Good day dear friends. It's the second day of elections. Two bishops from our jurisdiction have been elected and we thank God for Bishop Cynthia Harvey and Bishop Gary Mueller. God's grace and peace be with them. We're also thankful to all who offered themselves for consideration for this grueling process and who gave a significant part of their lives to be considered for this important office. I have come to love and appreciate all of the candidates and if nothing else for me personally, their new friendships have been a rich blessing for Nellie and I. Today it is between Rev. Mike McKee and yours truly. I ask your prayers for God's will to be done. I thank and appreciate you for your emails, tweets, texts, and especially your prayers that have blessed Nellie and I. This part has been difficult, but God is with us.
Our text for today comes from Psalm 89: 1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. 2Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. 3 Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. 5 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The Lord is our righteousness." (NRSV)
Whether your care is over a family, classroom, congregation, or yourself, you have a responsibility to care for these under you. We read with horror those who abuse or mismanage (to put it mildly) their authority. In today's passage, God's message centers on those who had been called to shepherd the people of God and who had done nothing for God but everything for themselves. They had managed to scatter these away from their care and the message of God's care for them, and sought only personal gain. God's promise is that God will provide a good shepherd, one who will truly care for the sheep of God's flock. This shepherd would come with a message of hope, not fear, encouragement and not dismay; and a careful accounting and care of each lamb, with not one missing. These sheep will hear a message of invitation to God's love (salvation) and of safe living. The one whom God is sending will be called "righteousness" or as The Message versions calls this shepherd, "God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right."
As a spouse, parent, teacher, pastor, whatever your role, trust in God to show you how to best carry out that which has been entrusted to you. The message above points the way to the coming of the One whom we believe is the Good Shepherd and in Whom we have our relationship and faith. May we seek to listen to God's voice through scriptures, prayers, sermons, lessons, readings, how ever you feel God calling to you, and be faithful to being good shepherds in our settings.
PRAYER: Loving God, we thank You for Jesus our Good Shepherd; in Whom we have the model of faithfulness. May we seek to be more like Jesus in whatever realm we have been placed. We strive for sharing that which You have shared with us. In Jesus we pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
