The image of the minister as a shepherd has strong roots in biblical writings, and its appropriation by a culture very different from its origins is not unproblematic.  At the moment, though, I am struggling with it as a metaphor at all, and wondering if rather than a shepherd I am a sheepdog?

The ancient shepherds of biblical times, so we are told, walked ahead of the sheep, leading them where they should go.  The contemporary shepherds of western Europe, so I am told, go behind their sheep, driving them where they should go.  Irrespective of the image, the shepherd dictates the direction and the sheep dutifully go there.

I wish!

So, I am wondering if a sheepdog is more useful image, at least for me, as I try to work with my wonderfully diverse and endlessly complicated 'flock'?

In this image, I see the flock as a whole moving broadly in the direction that God is leading, and my job is to somehow try to hold them together without them getting so straggled out that the flock disintegrates totally.

So, when some are lagging behind, refusing to budge, is my job to get behind them and urge them forward?  When some wander off in interesting but distracting directions (as defined by who? Me probably!) is it to try to bring them back into line.  And if some are racing on ahead, is my job is to try to get them to wait for the others to catch up a bit.

And if it is, how then do I do that in a constructive, creative way?  I don't want to be a sheepdog that 'nips' the sheep and I don't want to lose any of them.  But what happens if keeping some means letting others go?  How do I determine which end of the straggly flock to work at impacting?  When does the straggled flock become untenable?  And how on earth do I be sure that it is God's whistles I am responding to and not those of my own will or of 'my' sheep?!

Hmmm.

This coming Sunday I am preaching with the title "A Christian Marriage?" and over the last week have been reading some theology - including church history - to try to get my head round something of how we got to where we are at the start of C21 in the UK, specifically Scotland.  It is fascinating stuff, not least because for the first four hundred years or so the Church had a very ambivalent view on marriage, favouring celibacy as the Biblical ideal and seeing marriage as a necessary means, put bluntly, of ensuring another generation of Christians.  The 'marriage is about procreation' understanding actually underlies an awful lot of what is taught in churches, even today. 

I really enjoyed the reading and learned a lot which I will be sharing on Sunday, but one of the things that struck me is the frequent allusion back to Genesis 2:24 "therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings (cleaves) to his wife, and they become one flesh'.  I just wonder what might have happened if instead the church had opted to major on 1 Corinthians 7, especially this bit:

Actually I would prefer that all of you were as I am; but each one has a special gift from God, one person this gift, another one that gift.
Now, to the unmarried and to the widows I say that it would be better for you to continue to live alone as I do.
But if you cannot restrain your desires, go ahead and marry - it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

1 Cor 7:7 - 9 GNB

If this was our 'proof text of choice' then marriage would emerge as God's 'second best', which would rather put the cat among the theological and ecclesiological pigeons!

I've had a lovely few days away catching up with friends and enjoying a change of scene.  And after that it is lovely to be back home, picking up the reigns and getting on with life.

For those who "do praying" please keep Annie in your prayers just now... her latest blog post says, I suspect,  everything needed through saying very little.  Also, another friend J who is stage 4 and having contradictory reuslts every couple of weeks.  Thank you.

Today I made a decision to stop posting on the bcc forum - I had become increasingly conscious that if I didn't 'make a break' I would keep on finding more and more new threads to contribute to, more and more new people to support and that, whilst laudible, it wouldn't ultimately be healthy or helpful for me.  I have gained a lot from sharing with others, and do hope to continue to see the local lasses in the real world from time to time as well as keeping in email contact with about half a dozen others.  But the reality is that my calling is to serve my church, and I need to ensure that stays at the forefront of what I'm doing and thinking.

So, back to normal tomorrow!  Whatever that means.