One Flock, One Shepherd

Beloved in Christ, 

When I was a freshman in college, I decided to skip a class one morning to sleep in. It was a small theatre workshop which depended on everyone’s participation and collaboration, but I figured they could get along fine without me. The professor wasn’t having it. He called me several times until I finally picked up, and he sternly told me I had to get to class because everyone’s participation was critical to everyone else’s learning. I promptly got out of bed and hurried off to class. 

This Sunday, we will pray Psalm 23 together as part of our weekly worship. Verse six is usually translated as “surely goodness and mercy will follow me..." But in Hebrew, that verb doesn’t have the same passive sense as “follow.” It might be better rendered as surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me, keep coming after me, even chase me down all the days of my life. While the psalm is loved for its peaceful description of God’s loving guidance, the God described is one who aggressively pursues us, comes after us, who won’t let us stay lost. It’s a God who won’t accept our thought that the flock doesn’t need us. It’s a God for whom everyone belongs, is needed, is of endless value, and is deeply treasured.

Goodness and mercy aren’t meek and passive qualities in God. Goodness and mercy are the arsenal with which God wages a campaign of healing love on our broken and conflicted world. So when you feel alone, pushed aside, and afraid, remember that God’s goodness and mercy are coming after you, reminding you that you are too important and precious to sit on the sidelines and remain anonymous. You make the whole flock better, and more complete.

And when you’ve allowed yourself to feel God’s embrace, when you are walking at the center of the flock where you belong, then you, and all of us together, are called to join God’s campaign of goodness and mercy, rushing out into our broken, conflicted, and divided world, and extending with every small action, every moment, and every encounter - God’s love, joining Jesus in chasing down every beloved, broken child of God, until the whole creation is one flock with one shepherd.

Grace and Peace, 

The Right Rev. Craig Loya