As we live our lives we find ourselves faced with a variety of choices. Decisions must be made. Actions must be taken. As we seek to make those choices, whose voice do we listen to? Whose directions do we follow? Not just personally, but corporately -- as a congregation, as a community, as a nation. And how do we know if we are on the right track? Put another way, what is the will of God for our lives? There are, of course, lots of answers to questions such as these. Both the questions and the answers are complex and not easily sorted out. In most cases what is required is a lifetime of struggling to shape, refine and re-shape our responses. And in all of that, we will very seldom, if ever, find ourselves presented with clear-cut, black and white, 100% certainties. Life is ambiguous and most often defined by the struggle.

But as we seek to discover how best to respond in a faithful manner, there are clues and guidelines which we can use along the way -- tests which we can apply to our choices. Jesus offers one such guideline in the passage from John's Gospel which was read this morning. In talking about the relationship between himself and humanity, he uses the metaphor of sheep and their shepherd. He contrasts this relationship with that of a thief whose only intention is to steal and kill and destroy. And to the unspoken question, "How can we tell the difference?" he lays out his own desire for humanity, and by extension, God's desire as well. "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) This statement is, in my opinion, one of the high water marks in all of scripture. It lays before us a guiding principle with which to measure the ways in which we go about living our lives. In the video series, "Questions Of Faith," Hyung Kyung Chung, a Presbyterian theologian from Korea, responds to the question "What's the use of the Bible?" by stating that the norm for interpreting scripture is to ask the question, "Is this life giving for us or is this death giving for us?" And at a very basic level, that is also the question which we must ask of all our life choices -- does this enhance life or encourage death? If we are truly seeking to follow God's desire for us, then the decisions we make, the actions we take, the paths we choose, must be life oriented and life enhancing, not just for us but for the whole world. If they are not, then to the degree that they are not we have failed to live up to our calling as followers of Christ.

It is, of course, much easier to lay out that kind of broad, general principle than it is to apply such a principle to particular situations. As I said, life is often defined by the struggle. But I believe that this principle of abundant life must lead us to ask some very hard questions, both of ourselves and of the society of which we are a part. It is painfully obvious to anyone listening to the news that there is much about our world which is not life-enhancing. In this past week the headlines about the war in Kosovo were interrupted by the tragic killings at the school in Colorado. We shake our heads in confusion and frustration as we grasp for some sort of explanation. It seems so senseless, and in many ways it is. But perhaps it is a senselessness which is more connected to the rest of our world than we are comfortable admitting. What would lead high school students to lash out with such violent and deadly behavior? Upon further reflection, however, the more appropriate question might be, why doesn't it happen more often? After all, look at the examples they have to follow. We live in a world where our leaders say to another country, "If you don't do what we want, we are going to bomb you." There seems to be growing support for the death penalty, which says, in essence, that we are going to kill people to teach people that killing is wrong. People with fervent religious convictions against abortion use violence and even murder to support their beliefs. Others support abortion rights without being willing to admit that there is death involved. Human dignity and worth are undermined in a society which is becoming increasingly polarized along economic lines, where the poorest among us seem more and more to be abandoned. The affluence of some in the world is supported in part by the low priced goods which are produced elsewhere in the world by workers making sub-standard wages. In these and countless other ways we participate in a system which offers us death giving choices rather than life giving ones.

I know it is not simple. There are often complicated questions. Does the bombing in Kosovo serve the greater good of seeking to stop the violence of the Serbs? Does assisted suicide encourage death or support life by ending suffering? I seldom feel like I have definitive answers for such difficult issues, but at the very least the questions must continue to be asked. Is there a more life giving response which could be made than is presently being offered? Am I really seeking Christ's abundant life with this decision? What are the implications of this choice, not only for my life, but for those around me and, indeed, for the rest of the world? Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." What are we doing to cooperate with that goal?