The sheepfold's door

After John 10:1-18 

To enter the sheepfold,

you go through the door.

It’s designated; there’s

no other entrance.

One way, only one.

The sheep follow

the shepherd through

the door, because

they recognize his voice.

They don’t know

the voice of others, but

only the shepherd’s.

Hearing any other voice

will cause them to flee.

 

The door is life; to enter

That door is to embrace

life, be given life.

The shepherd knows

his sheep, by name.

And he calls them.,

by name.

 

Photograph by Antonello Falcone via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Sheep's choice

After Psalm 95

The sheep have a choice:

accept who they are,

crowd around the shepherd,

heed the shepherd’s voice.

Or

Do what’s always been done

(Meribah),

ignore what’s in front of their nose

(Massah),

begrudge the blessings

(manna),

Test, or vex, or both, the shepherd

(12 spies),

Reject the promise,

Reap the wilderness,

Find no rest.

That’s the choice.

Photograph by Sam Carter via Unsplash. Used with permission.

No distance management here

After Ezekiel 34:11-24

A choice: direct the search

for scattered sheep, assemble 

the team and give each member

an assignment, a territory, directions,

a deadline,

or

go out with the search,

find the places of scattering,

secure the valleys and hillsides,

and look with self for lost sheep.

That was the choice:

two possibilities becoming

two paths becoming

two doors.

He chose Door #2.

Photograph by Swaminathan Jayaraman via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Return of the sheep

After Ezekiel 34:11-24

It’s not only the simple matter

of the sheep coming home

from places scattered;

it is more. It begins 

with the noticing of absence,

which assumes the understanding

of presence; then comes

the seeking out, the search. 

The shepherd goes forward,

looking. And more: the search

isn’t only the simple matter

of looking, but extends to rescue

from wherever the sheep

have been scattered on that day

of clouds and darkness. And

then the sheep are led home.

Photograph by Adrian Infernus via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Out among the flocks

After I Samuel 16

He was out among the flocks,

tending to the sheep and lambs,

an eye searching the hills

for signs of wolves and jackals.

He would track and corner

The wandering sheep, the lambs,

herding them back to the flock,

restoring the balance, the equilibrium.

He was looking out for sheep

when the old man found him,

choosing him from his brothers,

anointing him with oil, a sign,

a wonder, a sign for a king.

Photograph by Biegen Wschodni via Unsplash. Used with permission.

In the fields

After John 10:1-18

In the fields green

and full of life, flowered

explosion of grass and clover,

the shepherd walks, saying

little, his presence

sufficient to maintain

calm among the sheep,

roaming, eating, bleating.

He walks slowly,

with purpose, knowing

his work, knowing

his sheep.

He sits upon a large rock,

listening to the prayers,

the prayers of his sheep.

Photograph by John Kovacich via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

How do you view sheep?

How do you view sheep, he asked?

I consider the sheep, a single sheep,

my grandmother kept fenced

on the back acre to avoid having

to pay to have the grass cut,

the sheep kept it mowed just fine

and a couple of times a year

the man would come to shear it,

he seemed to like the quality

of grass-fed wool. So I consider

the sheep, the sheep without

a shepherd, smelly, lost, rather

grotesque dirty sheep, wandering

without direction or purpose,

often biting each other and

everything else, and I think

that for these wretched sheep

his heart broke.

Photograph by Petr Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.