The Sheep and the Goats

Union Chapel eGathering 22nd November 2020, 10am

The Sheep and the Goats

Welcome

 Music

 Prayer

We centre ourselves for a few moments.

Placing our worries and problems in a bigger and longer perspective.

We remember that our sadnesses and troubles are not only ours, but are shared with many, and that many have gone this way before us.

We remember that our work and our hope is shared by many, and that many have taken strength from this before us.

We recall to mind and remember those who are not with us today.

We especially think of Michael and Enid and their children.

We remember that our life is a part of the life of this planet.

We give thanks for the life of this planet, of which we are a part.

 

We’re going to tell you a grand old story now, and you’d better pin back your lugholes. A story of 2020, that good old year, and a parable 2000 years older than this good old year.

The story of the sheep and the goats

J:   Will you tell us the story of the sheep and the goats?

I: Sure…. So picture the scene: it’s a little shepherding hut, with wheels on it, on a windswept and rainswept field, near the rocky Dorset coast. It was dark, and there was no moon, and the shepherd was reading a verse or two from his Bible.

J Did he have a candle then? And what was he a-reading?

I:  Some verses from Matthew 25. He had only a little candle, and as he read on, the flame flickered, and wavered, and went out.

E: Ooh, worrying, that is. I can imagine the thin spiral of smoke rising into the cold air…

I: and the little hut was creaking. Now the shepherd knew his sheep, and he knew that they’d be sheltering under a little cliff, huddled for warmth…

E: we learnt about that in Biology!

J:  yeah, it’s about the ratio of surface area to volume

I:  thanks. But suddenly the shepherd was aware of a low moaning sound

J:  oooohhhhooooo hhhh

E: eeeeiiidduuuggghhhhh

I:  thanks again. And from the top of the hut, a tapping sound

J:  tap tap tap

E: I’m scared…. What was it?

I:  the shepherd remembered that it was on a night just like this, 10 years previously, when he had been visited by the apparition

J:  wait what?

I:  foretelling a terrible happening, something to chill the bones, and raise the hairs on the back of your neck, and set the pulse racing…

J:  I know all about that, that’s like a tachycardia that is.

E: but Izzie, what about the goats?

I:  sorry?

E: It’s just we’ve heard about the sheep, but there’s been no goats yet.

I:  Goats? Why would there be goats in a story about the sheep and the ghost?

J:  Ah. I think I can see what’s happened here. There has been some sort of misunderstanding. It’s like my last assignment when I suddenly discovered I’ve been answering the wrong question. Let’s go into the small hall and work out how to do a drama about the sheep and the goats.

I:  You are kidding me.

E: now that is funny. Goats, kids, kidding me…

Ie: worst dad joke ever.

 

Music – when I needed a neighbour…

 

The sheep and the goats, Take 2

J:  So Izzie are you ready to tell us the story of the sheep and the goats, again?

I: sure… so there was this beautiful king, wise and powerful, sitting on a glorious throne, a mighty throne

E: and all the peoples of all the nations were gathered around, waiting

J:  the king leant forwards, and started to speak

I:  I’ve got a place for you at the mountain peak

E: for you are my chosen, my bright array

J:  you stood up for me when someone posted something horrible about me, just because I’m gay

E: you spoke out when they took away my right

J:  talking to you gave me some peace and helped me to sleep at night

I:  you collected food for me, and I got it from the foodbank

E: you took climate action as my homeland sank

J:  you found time to come and see me at the door

I:  you took a spare coat to be given to me when I was poor

E: And they will say

J:  when, O mighty king, did we respond to that post about you being gay? Or talk to you and give you peace? Or collect food for you? Or take action to save your homeland?

E: or come and visit you? Or give you a coat? And he will say

I:  Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these sisters and brothers of mine, you did for me. And they will say

J:  oh, right, cool!

E: that’s good that is! I didn’t know that was how it worked. Did you Jess?

J:  nah mate. But that is nice, I’ve got to say. That is a nice surprise. That’s my kind of story. Happy ending and all that.

I:  do you want me to tell you about the goats now?

E: maybe in a bit. Let’s go back in the small hall and chill.

 

Sheep and goats are quite difficult to tell apart, sometimes. They look similar. Their tails point in different directions; goats are hairy, sheep usually not; goats eat upwards, sheep graze. But they are similar in lots of ways.

 

One question that leaves me with is… how do we know what we are doing? We aspire to live as Jesus did, freely and openly and with generosity and courage. But in life, as we live it, do we actually know what we are doing? Can’t you see? Was one of Jesus’s most common questions to the disciples. Don’t you see? Because they didn’t see much, most of the time. Not compared to the way Jesus saw it. And we don’t see much. We get half a story, and we tell half a story. Social media suggests that we ought to like this, or protest about that, and worry about this or that. Sign a petition pushing for changes of immigration policy after Black Lives Matter. Lobby politicians for priority testing in care homes. Do we really think it matters? Do we know what we are doing?  

Now, a song which takes us deeper into that question of what we are doing.

 Goose and Common

The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from off the goose

The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine

The poor and wretched don’t escape
If they conspire the law to break
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law

The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Till they go and steal it back

 

So we have sheep, and geese. And now we turn to the goats.

The Goats

E: So. For years there was a nice statue standing on a tall plinth in the middle of Bristol, down near the docks.

I:  And no one seems to care that this statue was of a man who traded in slaves

J:   Because he gave a lot of his money away, and helped make Bristol into a great trading city, and he was likeable enough, and everyone thought highly of him, and named concert halls and major roads after him.

E: and the King will say, why did you leave that statue there, after I had drowned in the mid-Atlantic? You are no better than goats.

F:  And a woman climbs onto the empty plinth, and someone takes a picture of her, and someone else decides to make a temporary statue of her, and puts it up where she stood. Because that will get the headlines. And that feels like she is being welcomed, and her courage is being celebrated, and along with her the courage and suffering of generations of Black women. It feels like it’s saying, Jen Reid, you matter

Music

J:  So. For many years, people with disabilities have been subject to harsh treatment at the hands of a private contractor, charged by the government with reducing the benefit bill.

E: and hardly anyone has paid attention, while this was going on in the middle of Manchester, and Maidenhead, and Newport.

I:  and people who just needed a little security, were denied it, and had sleepless nights of worry about how they and their children would survive the next month, or the next week.

J:  and the King will say, why didn’t you check that the system was working fairly, and take to the streets in protest, when you knew that I had died on my own at home, with just two tins of stale fish in the house, and the gas cut off, and the electricity? You are no better than goats.

F:  And someone investigates, and calls those officials to account, and writes up other cases like it, and it feels like it’s all too late, but it will help others, one can only hope, and there is a backlash against the benefits regime, and it feels like someone is saying, Errol, you mattered.

Music

I:  So. For many years, we’ve stood by as social media firms target kids with apps which encourage them to spend hours and hours online, prompting and pushing them to compare with their peers all the time, and worry about what looks like a really bleak future, what with pandemics and climate crisis and recession and governments that just don’t seem to care, or even know what they are doing, with really bad consequences for mental and physical health.

J:  and young people who just needed something else to do on a regular basis have been left, when decent youth work provision and a more empowering school curriculum might have created opportunities and space and places for them to develop and grow and challenge and contribute.

E: And the king will say why didn’t you do more for your young people, because then I might not have died so young.

F:  And people start to see that this is not what we hoped for when mobile phones became so popular, and that there is a huge industry here that needs much more regulation, and limits on what is available to young people, and more obvious ways for parents to be part of conversations about all this, and it feels like someone is starting to say, Molly, you mattered.

Music

Prayers of intercession

And they will say, when did we see you naked and not clothe you? Or see you hungry and not feed you? Or thirsty and not give you a drink?

  When you took the common land and privatised it.

  When you took the vaccine before it could be distributed fairly.

  When you took the forest and enclosed it, and made it into plantations. 

  When you watched the destruction of the forests and didn’t say a word.

  When you locked students and elderly people away in homes and residences, without explanation or hope.

  When you told stories about ignorant people whose lives you didn’t bother to understand.

Then he will say to those on his right hand… I was hungry and you fed me… I was thirsty and you gave me a drink… I was a stranger and you welcomed me…  I was naked and you clothed me… I was in prison and you visited me… so now enter into my kingdom.

But they will answer him…

when did we see you hungry and feed you?

When did we see you thirsty and give you a drink?

When did we see you naked and clothe you?

When did we visit you in prison?

And he will say to them, whenever you did this for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.

You made contact. You took some time. You made a stand. You started something. You were part of an investigation. You searched for the truth. You got involved. You protested. You sang. You prayed. You were there.

Music

The Grace

Andy