. “The Shepherd's Voice"
It was warm when Jesus was born, not winter. How do we know? Because the Gospel of Luke said the shepherds were watching their flocks out in the field. That's what they did during the warm 9 months of the year. During the three cold months all the sheep were kept in a single large pen on the edge of town. Now it doesn't take ten guys to watch ten flocks, it only takes one.
When spring came and the sheep were sheared, it was time once again to leave the communal pen and go out into the hills to get the fresh grass and water. Well, how did the shepherds sort the sheep out? I mean, they do all look alike. You don't brand them... the shepherds didn't sort out their sheep, the sheep sorted out the shepherds. The shepherds would stand outside the gate and call their sheep. Each sheep would recognize the voice it'd been listening to all its life and go to it.
Once out of the pen the sheep depended entirely upon the shepherd. The “rod” or the “staff” that the shepherd carried along was not only to prod the sheep along, it was also to defend them from wolves.
Sheep are helpless. They are even a danger to themselves. Once they get a coat of fleece on, the run the risk of rolling onto their backs. The fleece on their backs is heavier than their legs, so they are unable to roll back onto their feet and stand up. They'll starve to death if someone doesn't find them and get them rightside up.
The one ounce of brains that sheep have is hardwired to follow the shepherd. That's the one thing they can do well. There might be a lot more danger outside the villege pen than inside, but outside the pen is where the fresh food and water is. That's where the life is. To stay in the pen after the shepherd leaves would mean death: no food, no water, no one to pick you up if you tip over... the safety of the pen in town is a very limited safety, a very temporary safety. Before long you have to leave, trusting the shepherd as naturally as breathing itself.
The same is true for us in the Church of Christ. There is a time that it is appropriate for us to huddle together for warmth and safety. But most of the time we need to be out of the pen, a little more on our own (not that we are entirely ever on our own). Even if it's more dangerous out there in the hills, that's where life is. That's where we are more completely what we were created to be. We're still dependent on our shepherd, but we are most healthy, most thriving, most alive when we are out in the larger world.
Our confirmands are undergoing an old rite of passage today. They are not leaving home, they are not leaving St. Germain, they are not leaving their congregation. They are DEFINITELY not graduating from their Christian Education. It has been my goal to teach them enough about the Bible this past year that they will want to keep reading and studying and learning.
It is important that all young people raised by Christian parents and grandparents have enough exposure to the voice of their shepherd so that as they go out more and more on their own – which is all part of growing up – that they can recognize the voice of their shepherd. There are no shortage of voices out there. There are temptations, distractions, wolves in sheep's clothing... not to mention the real wolves. As they move through high school and beyond they will watch as classmates and acquaintences and friends of friends fall by the wayside. They will be exposed to a thousand forms of self-destruction. They will see people they know, maybe even people they love, follow some voice into violence or crime, someone else follow a voice into victimhood. They will see some just get tired and tip over and not be able to get back up.
They will be, more and more, over time, out there among dangers that their elders know better than they yet do. But they will never be without their Good Shepherd nearby. Keep listening. Keep listening, kids. Listen to the voice of the One you can trust to lead you to green pastures and still waters. We'll be here too, listening and following just like you. Welcome to your adult lives as disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ.
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