We’ve made our Thanksgiving plans. Normally, we’d either stay home and host extended family. Or we’d head out to D.C. and have turkey with Kate’s sister. But this year, we’re celebrating on a much smaller scale. No trip to D.C. No large gathering with sisters, and cousins running around. Just simple, straightforward.

I’ll miss that big gathering. But it’s for the best. It’s for the common good! Limit the spread. Think of your neighbor. Treat others as you’d like to be treated. We’re in this together, after all.

But I don’t think we are. Not everyone is following the golden rule. Or any rules for that matter. The common good has taken a backseat to personal liberty. The common good is a concept that has fallen out of fashion. Especially in my hometown.  This is strange to me as we literally have a museum dedicated to the time we banded together for the common good.

I’ve preached before on the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum and the canteen that was there in WWII.[1] It was the 3rd largest after New York and Chicago. Ruth Gifford volunteered there. The whole town made sandwiches and coffee for the soldiers that were coming through town. This is in a time of flour and sugar rationing. The whole nation was buying war bonds. The whole nation was collecting scrap metal. The whole nation was painting their windows black and going to bed early to keep light to a minimum in case any Axis bombers happened by. Everyone sacrificed in WWII for the common good.

But the common good has fallen out of fashion. Neighbor is not looking out for neighbor anymore. We peek through the front door. We talk about MY rights vs. yours. No. Common good has fallen out of fashion.

If you don’t believe me, well, let me tell you a story. My sister is a nurse who recently posted on social media:

All-

I am begging you.

Cancel parties/visits/gatherings.

Wear your masks properly.

Abide by social distancing.

Carry hand sanitizer and use it often.

Stay home when at all possible.

Please keep others safe. We are not through the pandemic. You may be healthy and are not worried about getting sick, but you can easily carry this to someone who will not be so lucky.

This spreads like glitter.

Per Governor DeWine’s address, we are on the brink of a shutdown again.

Let’s get through this so we can *all* meet on the other side of this. Together.

Love everybody,

Your friend the RN who loves you very much.

And she was met with an angry reply. I won’t stoop to the level of this man by repeating his words other than to say it was an impolite “No thank you.” And he used the word “sheeple.” As in, “Hey, if you sheeple wanna give up your rights then go right ahead!” This guy is sadly representative of a whole swath of people in our society. They are rude. They are hung up on their personal liberties and no one elses. They use the word “Sheeple.”

If you have never heard this word, well, I am very happy for you. Sheeple is the combination of the words “sheep” and “people.” It is intended to be an insult. It is a weird insult considering this week’s lectionary texts are all about God as the shepherd, and we are the sheep. Almost every text has a shepherd sheep image. Psalm 100. Ezekiel 34:11-16. The Matthew text we read today. Such a weird insult to use considering the 1,220 references to God being a shepherd that are in the Bible.[2]

Today, Jesus is separating the sheep from the goats. These animals were often kept together in ancient times.[3] Yet the sheep are the good folk who followed the directions of the Good Shepherd. For the Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not want. We rely on God for direction, guidance, protection, and in almost everything. Our cup overflows. Those who followed and acted on God’s commands are considered sheep.

And the goats are those that did not act in accordance with God. The goats didn’t provide for the least of these. They didn’t care about their neighbor. I think this guy posting on my sister’s wall is a goat.

I know I’m not supposed to judge. And maybe by doing so, I’m a goat. The jury is still out on that, so I’ll wait for Jesus to tell me otherwise. I recently heard a quote that “the people we argue with the most is that way not because they’re so opposite us. But because they are so similar.”

I know there is a piece in me that likes to think it’s got it all figured out and is the center of the universe. Maybe that’s a temptation for you as well. It’s the insulation I use to protect myself from a chaotic and unpredictable world filled with people with different beliefs and values that are counter to mine. I have learned that when I get wrapped up in myself, I make a very small bundle. There is no faith to be had from such a small stance as I can’t see God’s wider world and wider vision of God’s kin-dom and all its people… all my neighbors. When I shrink into myself I need to reach out and look to my community.

When I look to many of you, I see you you’re looking out for one another. You’re distancing. You’re doing the right thing. And together, we’re following what the experts are telling us. Not just the federal experts, but those among us. Those who live next door. Those on our Reopening Team who came up with policies and procedures to keep everyone safe. They shepherded us through a time, and we were able to be open for 10 weeks. And no COVID-19 cases came from our worship services! We did a great thing!

Can you imagine if we had that attitude that guy had during WWII? He would have complained about rationing flour and sugar. He would call buying war bonds stupid. He would talk about how scrap metal was his to keep. He would have kept his lights on at night as it was his personal right to. There would have been no sense of sacrifice in WWII and with his stance, there would have been no Salvation Army Canteen at the Dennison Railroad Depot Museum. Or there would have been, but it would be a small group of volunteers doing their best without the wider community helping. There would be no museum. There would be no story to tell.

I don’t know what to do with such people. I am weary. I feel a sickness in my soul when I encounter such people. I would hope we’d be a place free of such a sentiment, but I could be wrong. I’m not completely free of such thinking myself. I’m trying to be, but I’m not there yet.

I would like to think, since we’re a church and all, that we are sheep. We try to do what Jesus is saying and look out for the least of these. Feed the hungry. Visit the sick. Welcome the stranger. Clothe the naked. Visit the prisoner. And when we stand in judgment before God, we’ll say, “That was you, God?! We were just looking out for our neighbor. We were just doing what sheep do.”

The thing that always gets me about this parable is that the sheep don’t know they’re sheep, and the goats don’t know they’re goats. I’m always astonished by this. It’s an amazing thing really. So maybe we should listen to that guy. He’s giving us quite the compliment!

I am just a humble pastor. I don’t want to wander into areas I’m not equipped to speak about. What I can say for certain though is that Jesus was about the common good. A common good that extended beyond what I’m comfortable with. He extended it to the least of these: the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the stranger, and the hated. I know his way brings life and healing. My friend from seminary, the Rev. Sally Stewart posted on Facebook, “People ruled by FEAR will seek to punish and be punished. People ruled by LOVE will seek to heal and be healed.” Jesus rules by love, not fear. Jesus has healed me and has shown me my neighbor. I can’t live in fear. Nor can I insult. Nor can I do anything else but try to follow Christ, have faith in his ways, and model the values I think he stood for.

I am a person. I am a child of God. I am a son of God’s redeeming and a sheep from the Good Shepherd’s pasture. I will care for the least of these and try to love others into doing so. I will try to stretch myself and give to the common good for the healing of the world.

I know it’s not en vogue right now. I know we’d rather divide and hurl insults and deal in doubt and conspiracy, but I’d rather…. Not. I just feel like no. That’s not our path. That’s not the way. Christ’s way leads to the common good. Where we mask for one another. Wash our hands. Keep our distance. Pair down our holiday gatherings. That way when we are able to gather again, all of us will be here. We will give of our time, talent, and treasure to see that the least of these are taken care of. Whether they are our sick neighbor. Our homeless neighbor. Our neighbor with one set of clothes.

I saw a local teacher post in a Facebook group about how one of her students only had one set of clothes. And the community stepped up. Within 15 minutes there were over 50 comments. That seems like the common good. That seems like… well… a little slice of heaven that fell to earth.

I know it’s true. I know that’s a slice of the kingdom because I’ve read about it in our sacred stories. I’ve experienced it. In fact, when I was growing up, my town told the tale of their canteen and how they cared for the passing soldiers, and were stewards of the common good. We can be that way again. The choice is always in front of us.

Works Cited

[1] https://www.uccmedina.org/sermons/the-story-of-ruth-part-2-beloved-community/

^[2] https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/dictionary-of-bible-themes/1220-God-as-shepherd

[3] For more on this historical practice, check here: https://www.uccmedina.org/sermons/sheep-and-goats/