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2007-11-20 issue:

A ministry of recognition

Lessons from shepherd imagery in the Bible

by Urbane Peachey

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I sat in the crowded bus depot on a rainy afternoon. The bus was late; the waiting passengers were restless and irritable. Few people spoke, though all obviously noticed an old man in tears. No one tried to connect with his distress except a 2- or 3-year-old child.



The old man may have wanted to be left alone, but this child toddled restlessly around the room, eyeing everyone at a safe distance. She made contact with no one. Then she came closer to the old man, who was leaning forward, his elbows on his knees. The little girl stooped slightly to look into his face. She approached, paused, reached out her hand and wiped tears from his face. The old man smiled gently, with unchanged posture. The waiting room hushed as passengers exchanged glances and recognized the event with quiet “mmms.” For a few minutes, the tender reach of kindness turned strangers into a community.

Inquiring, attentive, perceptive and tending, this innocent child can be described as a model caregiver. She did not impose, ask questions, teach, probe or propose. All she did was recognize, accurately and genuinely. Her gesture was eloquence enough; it needed no explanation. All in that room knew subconsciously that the child’s reach was not a pretext for some other interest.

At a subconscious level, most of us would be glad to receive this quality of loving care. This is in fact the quality of care suggested in the shepherd passages of the Old and New Testament.

The 23rd Psalm and the Good Shepherd of John 10 come to mind at once. Handel’s Messiah has popularized the evocative lines from Isaiah 40:11: “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the mother sheep.” Micah 5:4 promises a Messianic figure in a time of disaster who “shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord.” Ezekiel 34 is less well known, where God is presented at great length as the true shepherd. Images of God’s protection abound in the Psalms and the prophets, for example, “a cleft in the rock,” “tent” and “refuge.” In truth, the images of shepherd culture are pervasive in the Bible.

Jesus claims the shepherd role for himself in John 10:1-18. “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (v. 14). To “know” is to recognize, comprehend and understand; it does not denote mastery of knowledge. Peter assigns the shepherd role to the elders of Asia Minor. “Tend the flock of God that is in your charge” (1 Peter 5:2). Tending the flock means to protect, care for, nurture and feed. All sheep, the tame and the wild, thrive on these qualities. Pastors are referred to in the Bible as shepherds who tend the flock.

In contrast to the quality of the child’s attentiveness I recall a parishioner’s description of a pastor who was not attentive. A certain pastor came to the hospital to visit this person’s mother; the family never saw his back side, she said. “He walked in and backed out.”
Who knows what may have occupied the pastor—anxiety over facing the unknown, busyness, not wanting to interrupt. In any case, the pastor was out of touch with the family’s wish for recognition.

These two anecdotes and the shepherding texts speak of the ministry of recognition.

Recognition is an expression of compassion. Compassion means to be with or to suffer with another. Recognition embraces and heals in contrast with instruction or commentary.

One of the urgent developmental tasks for pastors and other caregivers is growing comfortable with another’s journey, in ordinary time as well as in times of distress. The caregiver’s resistance to the experience of another may be evident in the need to talk about oneself or tell stories that distract from the issue at hand. The skill of recognition while tending the flock also means respecting another’s resistance to engage. One parishioner said to me, “I told you I was not ready to talk, and you didn’t respect that.” The calling to minister and tend the flock does not violate or intrude on the sensitivities of another. Fortunately I had many more experiences in which my attentiveness was affirmed.

In summary, two overarching understandings may be helpful to pastoral caregivers and to search committees looking for pastors with caregiving gifts and skills.

First, attachment and loss are universal and pervasive at all ages. Another way to speak of attachment and loss is to speak of hellos and goodbyes. We readily understand the attachment of children to parents or their attachment to a stuffed toy or a friend. Who has not observed a child distraught over the loss of a pacifier or teddy bear? Attachments in the growing and adult years are no less significant. Attachments that evolve in relationships, school, jobs, homes, friends and fulfillment of dreams transform into our self-image.
Second, the pastor will give significance to the stories or journeys of another person. Individual stories may be private, but they are also relational. Personal stories have much to do with family, church, caregivers, teachers and authority figures:

• stories of how authority was exercised in childhood and youth,
• stories about being parented and nurtured,
• stories from the formative years, of being taught,
• stories of failure and success,
• stories of satisfaction and fulfillment,
• stories of transition,
• stories of loss and grief,
• stories of trauma,
• stories of sickness and health.

The Sunday morning congregation lives hellos and goodbyes every day. Preaching, teaching and worship that is inattentive to hellos and goodbyes feels hollow and alienating. Someone has observed that the congregation cannot really hear the gospel until the preacher has heard or recognized the stories of the people.

Urbane Peachey, a retired pastor and pastoral counselor, lives in Lititz, Pa.

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