The Tent: A safe place for shepherds to reflect together
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phargrove
Joined: 03 Jul 2011 Posts: 5 Location: Greenville, SC
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:39 am Post subject: In the Fields and Not at Home? |
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The open terrain of the Mideast is in stark contrast to the fenced-in pastures of American shepherd. The former is more dependent on a shepherd, the latter not as much. This dependency and effort required is the focus of this reflection.
The bonding between sheep and shepherd is the result of round-the clock care in which the shepherd’s personal involvement of time, energy, thought, and attention are a few of the requirements necessary; frequent, long-term, and intimate contact built over the expanse of seasons secures this cycle of shepherd service and flock trust.
The relationship strikes me as being similar to that of a marriage relationship – the most intimate relationship possible. The tension I sense throughout the meditations on pastor as shepherd is the “all out-ness†required for such a task and role. Couple that with the parallel discussions on boundaries, the importance of maintaining priorities and not being “enmeshed†and “codependent†with one’s flock and my thoughts are frayed with conceptualizing the shepherding task. While I understand my tendency to think in terms of all or nothing categories) the two seem to be on a necessary crash course.
Put simply, I do not want the flock to be my mistress. I found it interesting and maybe symbolic that shepherds sleep near the flock, even those that are owners. I do not want to be so engaged in the task of shepherding – out in the fields – that my own family, the flock that I first called to shepherd, suffers and are left vulnerable to predatory attacks of a different nature.
The meditation gives us the examples of God / Jesus and “Mr. T.†God does promise to be with Moses, to David and in Jesus, the “with us is God†His people to the present day as well. But this is so precisely because He is God. “Mr. T†has Leadership By Walking Around (LBWA). He personally greets each student every day at school (even when the flock was 5000) and personally returns all calls and letters. He does this by getting to school at 5:30 am and staying late on many nights. Stanley Hauerwas has accused the contemporary pastor as being a “quivering mass of availability.â€
I don’t know Mr. T’s personal situation. Maybe he is in a season where this is more manageable. Maybe he does not have a family. Maybe he takes time at other times during the day to take care of his own personal needs such as spiritual connection to God, relational connection to family and friends, and physical renewal. But holding this up as the shepherd model is discouraging and personally unwanted against the wider backdrop of an all-encompassing life. It is one of many callings.
I am not advocating a self-focused existence in which we are so concerned about our self-actualization that we become functioning narcissists. But in my reading of the pastor’s role of shepherd the unintended result may be too much focus on flock at the expense of family. |
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