2024 Sun April 21 – St. Peter's News

What a joy to be here on this day together with these incredible lessons. Honestly there’s so much here you could preach all day but I promise I’ll keep it under an hour.

The right first thing I want to say is when Jesus says there are sheep not of the fold he’s talking about us because we’re not Jews and so the people outside of Judaism are the ones to whom he’s referring there and that of course would be all of us.

We’ve talked about the whole idea of symbols for a couple of weeks now and how important symbols are when you’re referring to things that you can’t explain clearly in a common language and that’s hard to understand and really hard to talk about. That’s why we have symbols. The cross is probably the greatest symbol in all of history. Last week we talk about the road of life and the road being the symbol for the way that that we move through this world.

There are two more beautiful symbols today that I’d like to unpack what Jesus revealed to us as the gate and as the Good Shepherd . The idea of the gate and the shepherd are symbols of Jesus how he explains himself to us, how he relates himself to us.

Photos, Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 21, 2024

July 5, 2024April 21, 2024

(full size gallery)

Videos, April 21, 2024, “Good Shepherd” Sunday

July 5, 2024April 21, 2024

01 Opening Hymn – “Savior, like a shepherd lead us”

02 Hymn of Praise -“When morning gilds the skies”

03 Readings

St Peter’s Involvement with the Earth on Earth Day

July 5, 2024April 21, 2024

Portland Guitar Duo concert, April 19, 2024

July 5, 2024April 20, 2024

The Duo meets with guitarists in the audience after the show

The Portland Guitar Duo are James Manuele and Foti Lycouridis and have been playing together since 1999. This was their second performance at St. Peter’s, the first being almost exactly 8 years years ago in April, 2016.

We had about 30 for the concert. A reception organized by the ECW was held before in the pavilion. After the show, the two guitarists, provided an opportunity for the guitarists in the audience to meet the Duo, ask questions, and play their guitars.

Romantic guitars were used for the concert, smaller than the current classical guitars. The period had standardized on 6 strings in contrast to the baroque guitar of the 18th century with 5 strings.

The Romantic guitars were used in transcriptions of pianos pieces from Chopin, Liszt, and Schubert as well as dipping back to the 18th century for Domenico Cimarosa. Foti does many of the transcriptions for the duo.

1. Photos

(full size gallery)

2. Video – Introduction and opening number

3. Video – Pan of the Audience

Bulletin, Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 21, 2024

July 5, 2024April 21, 2024

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Lectionary, Easter 4, Year B

July 5, 2024April 17, 2024

I.Theme – The Good Shepherd

Mafa – I am the Good Shepherd

“Jesus said, ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’" – John 10:11,16

The lectionary readings are here or individually:

First Reading – Acts 4:5-12
Psalm – Psalm 23
Epistle –1 John 3:16-24
Gospel – John 10:11-18

Easter 4 is traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday. Today’s readings assure us of God’s constant, shepherd-like care. In his sermon in Acts, Peter preaches that salvation is to be found in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified, but raised from death by God. The author of 1 John tells us that, because of God’s love shown in Jesus, we are now God’s children. In the gospel, Jesus explains how he, as our Good Shepherd, lays down his life because he cares for his sheep.

The image of the shepherd can be difficult to understand. The metaphor of the shepherd has at times been sentimentalized and at other times abused.

Given that tension, what can we learn from today’s gospel? One of its most heartening aspects is the utter commitment of the Shepherd. Some of us might resent being diminished by the comparison to witless sheep. Yet all of us can respond with gratitude to a committed friend. The special people in our lives who know when we need a joke or a nudge, a compliment or a challenge; those who can both laugh and cry with us; those who give us perspective when we’ve lost ours: they are gift. To have as guide One who is the source and inspiration of all those gifts is blessing indeed.

We have been fortunate in our own day to see models lay down their lives for others. Martyrs in Central America and Africa are dramatic examples. Yet in unspectacular ways, ordinary people sacrifice daily for their children, their coworkers, their friends and relatives. Laying down one’s own life may be as simple as pausing to hear the leisurely unfolding of another person’s story when time pressures mount. Or it may be as complex as financing another’s education. But the surrenders we can observe so often around us prove that giving one’s life is both possible and practical.

A second noteworthy element is the lack of coercion exerted by the Shepherd. His voice is all, and it is enough. We often meet with resistance when we try to persuade another. We also witness the remarkable change that inner motivation can produce. Jesus knows well the drawing power of love and the strength of people driven by love.