I was with a group of Episcopal priests (several of whom were college chaplains, and several of them were in homosexual relationships). In one of the few brief periods where we weren’t talking about homosexuality we discussed how we as college chaplains might identify the students to encourage toward priesthood.

How could we shape the future of the ordained leadership of the Episcopal Church, we wondered, and thereby shape the church? Who were the best candidates. . .the ones we should be encouraging to seek Holy Orders?

The Episcopal chaplain from a large Mid-western university offered an example of one such student. The ideal candidate, in his view, for the Episcopal priesthood of tomorrow was a young man in his college ministry. He was a champion for social justice, morally inclusive, theologically curious and open minded, ecumenically Unitarian. Interested in Judaism, a disciple of Islam, deeply involved in walking the path of the Buddha. In describing him this priest never once mentioned if this student was interested in, or in any way inclined toward Christianity, and yet my small group of college chaplains was awash with “oohhs” and “ahhhs” of affirmation as this was clearly the perfect candidate for the priesthood of a “revised” 21st century Episcopal Church.

In the group discussion that followed his comments there was no mention of any expectation regarding faith, no Christian particularities here . . . NOT ONE! Only social activism and openness to anything and everything seemed to be what was needed for the priest of tomorrow (if not the priest of today).

When I could stand it no longer I spoke up, and I suggested that surely the Christian priesthood required more than that. For example, was there nothing unique we could say about Christ? Wasn’t he the Messiah, the Son of God, the full revelation of God in the world? Wasn’t He central to the Church and its ministry? Wasn’t our job as college chaplains to be more than just some sort on Unitarian Clearing House?

When I had said all of that my colleague responded by pointing me to the chapter from John that contains our Gospel reading for today. It’s a chapter that talks about Jesus as the shepherd of the sheep and with an image from the verses just prior to today’s reading, this fellow chaplain reminded me that Christ is the gate to the sheepfold. “But,” he added “What you need to understand is that this is a gate swings both ways”. “Our job as chaplains” he said “is to help students move out of that sheepfold if that is where their spiritual journey is leading them”. Well, I have to tell you I was scandalized by that comment. As a chaplain I am to facilitate and assist the “spiritual” journey of my students when that journey is taking them out of Christianity? And out of the Church. And out of the flock - and sheepfold - of Christ?

What an amazing and tolerant deception that is! What an outrageous distortion - not only of my role as a Christian priest and Chaplain to students. . . but of the Gospel itself!

And yet, this distortion is so widespread within American Anglicanism that even the revisionist Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta had to confess in a sermon three weeks ago that “. . . the Church we have known, which taught us the gospel and the sacraments and which we grew up in, that Church is no longer part of us.”

We have lost much! And what we are seeing is a distortion of the Church propagated by the leaders of the Church - our shepherds. Even the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, whose embrace of a wooly Unitarianism he calls “pluriform truth” has made him duplicitous in his dealings with fellow archbishops and presiding bishops, and with all those under his pastoral care.

Some of you may have seen another example of this distortion in the news last week as the retired Episcopal Bishop of Utah - following in the steps of the Bishop of New Hampshire - has divorced his wife, and on Thursday “married” one of his male lovers.

We see it promoted by Gene Robinson who, as a new leader of the 21st century Episcopal Church, will participate in yet another fund-raiser to support the rigorous distortion of the church’s teaching (and not just on sexuality issues, either). I was interested to note that at this latest event - for an additional $10,000 contribution to the revisionist cause - you can have a private dinner for two with the new bishop at the elite Ritz Carelton.

In all of these things (and in so many more) there is a willful misuse of the role of priest, and especially the role of bishop, as shepherd of the flock of Christ! And, along with the teaching expressed by that college chaplain in Chicago, there is a tragic distortion - if not a wholesale rejection - of the call of Christ the Messiah, who is the ultimate, true, and good Shepherd.

The relationship of Shepherd to sheep that Jesus talks about throughout the 10th chapter of John's Gospel is actually something quite different from all of this!

During Jesus time sheep in Palestine were largely kept for their fleece for making wool; this meant that the sheep were often with their shepherds for years. The daily routine of their lives was intertwined. The shepherd really cared for his sheep....he would name them, and look out for them, and they would know his voice and respond to it, because they knew they could trust it. The shepherd thought of the sheep before he thought of himself...and he would do everything he could to protect them from harm and abuse.

This is the relationship that Jesus is talking about when he says in today's gospel: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand..."´ That relationship. That protection. The caring for the sheep. The sacrificing for the sheep. The leading to good pastures, to clean water, to life.. . .all of that is part of the relationship between the Good Shepherd and the sheep of his flock.

It should be the relationship that is emulated by bishops and leaders of the church, though sadly this is not the case.

But beyond this, beyond this at the moment glaring human failure, is of course the most important thing about Jesus’ use of the image of Shepherd and Sheep. Which is that it speaks to the relationship between Jesus, and you and me, as faithful Christians who hear his voice and seek to follow him...because we trust him? Because we know that his VOICE, his WORD...in fact HE IS TRUE.

This is Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the Good Shepherd, (He who is “one with the Father” as the Gospel today tells us). The ONE who seeks us when we are lost.

Here is the Good Shepherd, the ultimate Shepherd, the God-Incarnate Shepherd, who calls to us because of God’s love for us. The Shepherd who gave his life for us, his sheep. And who through that giving and that love invites us to participate more and more (not in some willy-nilly spirituality, but) in the eternal life of the one true God. To know him and respond to his love for us are what bring us into the community of the Church...into a community of Christian Faith. . . into the Lord's sheepfold...and into life everlasting.

This truth - and that’s what it is TRUTH - is not something we should be ambiguous about. It is not something that any of us should be turning folks away from, nor should we “facilitate” their denial of it, or help them walk out the door of the Church and into another religion or, into some freeform “spirituality” that sees all truth as relative, and thereby denies Christ, who is “. . .the way, the truth, and the life”.

Our job (Chaplain, priest, people) is to follow Christ’s example...to bring folks in!

And that, my brothers and sisters, is the task of this great parish. All of you together, in all your wonderful diversity, are actually called to be something quite particular: A community of Christian Faith!

And I believe that Jesus has brought you into the sheepfold - or is bringing you into the sheepfold - through the ministry of this place. I believe that there are shepherds here who strive to be good and faithful shepherds, and who would never want to facilitate your departure from the Church, but want you to hear the voice of Christ as he calls you, more deeply into his flock, and as he calls all of us (both “in here” and “out there” in the larger Episcopal Church) into the deepest levels of faithfulness to him.. .who is the Shepherd of the Sheep.

The Good Shepherd, who in the midst of danger and strife envelops us and holds us. Who will sustain us in all peril and uncertainty. And who - because of his perfect love and faithfulness - calls us, and seeks us, repeatedly, so that he will redeems us, and (if we let him) he will bring us home.

This is where our hope. . .for now, for the 21st century of the Episcopal Church, for our future.. . .this is where our hope must be fixed. And as we work to bring others into the sheepfold here at St John’s, and as we - each and every one of us - seek to hear God’s call to us, we long and pray and we hope for that day when all those who are departing from the faith will gather with us in the sheepfold of Christ, and sing in unison with us once more: "Perverse and foolish oft I've strayed, but yet, in love, He sought me. And on His shoulder gently laid, and home, home, rejoicing brought me."

May it be so for our beloved Episcopal Church. May it be so for us all.

The above was a sermon preached by Fr. Bradley at St John’s Episcopal Church Tallahassee, Florida.

The Rev. Canon Bradley T. Page is Canon for College Ministries in the Apalachee Region and Episcopal Chaplain to The Florida State University.