Psalm Meditation 915
First Sunday After Christmas
December 31, 2017

Psalm 23
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
3 he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
(NRSV)

The task of a shepherd is to relinquish some control in order to allow the sheep to find the tasty morsels available in the area while at the same time keeping a watchful eye over the sheep to protect them from dangers and predators. It is tempting for some to keep their charges too close together for the sake of safety and protection, not realizing that the sheep will quickly run out of things on which to graze and will damage that small area. The other temptation is to let sheep graze too widely and not be able to keep watch over all the sheep at once.

Some who call themselves shepherd expect the people around them to travel in lock step with them. Ranging outside the tight group is frowned upon and discouraged. It is a great way to control folks, to keep them safe, and to keep them from having questions and opinions that take them out of the tight held control of the shepherd. To question or to second guess the leader is seen as dangerous and evil. Folks are expected to be docile, to go where and to believe what they are told without question or comment. While there are times in which conformity is important, if that need never changes there is a problem.

God allows us to range freely within a set of boundaries. Some of us will never notice the limits because we are content where we find ourselves. Others of us will be in contact with the shepherd on a more regular basis as we wander on the fringes of the group. We will purposely or inadvertently push the limits of our range and be called back, perhaps even feel pushed back. We will feel put upon at the time, however in time we may notice that we were wandering into dangerous places and the prod was for our protection rather than any other reason. Through it all God is with us “and I [we] shall dwell in the house of the LORD my [our] whole life long.”

December 26, 2017
LCM