Dear Friends,

This is Good Shepherd Sunday, and while we have sometimes see lovely images in stained glass windows and on funeral remembrance cards, it seems to me that this is the image of the Good Shepherd is not the easiest for us in this culture to connect with . Because sheep get such a bad rap, I decided to do a bit of research via 'google'! Wikipedia provides some interesting insights... most interesting to me this evening is the fact that sheep do indeed 'recognize voices'... in fact, they recognize faces too…and they remember them. So perhaps they are not quite the 'stupid' animals they are so often depicted as being.

If sheep can recognize the one who tends and protects them, then it seems quite reasonable to expect that we, too, possess this capacity. The challenge for us, however, is that there are so many voices competing for our attention. Sometimes our own voices are so loud that they tune out any other voice…let alone the One who most longs to be heard in our hearts. And, sometimes the voices of our unmet needs or unhealed wounds interfere with our capacity to hear.

I am fascinated by the fact that according to Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker in their recent book, "Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire," the image of the Good Shepherd permeates ancient art found in the catacombs. This image, rather than that of the crucified Jesus, is what inspired the faith of the earliest Christians. These people for whom sheep and shepherds were familiar images found strength and hope in the Good Shepherd, and it is from this understanding of the Risen Christ that Christianity grew.

There is an intimacy to this image that might speak to our 21st century understanding and longing. We tend to be so independent, to place such high value on autonomy that it's hard for us in this culture to relate to the kind of protection and 'tending' that the shepherd images evokes. However, don't we all yearn to be safe... to know that we are 'in good hands'... to have a Voice which we can clearly hear and to be known in the deepest sense of that term. When all is said and done, we are not so different from our forefather and foremothers, and from our domestic sheep... we too want to be known, to be loved, to be tended to and to hear clearly God speaking in our lives.

If you are seeking a "community of believers" to journey with you in a deeper way; one where every voice is heard, and women and men are unafraid to acknowledge the equality of women and men; and to embrace feminine as well as masculine... and beyond... images of God, we invite you to join us at Spirit of Life. As a community, we try wholeheartedly to "be Christ" to one another, to tend to the needs of one another, and to those in need in our world. Together, we celebrate our belief that we are being transformed by God's grace as we gather together in prayer. We warmly invite you to come and gather with us at our Table, and join in our experience of the "kin-dom" of God. We are an inclusive, open, affirming and interactive community, deeply committed to being a people of "justice and joy."

Wishing you joy in the Risen Christ,

Find more about past weekly reflections and podcasts in our ARCHIVE PAGE.