Scripture passage that caught my attention today: Jeremiah 23:2-4 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.
Observation: There are shepherds who shepherd and there are shepherds who scatter.
Application: A good question to ask of oneself as a clergy-person is “what kind of shepherd am I?” Am I the kind of shepherd who scatters or am I the kind of shepherd who shepherds?
Strange and even harsh as it might seem, I’m beginning to think that many of us scatter more than we shepherd.
The scattering of which I speak is certainly not intentional. I can’t imagine myself or any of my colleagues waking up one morning and thinking, “gee, I wonder how I can best scatter the sheep today?” Still, it would seem that many of the sheep are scattering as evidenced by dwindling attendance, lack of volunteerism, and lower contributions at many a church today.
This morning, around 3:50, to be precise, I woke up thinking about this fact and considering to what extent I might have the means to help myself and some of my colleagues to begin to reverse this trend.
I’m taking some time to think it through because I don’t want it to be like one of the empty prophetic ‘dreams’ that Jeremiah described later in this chapter. But if the words to the verses above are true, God can and will raise up shepherds who will shepherd. And to me that includes God’s ability to make better shepherds of the shepherd’s that God’s already got.
Stay tuned...
Prayer: Lord, help me to keep chewing on these ideas in my head and to discern whether they are truly worthwhile. And if so, give me the fortitude to begin to put them into action. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
(Readings today included: Jeremiah 23-25 and John 19)
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Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your future insights because I and everyone else needs caring shepherds and I also desire to be a caring shepherd and cherish your wisdom.
ReplyDeletePeace!