Acts 4. 5-12/ John 10.11-18 Names are important. You know how cross you can get if someone gets your names wrong. I enjoy watching various farming programmes and Countryfile, especially those with a orphaned lamb to rear who usually gets given a name. Both in our reading from Acts and the gospel there is a significance given to names. In Acts 4 we hear of Peter having healed someone in the name of Jesus and he draws out the power of using Jesus’ name for this miracle. Christina Rosetti could write in similar vein “None other lamb, none other name, none other hope in heaven or earth or sea” (HAP271) In the gospel for today Jesus speaks of being the good shepherd who knows his sheep. I have told the following story before, but I like it… I was once part of a choral workshop made up of people from all sorts of choirs and choral groups across North Yorkshire and I was introduced to someone, not by their name but by their role. The person introducing us said this man is the choirmaster of Kirkbymoorside Parish Church. “Oh”, I said , “my great great grandfather is buried in your churchyard”. “What was his name?”, the man asked. “Christopher Humble”, I replied. “And what is your name?” he enquired. “Christopher Humble”, said I with a twinkle in my eye. You see names are important.
My hunch is that those with small flocks have names for each sheep and this was probably the case in Jesus’ day. I know that when my grandfather had only Shorthorn dairy six cows each one was known individually by the family, including an appreciation for their personalities and characters. And this might be the context John is painting of the flock that Jesus has. There is something important here. There is a pastoral message here that we need to get to know people. Their names, of course, but also what makes them tick, their story, their family ties etc. I remember a minister once telling me he wrote down the name of the family dog on the index card of his membership files, so he could call the dog by name when he visited. I have never gone down to that level of detail. The good shepherd knows their sheep, he knows their names and he knows their little foibles, their ways. We need to make sure we have adequate pastoral systems in place for caring for people, for really knowing them, meeting their needs, helping them grow and develop. For ministers with multiple congregations to look after this can be difficult. However, the pastoral ministry is wider than just the ordained. We need teams of people who offer effective pastoral care and we have many who give of their time and talents in this regard. It is a calling and a real ministry.
It is, however, not just about little flocks that Jesus speaks here, though he seems to have only had twelve in his flock! He also says “I have other sheep, not of this fold. I must bring them also”. A reminder to us that God in Christ does not just love those whose names are recoded in our books. He loves all, all are precious to him. His scope and reach is broad and wide, not small and narrow. “For all, for all my Saviour died” as our catholic Arminian theology teaches us. Someone said recently of Prince Philip that he made it his business to speak to every single person in the long line of Duke of Edinburgh award scheme winners and others he was meeting. He became a master of small talk and banter. Each person is of course an individual. They have their own interests and points of view. We must make every effort to enable them to flourish to feel valued.
But when using shepherding imagery we need to recognise these individuals are also part of a herd, a flock. The Church of God is a corporate entity. Missing gathering together is something countless people have said to me during the last year. We must make sure when we do gather we do so with a real purpose, which I fear has not always been the case. And Jesus is at pains to say he has a much bigger flock than we might at first think. Who might be the “sheep that are not of this flock/ fold”? People who belong to other churches? (Sometimes we have been a bit prejudiced against those who do not belong to our flock). Or does it mean those people who don’t belong to any church? Because Jesus sets out a vision of one flock with one shepherd. It sounds all-inclusive. No one is left out. Way back in 2003 the Methodist Conference voted for An Anglican-Methodist Covenant. And I was there as a member of the Conference that year. We voted for full organic unity and to remove as a priority the remaining obstacles. We have not progressed much with it. Each church carries on with its own stuff in its own way without much regard to the other party. We probably have added more obstacles rather than working hard at removing the existing ones. And, of course, even that vision is narrow. One flock, one shepherd is surely broader than just Anglicans and Methodists being united. The word oecumenical means literally “the whole inhabited earth”. That is as wide a definition as you can imagine. Prince Philip was one who initiated the work of St George’s House in Windsor which allowed people of different faiths to meet together and dialogue. Hans Kung a Vatican 11 RC theologian has just died at the age of 93. He was kicked out of his chair at Tubingen catholic faculty because he was too radical, but he began a Global Ethics movement with a keen inter-faith dimension based on the premise that there can be no peace in the world unless there is peace between religions. The Good Shepherd is always anxiously striving to bring others into his fold using every means he can to do so. As we re-emerge from lockdown we need to strain every sinew we have to make sure our churches remain outward looking, missional, open to all.
Read Hymns & Psalms 750/457 MHB “Thou Shepherd of Israel and mine”. It is a hymn that invites us to aspire to gather with the other lambs of Christ’s flock on his bosom. Being united in him who is our Shepherd.