become aware of what God is doing so that I can respond to it and participate and take delight in it.”

Get ready, Heather,
God is doing something and preparing that place for you to feed God’s sheep
My prayer for you and all of us is that
we may see God at work, love the people in our care and delight in all that is doing in our midst. Amen ,