This time last week, Ralf and I were in Hell's Canyon, a canyon of the Snake River that separates the State of Idaho from Oregon. I was thinking of you here and I believe that Jayne was leading in worship—Carol had led in worship the week before. We were enjoying a hot day, low 30's, and a week ago I saw my first rattlesnake on the way back to our camp.
I mention where we were because what opened up this canyon, beyond the fact that it is the deepest canyon in North America—deeper than the Grand Canyon although not as majestic or as wide; what made the canyon famous was the fact that it used to be full of sheep, domestic sheep that were raised for the wool. How people found this rather remote canyon and decided it was a good place to raise sheep, I am not sure. But find it they did and there were likely 10's of thousands of sheep in this long narrow canyon. There were a number of sheep ranches on both sides of the Snake River. You can still see how the sheep had terraced the hills leading up from the River. Apparently the last sheep ranch stopped operation in the late 70's or early 80's. Even though this was desert country and the temperature could get up to the high 40's in the summertime, it was perceived to be a green pasture.
As we were walking the trails on the Oregon side of the Snake River, I kept thinking about Psalm 23, about deep and dark valleys and green pastures. The shepherding in the Snake River would have been very different from the shepherding of Jesus' day. The sheep just wandered within a certain territory without shepherds. They would have been rounded up in the Spring for shearing, and the shepherds would likely have used horses. And I'm not sure it was the greenest of pastures; in the summer it would have been hot and there were predators, not so much Rattlesnakes—they wouldn't have bothered the sheep so much—but cougars, bob cats and coyotes.
Shepherding in Jesus' day was much more about the relationship between sheep and shepherd. Shepherding was a noble but poor profession, but the shepherds were good at what they did. The sheep knew their voice. I've heard some people who have spent time in the Middle East in recent years and they say that the ancient art of shepherding hasn't really changed. The sheep are kept in common pens overnight and every morning the shepherd goes and retrieves his or her sheep to take to pasture. He or she calls them, sometimes by name, and the sheep recognize the voice and follow along. The sheep are pastured in common pasture and intermingle; but when the shepherd calls out, using special words, the sheep will gather around. Apparently, it is quite a sight to see. This cacophony of noise, people calling and sheep blaring, and out of this chaos, order arises when the sheep respond the shepherd's voice. It is a deeply intimate relationship of trust, care and dare I say it, love.
It is no wonder that the image of the shepherd for God or for God's chosen leaders is well used in the bible. Isaiah writes of God, in a famous passage used by Handel in the Messiah, "God will feed the flock like a shepherd; will gather the lambs in arms of love, and carry them in God's bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep." (Isaiah 40:11) This is very much an image of a mothering God, that gentle love with children that can become a fierce defence in the face of danger. This is the idea conveyed in the 23rd Psalm: "God is our shepherd; there is nothing that we lack. God will lead us to good water, to green pastures, through dark and steep valleys, and to an overflowing cup." The images are beautiful and life-giving.
I must confess, however, to the fact that while I have always loved Psalm 23, I've not always been able to relate to it. I did not grow up with sheep, or cattle, ranching for farming for that matter. I grew up in a small Northern Ontario town and the closest I got to sheep or a lamb was when we ate lamb, I hate to say! But that's the truth. We learned about the Good Shepherd in Sunday School, but that was the extent of my knowledge of sheep and shepherding. And yet I also know that the church is full of shepherding images. The word "pastoral" comes from the Latin word that means shepherd. We speak of pastoral care, care that is the nurturing, shepherd-like care of one to another. Although we don't commonly use this title in the United Church—they do in the Lutheran Church, though—ministers are sometimes referred to as pastors–as shepherds. Our congregation, in United Church parlance, is officially a "Pastoral Charge". When we deal with one another gently and in a nurturing fashion, we are said to be pastoral with one another. We talk about shepherding a process or a program. Even though it isn't in the Church per se, there is a form of music known as the Pastorale. Beethoven's Sixth Symphony is known as the Pastoral Symphony. Images of shepherding are rife within our language and our way of being.
Even when it comes to politics, the idea of shepherding is full of meaning. King David was a shepherd and was to use his skills and knowledge of being a shepherd as King of Israel. God's shepherds in the political realm were to lead with compassion, with a sense of justice, with a sense of welcome and hospitality; they were called to find green pastures and good water and to ensure that even the weakest of the flock were cared for. The prophets, those men and women who cried out against injustice and false leaders, often pointed out how the shepherds had blown it. Ezekiel, for example said this, "And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. As I live, says GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock..." (Ezekiel 34:5, 8) It was a warning to the leaders, and a poignant one still today that Stephen Harper ought to heed, that to lead politically is to care for the least and lowliest, to ensure that all are nurtured and none left out, to provide clean water and abundance for ALL.
Some post-modern church leaders say we need to recover the image of shepherding in the Church. One woman, Molly T. Marshall, says this, "The church would be helped if it could recover the theological meaning of the shepherding imagery... By the 4th century Jesus as shepherd was gradually replaced by Jesus as Pantocrator, the elevated ruler over all, as Constantine united the church with the secular state. As the church became an expression of imperial power, the shepherd's staff was replaced with a gilded crosier; a crown of thorns was displaced by the triple tiara of the pope. Recovering shepherding imagery could call the church to simplicity, sacrifice and solidarity—needed in a time when many have lost their way."
While the shepherd image may be perceived to be a hierarchical image in some places—with bishops and so on, it need not be; in fact, it is inherently non-hierarchical. Shepherds, as they were in Jesus' day, are not perceived to have a high status. But, with humility we are called to shepherd one another, to nurture one another with a deep love, to accompany one another through the dark valleys into green pastures, to be with one another in the discovery of abundant water, that water that wells up to new life, to fill each other's cups to overflowing, to be present in the new birth of lambs and life, to call to account those who lead in the world, to dine with our enemies so that we might become friends together, to push beyond our self-imposed boundaries to discover the abundant life promised to all. This is the image of shepherd that belongs to us all!
I leave you with a paraphrase of Psalm 23 by Nan Merrill:
O my Beloved, You are my shepherd,
I shall not want;
You bring me to green pastures for rest
and lead me beside still waters renewing my spirit;
You restore my soul.
You lead me in the path of goodness
to follow Love's way.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I am not afraid;
For you are ever with me;
Your rod and your staff they guide me,
they give me strength and comfort.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of all my fears;
You bless me with oil, my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the heart of the Beloved forever.
Amen.
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