The readings offered for our prayer today are about leadership. Throughout the texts we derive two underlying questions: “Who is the leader I need to follow?” and, secondly, “What is the content of his voice as he speaks?”
For anyone seeking to follow any leader there are two processes that are required: listening and consequent action.
Now everyone living in any city of the USA knows, or at least should know, that we are a listening nation. Imagine the increase in the sales of earphones in the last twenty-five years. Imagine the numbers of TV sets and radios that have become a “requirement” in every home or apartment. Because of “the message” we feel we have to have a TV screen in every room and often times a bedside radio? Imagine those number just in Washington, DC alone. Why? Well, we “know” we need them as well as the many “second” home or apartment. We know we needed a “get-away” place.
So, you might ask, “What was “the message” that conquered most of the world and carried so many individuals and families into genuine poverty?” It was and always will be this: greed is good for all of us.
Today we hear the voices that warn us that socialism is just around the corner. We are given the warning that it will bring about terrible consequences for all of us. Let me make this suggestion: the socialism threat from so many voices that we either seek to hear or are forced to hear is nothing else but the voice of another “message” -- the gasping breaths of competitive capitalism.
We have, hopefully, come to see greed as the cause of the lack of trust in “Wall Street” as well as in “Capitol Hill.” The nature of competitive capitalism is greed, is a dog-eat-dog, is always concern for myself. The possibility for a collaborative capitalism that can result in taking care of ourselves, our neighbors and our world is pushed under, is ignored and is rejected by the intensity of a society that is wound so tightly by greed, the need to have more, the need to be in a better position that the next person.
But there is another voice --- one that does not go away; one that is always patiently trying to get within our hearts and minds. Many have tried to suppress this voice primarily through the presentation of greed under many different but glamorous guises.
And what or who is that voice? It is the voice of one man. It is the heart of one man who cares for every human being because his Father charged him with the task not to lose anyone he had created. Yes, it is Jesus Christ, truly the Good Shepherd, truly our Lord and Savior.
The amplitude of those other voices we hear throughout the course of the day make it difficult for contemporary men, women and even young people to hear the voice of this leader.
How many in the United States alone have attempted to hear what the message of the Good Shepherd is?
What the message we should hear during the Easter season is this: Follow me. Give my leadership a try. Open your heart and soul to the message I have brought to you. I know it will work. I know you will be happier than you have ever been before. But you have to ask for it. You have to make every effort to remove greed from your life.
And how do you make that effort happen? Our leader has the answer: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have life to the fullest.” Think also about this: Since the year 33 AD Christianity has resulted in countless followers who have and who continue to give Jesus Christ and his message a chance. Will you?
For anyone seeking to follow any leader there are two processes that are required: listening and consequent action.
Now everyone living in any city of the USA knows, or at least should know, that we are a listening nation. Imagine the increase in the sales of earphones in the last twenty-five years. Imagine the numbers of TV sets and radios that have become a “requirement” in every home or apartment. Because of “the message” we feel we have to have a TV screen in every room and often times a bedside radio? Imagine those number just in Washington, DC alone. Why? Well, we “know” we need them as well as the many “second” home or apartment. We know we needed a “get-away” place.
So, you might ask, “What was “the message” that conquered most of the world and carried so many individuals and families into genuine poverty?” It was and always will be this: greed is good for all of us.
Today we hear the voices that warn us that socialism is just around the corner. We are given the warning that it will bring about terrible consequences for all of us. Let me make this suggestion: the socialism threat from so many voices that we either seek to hear or are forced to hear is nothing else but the voice of another “message” -- the gasping breaths of competitive capitalism.
We have, hopefully, come to see greed as the cause of the lack of trust in “Wall Street” as well as in “Capitol Hill.” The nature of competitive capitalism is greed, is a dog-eat-dog, is always concern for myself. The possibility for a collaborative capitalism that can result in taking care of ourselves, our neighbors and our world is pushed under, is ignored and is rejected by the intensity of a society that is wound so tightly by greed, the need to have more, the need to be in a better position that the next person.
But there is another voice --- one that does not go away; one that is always patiently trying to get within our hearts and minds. Many have tried to suppress this voice primarily through the presentation of greed under many different but glamorous guises.
And what or who is that voice? It is the voice of one man. It is the heart of one man who cares for every human being because his Father charged him with the task not to lose anyone he had created. Yes, it is Jesus Christ, truly the Good Shepherd, truly our Lord and Savior.
The amplitude of those other voices we hear throughout the course of the day make it difficult for contemporary men, women and even young people to hear the voice of this leader.
How many in the United States alone have attempted to hear what the message of the Good Shepherd is?
What the message we should hear during the Easter season is this: Follow me. Give my leadership a try. Open your heart and soul to the message I have brought to you. I know it will work. I know you will be happier than you have ever been before. But you have to ask for it. You have to make every effort to remove greed from your life.
And how do you make that effort happen? Our leader has the answer: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have life to the fullest.” Think also about this: Since the year 33 AD Christianity has resulted in countless followers who have and who continue to give Jesus Christ and his message a chance. Will you?
