Let me direct your attention now to the text of the morning John Chapter 10,

the Gospel of John Chapter 10 verses 22 to 30. The Gospel of John chapter 10. And we'll read beginning at verse 22.

It was the feast of the dedication at Jerusalem.

It was winter and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

And so the Jews gathered around him and said to him,

How long will you keep us in suspense if you are the Christ, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered them,

I told you, and you do not believe.

The works that I do in my father's name,

they bear witness to me, but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep.

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.

My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able

to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the Father are one.

Since coming to Bethlehem in July 1980, I have averaged about one funeral per month.

That's a lot of dying in a church. One of the things that I

regret is that all of you can't share that experience with me.

I know that some of you would not live the way you do

if once a month you had to spend three or four hours writing about the meaning of death for someone else.

And if you had to think and pray what you would say to the family,

and if you had once a month to stand beside that empty hole and that big pile of dirt so nicely covered

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