Thought for the Day-The Great Shepherd of the Sheep

The Good Shepherd by John Kohan

A Thought for the Day given at the lunchtime service of Holy Communion at 11am on Wednesday 21st August 2024 at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on the text of Ezekiel 34.1–11 and inspired by the anniversary of the foundation of the World Council of Churches.

This week in the year 1948 at a conference in Amsterdam, the World Council of Churches was founded.

A grouping of Protestant and Orthodox Churches with delegates from the Roman Catholic Church attending as observers, today the WCC has 352 member churches claiming to represent 500 million people - including members of the worldwide Anglican Communion, like us. The aim of the World Council of Churches is to call its members towards visible unity through worship and service.

Criticised by some as a left wing organisation, a hotbed of Soviet spies during the Cold War and for having an anti Israel stance in issues of Middle East politics, few can find fault in the major achievement of the organisation - the publication of its document titled ‘Baptism, the Eucharist and Ministry.’ Approved by members of the WCC at its meeting in Lima in 1982, the paper sets out where churches agree - and where they disagree - on these fundamental areas of belief and practice. As a result, whether you are baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in a Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant church - you are recognised as being baptised.

The mission of the WCC is inspired by Christ’s call that we might all be one as he is one with the Father. This hope for unity through God is the message of today’s passage from the Book of Ezekiel.

The start of the final, hopeful, section of the book, which foretells the period after the second siege and destruction of Jerusalem.

In one of the more easily understood metaphors in this unusual and dramatic text, many of which God directs Ezekiel to act out in the streets of Babylon - like a performance at the Edinburgh Fringe - he prophesises against the shepherds - or leaders - of the time. Leaders who have been feeding off their people - rather than feeding them. Taking everything - even shirts off their backs. Filling their own coffers while the people were left destitute.

The result?

The people were scattered. Fragmented. Dispersed. As they sought sustenance and security elsewhere. Even God had left the temple - going into exile with his people.

The selfish leadership witnessed by Ezekiel led to breakdown. The collapse of trust and respect. A fragmentation of society where sectional interests rather than the good of the whole reigns supreme.

God’s response is to condemn the shepherds - or leaders - and to become the shepherd himself. Redeeming his people and bringing them together. Healing this broken world.

As we remember the foundation of the World Council of Churches and hear the prophecy of Ezekiel this week, may we reflect on which model of leadership we embody and support - that of unity or division; as we engage with the powerful actors of our own age.

Let us all find the courage to act in the interest of unity and the common good - as we follow in the footsteps of the one who died to save us all.

Image : The Good Shepherd, by John Kohan