Monday 1 May 2023

Today is Monday the 1st of May, in the fourth week of Easter.

Amanda Cook sings, ‘Shepherd’. As you listen, begin to picture Jesus as the ‘good shepherd’ in your mind’s eye.

In the process, in the waiting
You’re making melodies over me
And Your presence is the promise
For I am a pilgrim on a journey
You will lift my head above the mighty waves
You are able to keep me from stumbling
And in my weakness
You are the strength that comes from within
Good Shepherd of my soul
Take my hand and lead me on
You make my footsteps and my path secure
So walking on water is just the beginning
Cause my faith to arise, stand at attention
For You are calling me to greater things
Oh how I love You, how I love You
You have not forsaken me
Oh how I love You, how I love You
With You is where I want to be

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John.


John 10:11-18

‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’

As we engage with this passage in prayer today, we will do so imaginatively, using the creativity God has given our minds.


Begin by becoming still and letting the passage soak into you…what do you notice?

Now, begin to construct an image of a ‘good shepherd’ in your mind’s eye.

You might like to use the ancient sense of a shepherd like in this passage, or use more modern-day imagery to help you…


What qualities does this good shepherd have in your mind?


We hear that the “good shepherd lays down their life for the sheep”…

Imagine therefore how this good shepherd would be around their sheep…what gestures, mannerisms, words and sounds would they use to protect and direct the flock?

Imagine this shepherd has been with these sheep since their births, through lambing season and into fields… how does the shepherd know them? How do they know the shepherd?


Now contrastingly, imagine the ‘hired hand’, who ‘leaves the sheep and runs away’ as the wolves scatter them…

How is the hired hand around the sheep? What are their gestures like? What tone of voice? Perhaps they are less attached to the sheep and more sluggish and less caring with their movements… what do you see and hear?


As we hear the passage read again, place yourself into this image Jesus provides of the good shepherd using all your senses…


Spend some time now talking with the Lord about the good shepherd and the hired hand… about where these two voices play out in your life, remembering that Jesus is even greater than the good shepherd you imagined; remembering that Jesus laid down his life for you…


Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.