Good Shepherd Sunday

The 4th Sunday of Easter is sometimes called "Good Shepherd Sunday" because the Gospel reading is from John 10 where Jesus says "I am the Good Shepherd". After reading the lesson, I thought I'd do a search to see how many references there are in the Bible to God as Shepherd. Turns out there are 56 different verses that have the word 'shepherd'. Twenty of them are talking about attributes of God. The others refer to King David as shepherd and some of the prophets talk about the 'bad shepherds'. If you want a complete listing, you can do a search using your favorite Concordance or online Bible. I find www.blueletterbible.org is an easy one to use, but there are many others.
Sheep, as a breed, aren't the smartest critters and certainly need a shepherd to look out for them. We, too often, tend to get ourselves in trouble too. Then our Good Shepherd has to go and search for us, even if it means scaling down the side of a cliff, like the image by Alfred Soord (1868-1915) titled The Lost Sheep. I like this one because it shows the lengths our Shepherd will go to when we are in trouble. Images of the lamb in the Shepherd's arms or around His neck are comforting, but I sometimes need to be reminded that no matter how far I stray, the Shepherd will seek me out!
What are some of the attributes of God as Shepherd?

God is our Rock, our provider.

God carries and leads, gathers and feeds us.

God seeks, rescues, and has compassion on the flock.

God forms one flock, separate from the goats.

God lays down His life and comforts us.   

God gives us a 'crown of glory' at the end.

Those are all pretty wonderful things to think about. If you would like to meditate on these 'Shepherd' verses, I've attached a pdf listing.
Let me know what your thoughts are about our Good Shepherd!
I know I promised something about UTO, another ministry of women in the DRG-but the sheep image just wouldn't go away...check back next week!