Eight or so years ago there was a story carried in various newspapers about a woman from Missouri who was startled out of a dead sleep one night by some desperate cries of "Help! Help!" You know how it is when you awake to some sound:  you are not at all certain whether you really heard something or if it was just a dream. At first she thought perhaps her husband had cried out, but he was sleeping soundly next to her. Then suddenly she heard the cries again:  "Help! Help!"  Finally she threw back the covers and headed downstairs toward the living room. "Help!" went the plaintive voice yet again. "Where are you?" the woman replied. "In the fire-place" came the rather shocking answer.

And sure enough, dangling in the fireplace with his head sticking through the flue was a burglar, upside down and quite snugly stuck! The police and fire department got him out eventually, though not before having to disassemble the mantle and some of the masonry. Perhaps the best part of the story was what the woman did in the meantime. She flipped on all the lights and videotaped the whole thing. I don't know what the two talked about while waiting for the police and fire department to arrive, but it might have been appropriate for her to have brought out her Bible and read our passage from John 10:  "Anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in another way is a thief and a bandit!"

Lots of evil things are done under the cover of darkness. In Jesus' day, when the sun went down, life slowed down and it was a time to band and bond. Maybe it was the approaching nightfall when the shadows creep longer that prompted the two forlorn disciples that we met last week on the Emmaus road to coax their walking companion to join them:  "Stay with us, because  it is almost evening the day is now nearly over."

That simple spontaneous invitation would be repeated nightly, a thousand years later and for a thousand years, by monks offering their end-of-the-day prayers:  "Stay with us Lord, for the evening falls."  A thousand years later Henry Lyte opened his greatest hymn with the same sentiment, "Abide with me, fast falls the eventide."

As the danger that slips in under cover of darkness approaches, the most vulnerable must be gathered and guarded. No one knew this better than the Palestinian shepherds of the first century. Their flocks were vulnerable to four-legged hunters predators and two-legged poachers. Under cover of darkness any stray sheep was a potential "meals-on-wheels" for all sorts of hungry hunters. Communal sheepfolds, small walled enclosures, were often shared by several different flocks and their shepherds. Coming together for safety during the night was essential for survival.

Jesus' parable describes that kind of coming together. But Jesus offers something more than just a way to "make it through the night." As Jesus revealed that He was both Shepherd and Gateway He enabled His listeners to gain a glimpse of the transformed way of living He would make possible.

Now I want you to notice that Jesus is not calling us to

• a "hunker down against the darkness" existence;
• a "band together out of fear" existence, or
• a "better build a ‘panic room'" existence.

In fact, Jesus did not offer an "existence" of any kind. Jesus offered "life," and not just "life" but "abundant life"  or "whole life"  or "maximum life"  or what we are calling today a "Sizzle-While-It-Drizzles"  life.

Whole life, abundant life, "sizzle-while-it-drizzles"  life is post-resurrection life. It is a life made possible because of Christ's triumph over death and sin. Jesus invites us all to enter that post-resurrection reality. He is the gate, the entryway into a redeemed life, a reborn life, a reclaimed life, a "sizzle-while-it-drizzles"  life. This kind of whole life is ours once we go through that gate, once we cross the threshold from despair to forgiveness, from brokenness to wholeness, from disillusionment to discipleship.

The whole life Jesus offers is a life lived out in  this world--a world of tears and tears, a world where the fabric of our lives is ripped to shreds and in need of repair. Jesus didn't say that the "thief"  who comes "only to steal and kill and destroy"  would magically disappear. But for those who experience John 10:10 life--whole life, abundant life, "sizzle-while-it-drizzles"  life--they have something the "thief" can never touch.

Let's be as upfront and down-to-earth as we can be this morning: A John 10:10 life is not a perfect life. An abundant life is not a pain-free life. An abundant life is not a "charmed" life.

In fact, I will guarantee you this: even though you are a disciple of Jesus, even though you have experienced God's amazing grace, there will be periods when every day of your life is the same . . . the worst day of your life. Did you get it? For every one of us, there will be times when every day of our life is the same ...the worst day of our life.

Sometimes life becomes a sinkhole. Sometimes life swallows us up as quickly as it did that 32-year-old California man, Jason Chellew, who was relaxing in the living room of his Alta, California home (March 2006) when the earth under him opened, and the floor was no more. They found him buried under 8 feet of dirt and debris.

Washington State is called the "evergreen" state. But all that green comes with a lot of grey. The price of green is grey. Much of the Pacific Northwest is technically a "temperate" (not tropical) rain forest for a reason - it rains a LOT. From November through April there is an almost steady drizzle. Moss grows on everything-even cars get a greenish tint and grow furry coats.

Some people cannot take the drizzle. They fall prey to a medical syndrome called SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. And they require either a trip to Arizona or a regimen of UV light therapy to get their psyche's back in synch.

Yet others thrive. Despite the endless grey, the dripping damp, the misty vistas, they flourish and grow stronger.

How do they do it? How do some people continue to sizzle when it drizzles?

Well, one way is coffee. Seattle copes with caffeine. There is a reason Starbucks' warm, frothy, steamy, stimulating brews were developed in this rainy empire. The deep, dark brown of an espresso overwhelms the grey. In Minnesota they embrace the cold and get together to ice-fish. In Seattle they embrace the wet and get together to drink coffee.

So: how to sizzle when it drizzles?

You need three things: an umbrella, some boots, and wipes-whether rubber wipers or cloth wipes.

First, you need an umbrella. When it drizzles, seek out the umbrella of community.

That "getting together"  is essential. When your abundant life springs a leak, seek shelter under the communal umbrella. Jesus used the image of sheep, the ultimate herd animal, to describe his people because sheep find identity in community. In the midst of a dark night sheep need to feel the warmth of the herd pressing about them. A lone sheep is a lost sheep.

I remember the story told of a parishioner who hadn't been to worship in a while. He rarely missed worship, but just seemed to vanish, without a word. So a concerned member went to visit.  It was winter, and being invited in, he was offered a chair by the fireplace. After some initial chit-chat, it was obvious to the visitor that his host was having a crisis of faith. Something said, something done. They sat together silently for a while, when a coal fell from the fire to the edge of the hearth. The concerned member not knowing exactly what to say, got up, took the tongs at the side of the fireplace, picked up the dying ember, and replaced it in the fire where it soon began to glow again.

"I understand," the absent brother said with a smile as his visitor began putting on his coat. "I'll see you Sunday!"

Whether we come together in strength or in weakness, we stand together in Christ. There is no better place to be wet, or wounded, or weary, than in the center of a community that will offer protection and love.

Is there anyone who did not download the incredible video on You-Tube a few months ago that depicted the battle of a herd of wildebeests for the life of one little calf. Attacked first by one then two alligators at the local watering hole, the jaws of a lion pulled the calf out of the water and out of the jaws of the reptiles! Yet just as the lion was preparing to drag away its prize, the herd, the community of huge, well-horned wildebeests, assembled. They surrounded the lion. They charged the lion. They forced the lion to drop its hold on the calf and back off. Then the herd surrounded the calf - horns out. Ultimately the lion and its pride-mates were driven off. And, against all possible odds, against the jaws of alligators and lions, the little calf survived. That is some umbrella: the community of faith who will never desert, never give up, never give you away.

Second, you need some boots. When it drizzles, wear your rubber boots. You need something to keep you from slipping, sliding, and sloshing.

The John 10:10 life has abundant resources for any rainy season. There are no better all-weather resistant resources than the texts and traditions of our faith. Each time you enter into the Scriptures you discover a new source of traction. Bible study is not an exercise for kids in Sunday School. As we wade through the deepest puddles in life, it is the words of our ancestors we recall, the prayers we prayed, the stories of life and faith, which give us a good grip on the slippery surfaces we traverse.

Third, you need wipes. When it drizzles, you need to keep your vision clear.

Arguably the best invention ever for weather was the intermittent wiper blade on a car's windshield. When the rain is coming down, but not a steady downpour, the every-few-second wiper settings are perfect. Intermittent wipers are slow, occasional, low key, not hot shot. They give you a clear view, but do so by taking life at a different pace.

Sometimes the down and drizzly times in the abundant life are caused by allowing the world to set our pace, to set our agenda, to set our standards. Sometimes we need to clean off our grimy lenses and see beauty, truth and goodness in their original glory and splendor.

One of the most moving stories I have read in recent times is that told by Martha Beck in her book Expecting Adam. Martha and her husband John were graduate students at Harvard University well on their way to careers of academic distinction. Then Martha became pregnant for the second time and discovered that the baby would almost certainly have Down's Syndrome. Although not pro-life advocates, or religious in any formal sense, Martha and John decided not to terminate the pregnancy. Expecting Adam tells the story of their struggles, fears and pain. It also tells how the birth of Adam not only changed their understanding of what it means to be a ‘normal' human being, but also transformed their lives. Near the end of the book Martha writes:

"I have discovered that many of the things I thought priceless are as cheap as costume jewelry, and much of what I labeled worthless was, all the time, filled with the kind of beauty that directly nourishes my soul. Now I think that the vast majority of us ‘normal' people spend our lives trashing our treasures and treasuring our trash."

She continues:

"Living with Adam, loving Adam, has taught me a lot about the truth. He has taught me to look at things in themselves, not at the value a brutal and often senseless world assigns to them. As Adam's mother, I have been able to see quite clearly that he is no less beautiful for being called ugly, no less wise for appearing dull, no less precious for being seen as worthless. And neither am I. Neither are you. Neither is any of us."  You can sizzle-when-it-drizzles; you can live a sizzle-when-it-drizzles life if you pick up that umbrella, put on some boots, and wipe your lenses clean and clear to see life as God designed it to be.   Amen!