Preached at the Commemoration of Kings College UQ.
On this night as we gather and commemorate Kings College and
we hear this ancient and somewhat strange tale about a shepherd and his sheep
it raises for you and I the question whose voice are we responding to?
Kings College was established by the Methodist Church and
continues to this day to have a relationship with the Uniting Church in
Australia. Contained within the
Constitution is the following commitment:
“To afford residence, pastoral
care, fellowship and Christian understanding of life in accordance with the
teachings of The Uniting Church in Australia.”
What I believe this means is that somewhere at the heart of
Kings College is a desire to help students and staff to continue to listen to
the shepherd’s voice, to Jesus, as we try to understand how to live a Christian
life in this complex world in which we find ourselves.
But what does that Christian life look like and how is it shared
here at Kings?
As I prepared to preach this evening I read the centenary
memoir of Kings College, called “Men and Masters”. I have to confess that I found myself
somewhat bemused by what may have been understood as the Christian life in
years gone by.
In its early years the rules of Kings included: no alcohol
on the property; no dancing on the property; and, no sport on a Sunday.
I suspect that for many Kingsmen and people generally the
Christian life has been reduced to moralising about what people shouldn't do: a
list of rules! More than that as the
years passed poor understandings of the faith and its relationship with this
scientific world in which live alongside a growing secularism have led to even
greater misunderstanding about the Christian life.
The Christian life is not simply a set of morals. It is not a list of do’s and don’ts! No, rather it is about a
relationship: a
relationship with God based in love and grace, a relationship in which we hear
a voice calling to us and we respond in thanksgiving.
This relationship is typified by the relationship between
the shepherd and his sheep. A
relationship expressed in the 23rd Psalm which we sung earlier in
the service and in our gospel reading.
A few years back a congregation member told me a great story
that helped have a far better me understanding of the story.
He had been sent to the Middle East during the Second World
War and was sitting by an oasis away from the front line. It was a hot day and, as he sat and watched,
shepherds came over the hills with their flocks of sheep. Each shepherd brought a small flock, no more
than 20-30 sheep in any of the flocks, and they came to the oasis to let the
sheep drink.
Now, as the sheep came to get their water they mingled
together while the shepherds gathered and chatted off to one side. Now my friend, who was sharing the story, was
puzzled.
He was a man from the land.
He had worked with sheep and he saw no markings on the different flocks,
no brand. How was it that the shepherds
would identify their sheep? How did they
not mix them up?
After a while one of the shepherds broke away from the
conversation and started to move away from the oasis. As he left the shepherd called out and as he
called his flock, and only his flock, responded. The sheep knew their shepherd’s voice; each
shepherd had his own call and when the shepherd called the sheep responded.
When Jesus paints this image of himself as the shepherd his
listeners in the ancient world clearly understood this relationship of sheep
following their shepherd’s voice. The
Christian life is about listening for that shepherd’s voice, for Jesus voice.
In the reading Jesus also indicates that he is the gate for
the sheep. This is another strange image
to our modern ears. Yet, in the ancient
Middle East it was often the practice that sheep would be herded into a pen at
night which had no gate – the shepherd would take his place sleeping in the gap
– literally becoming the gate to protect and care for the sheep.
The voice of Jesus is the voice of one who would lead us to
stills waters and green pastures, places we can be fed and grow. And it is also the voice of one who protects
us and keeps us in his care.
I have little doubt that the founders of Kings College desired
that this would be a place that people would learn to listen for Jesus voice, a
voice which teaches us and transcends the clamour of other voices which compete
for our attention.
It is vital for us to remember this in our commemoration of
Kings College tonight because to elevate in anyway being a Kingsman above the
call of the shepherd’s voice means that we have strayed from the intent of what
is at the core of Kings, we have become lost sheep.
Now whilst there are many things which I could suggest about
what it means to listen for Jesus voice.
Tonight I want to share just one.
Listening for Jesus voice in this context of Kings is about
understanding that there is bigger picture out there and that Kings is just
part of it. At the ANZAC day service I
attended here I was speaking with a member of the King’s College Council. When he found out that I had attended
Cromwell his automatic reply was to say that we are a broad church. Being a good Kingsman from a Christian
perspective is about seeing beyond being a Kingsman!
If we read a little further into the tenth chapter of John
we would hear Jesus say: “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.”
As we develop communities, whether they are a churches or a
residential college or even companies, political parties or nations, guided by
the concept of the Christian life we should always do so knowing that there is
a bigger vision, a vision which opens out to encompass others and that we share
a common, created humanity.
Miroslav Volf the Free Church theologian in his seminal work
“After our Likeness” suggests that one of the identifying marks of the true
church is how it exists towards others.
This vision of the Christian life should be one that influences the
development of places like this where a strong sense of community but at the
same time it is a community that reaches beyond itself.
This basic principle of the Christian life, this
inclusiveness and vision of our shared humanity in this shared creation, has
never been more vital for our world.
As human beings despite reminders like ANZAC Day and the similar
celebrations around the world wars persist; despite our understanding of
inequity corporations continue to exploit the cheap labour markets of other
nations so we can have cheap clothes and electrical items and coffee and the
list goes on; despite our prosperity as Australians we have reduced our
international aid commitment and closed our borders to many asylum seekers who
need our help; despite scientific evidence about anthropogenic climate change
we have treated science as a belief system and have failed to respond
adequately. Here I am just beginning to
scratch the surface of the global issues we face.
Political solutions to these complex problems may be in the
hands of many us here and spiritually the starting point to living the
Christian life in response to these issues is to listen for Jesus voice, our
shepherd, who reminds us that the pastures of the world are his and we share
them in common with all other people.
Whilst there are many other things to be said about the
Christian life on this night as we commemorate Kings College, and reflect on
what it might mean to be a good Kingsman, I would encourage you to consider
whose voice you will listen to.
As strange as the ancient story may be for some of you, as
odd as it might seem to enter into a relationship with God, to honour the
founders of Kings College and to be true to their commitment means seeing
beyond this community and into that great community of humanity whom our
shepherd Jesus call us to serve.
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