stewardship

For 21st century post modern “sheep” that attitude presents a problem. We don’t like to think of ourselves as dependent on anyone or anything else for protection. We want to be cowboys, not sheep. When danger and challenge comes knocking, it is not our nature to stand back and let a protector answer for us. This independence is reflected in the way in which we manage the resources that God has entrusted into our hands. Fear causes us to cling to all that we have. Our distorted stewardship reflects self reliance and fear of scarcity. We falter in our recognition of the shepherd’s voice and we fail to trust in the abundance of the shepherds care and strength.

Good stewardship practice and the cultivation of a generous heart lead us back to the affirmation of our proper role as sheep which belong to the Good Shepherd. Where our treasure is, that is where our heart resides. Generous sharing feels like risky behavior in a cowboy culture. But it is in that risk that our relationship with God is confirmed.

Dylan: Shepherding Justice

I wish that congregations were going to read both Acts 4 and Ezekiel 34 this Sunday. Acts 4 makes the causal connection between caring for the poor and experiencing the Spirit's presence and power that we need to hear, but Ezekiel 34 is a scathing indictment of the extent to which we who claim to follow "the good shepherd" have been doing the opposite of what a good shepherd does:

Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not
shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool,
you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not
strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the
injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost,
but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered,
because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild
animals.

...Jesus, the good shepherd, calls me out of that comfortable home, away from living off of the fat available to me right here and out to the margins, so all might eat good food, drink clean water, and enjoy the privileges I have that give me access to markets and schools and the power that comes with them. He doesn't promise that it will be easy, but he promises that the journey is the way to abundant life. And I know that I will hear the good shepherd's voice and see his face most clearly when I'm living world that lives out the connection all of God's prophets proclaim, and all of God's beloved children can sing with the psalmist, not in hopeful expectation but in celebration of a present reality:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.

Dylan: Shepherding Justice

I wish that congregations were going to read both Acts 4 and Ezekiel 34 this Sunday. Acts 4 makes the causal connection between caring for the poor and experiencing the Spirit's presence and power that we need to hear, but Ezekiel 34 is a scathing indictment of the extent to which we who claim to follow "the good shepherd" have been doing the opposite of what a good shepherd does:

Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not
shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool,
you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not
strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the
injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost,
but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered,
because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild
animals.

The Good Name of the Good Shepherd

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name's sake.

We are into the forth week and now we reflect on what was done Good Friday. Jesus tells us that he is the good shepherd and he lays down his life for his friends. We are reminded that he laid it down. In what he has done, he has made us a flock – his flock – called by his name, we know him. One fold, one shepherd.

“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

The disciples come to know the power of the life laid down. Peter proclaims to the rules that “this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.” There is no other name.

John pleads with the church. How often from the pulpit do we plead the same? Love each other! Lay down your lives for each other! Act! “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

“And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.”

To own his name – that saving name, that name unmatched, the name of our good shepherd – we must love one another as he has commanded us.