4-29-20 - Feeding and Being Fed

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

“I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”
Earlier this week we talked about Jesus saying he was the gate of the sheepfold, the means of entry. Presumably, he meant entry into the Life of God; he often spoke of the challenges of entry (easy for children; harder for those with wealth). I couldn't imagine a person being a gate, and forgot something about sheepfolds in Jesus’ day. Scholars think they often had no gate. The shepherd, when the flock was safely enclosed, would lie down to sleep in the opening as a way of securing the flock. Thus, the shepherd became a gate.

Besides the amusing image this prompted, of a sleepy shepherd trampled one morning by hungry sheep going out to pasture, it helped make sense of Jesus’ words. At night, the shepherd is the gate. In the daytime, the shepherd is the one who leads the flock in and out of the fold. Jesus says those who enter the Life of God by way of relationship with him will come in and go out and find pasture.

Sheep don’t get sustenance in the sheepfold – they get rest and security. For nourishment, they go out to seek pasture. What does that say to us as churchgoers? Often people say they go to church to be fed. What if instead we saw church-time as a time to rest and recharge, be renewed, safely enclosed in the fold with the rest of our flock – and then sent back out to find nurture in our lives the rest of the week?

This time of social distancing and staying home to contain the contagion is a perfect opportunity to practice this principle. People are craving connection; they’re more open and willing to talk about matters of spirit. In our many online and phone conversations, we have opportunities to be fed and feed others in spiritual conversation, sharing our faith journey with people who aren’t in our “fold.” Maybe God wants us to be pastures in which others are fed. The going out becomes as important as the coming in, maybe more.

Why do you go to church? What do you seek there? 

What do you seek when you head back to your “life?”
Where do, or where might you find spiritual nurture in the week between worship services? 

 Where might you offer it?

A prayer for today: “God… what pastures are you leading me to in my life right now? Who might you be asking me to provide a feast for?” See what occurs to you, or who crosses your path.

We don’t come and go alone. The Good Shepherd goes with us, coming in and going out. The shepherd leads us to green pastures and the shepherd leads us home again. We don’t have to search for pasture – we only have to learn the voice of the Shepherd and follow him.

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