Thursday December 13, 2018

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.

Isaiah 40:11

Today is the Artman Home Annual Christmas Pageant! Like in any Christmas Pageant there will be sheep and shepherds! We can’t imagine a pageant without them!

Yet, the reality is, a lot of us have never seen a real shepherd. Many of us have never held a real sheep. None the less, Isaiah’s image of a shepherd whose entire life is given to caring for the flock is familiar to us. It is comforting. It reminds us what kind of a Savior God chooses to be. Humble, caring, gentle, and attentive.

When we see those shepherds and sheep in the pageant, we know that these characters who see the wonder of Jesus birth unfold are, in fact, the very face of the Savior.

We know that this Christmas babe, Jesus, will grow up and we will come to know him as our Lord …our shepherd… the one who feeds, and gathers and carries and leads us. And knowing this, we will all enter the pageant. Having been cared for by the Shepherd, we become the shepherds. We become the body of the Shepherd Christ. We feed and gather and carry and lead one another to show the face of Jesus.

Last year, as costumes were donned, one pageant participant said, “I waited 90 years to be a shepherd.” But, in fact, as a man of faith, he had been a shepherd all along. And we are too!

So, once again we will have our pageant. And there will be shepherds and sheep! They are all of us who follow Jesus and who show Jesus to others!

O Lord, our shepherd, teach us to follow you, becoming shepherds to one another. Amen.

This reflection comes out of conversations between The Rev. Ghislaine Cotnoir and residents at Artman. 

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