Savior, like a shepherd lead us

On the first day of school this year, a fellow teacher and I met on the path and walked the rest of the way together. We ended up having to cut a huge herd of sheep on their way out to pasture, and as we did it a huge smile lit up her face. When I asked her why she seemed so happy, she told me that it was good luck to cut through a herd of sheep, and since it was the first day of school, she believed it symbolized a good year for both of us.

For a while, I was inclined to succumb to this superstition. Compared to last year, this year has sailed by on gold-tinted wings. Apart from the loss of my best Bulgarian friend, this year I feel more competent in the classroom and can see some results.

But now I am loosing faith in the idea…I have cut a herd of sheep twice a day for the past week, and have not discerned any marked improvement in my luck. Perhaps it is all being packed away and saved in my kharma bank for something really amazingly wonderful, who knows. All’s I know is that I want it to happen soon…It’s tough tromping through the stink and fecal matter that is a Bulgarian herd of sheep without seeing results.

However, the sheep-watching has inspired some reflections on modern Christianity. Bear with me through this awkward transition.

As most westerners know, the symbol of the shepherd has often been used in Christianity to illustrate Jesus Christ. The parallels are quite beautiful…Both protect gentle creatures from danger. Both lead lesser beings to places of sustenance and goodness. Both are solitary and diligent. Both love their creatures, and both depend on them to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, maintain the health and balance of God’s kingdom, and provide company.

But the shepherds I have seen in Bulgaria are not this type of shepherd. Perhaps they do protect their sheep from danger, but they also smack them with sticks and curse at them in a language the sheep do not understand and cannot respond to. Perhaps they do lead the sheep out to pasture, but the pastures are very often polluted with garbage that other shepherds have left behind. Perhaps they do care for the sheep, but it is only because the sheep are their source of money and power.

I cannot picture Jesus using sticks to keep his people in line. I cannot seem him yelling and cursing at us when we’ve strayed from the path. And I certainly do not think Jesus saw mankind as a source to gain power.

But it seems to me that Christian fundamentalists in recent years have taken to this second image of the shepherd. The only differences are their sticks are laws to ban things they see as vices and sins, their curses are abuses and intolerances thrown at non-Christians, and the power they seek is in the halls of congress. Theirs is the “force them into the right path” shepherding rather than the “lead them to the right path” shepherding.

As far as I am aware, Jesus never lost patience with someone who questioned him in a logical manner. Jesus never told anyone they were less Christian because they questioned their faith. And Jesus certainly never used laws and force to keep his followers from straying. He lead by example.

But look at the example in the fundamentalist church. How many scandals are there—sexual, financial and social? How many acts of violence have been committed against those considered “sinners?” How many “religious” men have sought political, secular power (something Jesus neither wanted nor advocated) so that they can create laws (a secular, forceful kind of guidance) to push their own ideas and belief structures? It’s plain to see why average parishioners are confused…If in fact their leaders are leading by example, they are leading people to a very un-Christian place.

I hope against hope that one day they will return to the truly Christian, Jesus-inspired philosophy of shepherding.