9.30.2008

"the sheep follow him, for they know his voice"



I want to use this favorite Taizé song (Greek for "Lord, have mercy") in worship Sunday, with these lines from Psalm 81:

In distress you called, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder...

Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!

I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.

But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would have none of me.
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.

O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.

I want to focus on listening to God's voice, as both a source of guidance and our basis for unity (as opposed to the usual organizational structures and decision-making). I'll also use Jesus' image of the sheep recognizing and following the shepherd's voice:
The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice...

I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd. (Jn 10.3-4,14-16)