Dear Friends,
In my former parishes there was an abundance of shepherds who worked on the nearby farms. These were a hardy breed of individuals whose devotion to their sheep was remarkable. Just as the seasons rolled around, there was also the lambing season from late winter into spring, trimming their feet, then shearing during the warmer summer months and the mating of the ewes with a tupp or ram. In August every year, when the animals were in peak condition, the best sheep would be taken to the local agricultural show and entered into a competition. This was a wonderful occasion for the minister to spend time with the farmers as they showed off their hard work. Invariably, they were seldom in church because of their relentless workload of caring for their sheep.
Some shepherds opted for early lambing which was indoors from the New Year onwards, others went for the more traditional outdoor lambing in the fields or on the hillsides. The advantage of indoor lambing would eliminate predation by foxes and ravens. It also meant the lambs would be ready for market earlier the following year. The spring lambs enjoyed the milder spring weather but when lambing outdoors without the protection of the shepherd, there would always be some losses to predators.
Every day, I could set my clock by the regularity of the various shepherds through their attentiveness to their flock. You’d see their truck or quad-bike parked near a field and they would be found leaning on a gate as they watched their animals, counted them and assessed their well-being. After they had been served by the ram, they would receive a nutritional supplement in the form of sheep nuts to help see them through the winter and be ready for lambing season. The shepherd would walk through the flock with their bag of food and they would come running to him. All the time, he was able to assess how well they were moving and if any were ailing.
Early in its history, Israel celebrated its cultural heritage of shepherding. And spiritually, God was mentioned in scripture like a shepherd who cared for His sheep. The leadership in Israel were also likened to shepherds and Israel’s most famous king, David, began as a shepherd boy. It was his character, honed from shepherding that caused God to choose David as King. However, somewhere along the way, the religious elite came to look down on shepherds and fishermen because their work made them unclean. How ironic that the people of the land whose traditional profession was a reason for them to be made into outcasts and regarded as sinful. When Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, called Himself the Good Shepherd, He restored the image of the shepherd and gave dignity to the common man and woman who worked with their hands. He walked among His people and revealed God’s loving compassion to His flock, the lost sheep of Israel.
Pastor Cliff