Shepherdless-ness

[Cliff Fletcher]

Ezekiel 34:6-12, and Numbers 27:17 remind us of the plight of shepherd-less sheep: scattered, wandering, and no one "looked" or cared. Implied in the Ezekiel passage is a time period, a process that must have happened, wherein shepherds were caring for a flock and then they began to stop caring. Ezekiel describes a flock scattered and lost, and this did not happen over night. Just because there is an identified shepherd over a flock that is not to say that the flock is being cared for. Sheep can begin to be less cared for, and less shepherded! Leaders can lead less. Pastors pastor less and less until soon it is a flock without a shepherd, though he/she may be sitting in his/her pastoral office. As I consider this meditation today I remember the responsibility I have as shepherd to be consistently attentive to my flock, and this I can do by putting in place checks and balances that oversee my attentiveness. Who asks me about my attentiveness to the needs of this congregation? Who asks me about the quality of care? What is in place in my church to coach me through a less-leading time in my life? Have I been humble enough in the good season to put these systems in place that ensures these sheep will not be shepherdless on my watch?

I appreciate that each of us is prone to wander and I have been entrusted with a flock that I am not to come home without! I recognize right now that it can be very tiring running after wandering sheep - much less energizing than those who have not yet come to faith. But this is part of my calling. So today I will prayerfully consider my attentiveness to my sheep. I will consider how responsible I have been by establishing a system that makes sure I am attentive.