Daily Scripture: 1 Peter 5:2 shepherd the flock of God that is in your care, exercising oversight not out of constraint, but willingly, as God wants; and not out of a desire for dishonest gain, but with enthusiasm; 3 also not as machers domineering over those in your care, but as people who become examples to the flock. 4 Then, when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive glory as your unfading crown.
5 Likewise, you who are less experienced, submit to leaders. Further, all of you should clothe yourselves in humility toward one another, because
God opposes the arrogant,
but to the humble he gives grace.[1 Peter 5:5 Proverbs 3:34]
6 Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that at the right time he may lift you up. 7 Throw all your anxieties upon him, because he cares about you.
Reflection Questions:
Peter wrote a stirring call for all of God’s people. He had learned the hard way how vital it is to bring all our anxieties to God in trusting prayer. He had seen the risen Lord, victorious over death after terrible suffering. He called all, leaders and followers, to live with humility before God and toward one another. If humbling yourself triggers feelings of fear in you, you can trust your anxieties to God, “because he cares about you.”- The CEB Study Bible noted that “Humility was most often associated with status categories (humble versus high status). It wasn’t considered a virtue in Greek and Roman circles. Peter’s encouragement, then, goes against cultural expectations.” Down deep, under certain behavioral veneers, does our culture consider humility a virtue? How easy or hard do you find it to humble yourself with other people, and with God?
- When you think about the future, whether that future is distant and abstract at your stage of life or whether it seems to be “right around the corner,” what are some of the questions that trigger anxiety in your heart? What does it mean (or what would it mean) for you to “throw all your anxiety” onto God? How deeply are you able to believe that, at every stage of life, God cares for you? In what parts of life, if any, is it still hard for you to trust that?
Ginger Rothhaas is a seminary student at Saint Paul School of Theology and is serving in Congregational Care at The Church of the Resurrection.
Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving to you! Are you on a couch reading this and enjoying a day off? Are you enjoying a “jammies day” like my family? Maybe you are in line at a Black Friday sale. If so, good idea for your approach to stress management—reading Scripture while you wait!!
I spent Thanksgiving on a sheep ranch in Alma, Kansas with family yesterday. My aunts, uncles, and parents host the annual reunion, rotating each year between a sheep ranch in Alma, an exotic animal farm in Nickerson, and a cattle ranch near Cottonwood Falls.
I couldn’t make that up—it’s true! Welcome to my wacky family!!
The holiday at the sheep ranch has always been one of my favorites. This is lambing season. That means that babies are born the week of Thanksgiving! As a kid, I would look forward to seeing about 1,200 brand new baby lambs with their mamas. I could spend hours in the pens with them, observing, petting, holding, dodging protective mamas, and bottle-feeding the orphans.
As an adult, and theology student, I can’t help but think of the Biblical metaphor of God as a shepherd when I’m on the sheep ranch. It’s vivid imagery to me as I watch the behavior of sheep and the work of the shepherd.
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
The words in bold type are the ones I really pay attention to as a mother, teacher, and caregiver. Peter continues with inspiring advice and then really gets our attention with this:
Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
And finally, here’s the real challenge:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
As I watched my uncle Alan, the sheep rancher, care for the orphaned lambs, I learned the meaning of this Scriptural metaphor. As the shepherd of this flock, Alan would watch over the orphans in those first critical hours. He would willingly feed them around the clock and eagerly keep them warm in November chill. He was an example to me of how to give love so that they didn’t realize they had lost their mama. He humbly cared for these orphans despite his own loss of comfort, sleep, and warmth.
And those orphaned lambs? They had no anxiety. They were cared for and didn’t worry about how they would survive. They knew it would all be okay. They had a shepherd.
God does all of this for us.
During this busy season in our society, let’s remember that we are cared for, loved unconditionally, and will be given everything we need.
No need for anxiety.
We have a Shepherd.
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Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving to you! Are you on a couch reading this and enjoying a day off? Are you enjoying a “jammies day” like my family? Maybe you are in line at a Black Friday sale. If so, good idea for your approach to stress management—reading Scripture while you wait!!
I spent Thanksgiving on a sheep ranch in Alma, Kansas with family yesterday. My aunts, uncles, and parents host the annual reunion, rotating each year between a sheep ranch in Alma, an exotic animal farm in Nickerson, and a cattle ranch near Cottonwood Falls.
I couldn’t make that up—it’s true! Welcome to my wacky family!!
The holiday at the sheep ranch has always been one of my favorites. This is lambing season. That means that babies are born the week of Thanksgiving! As a kid, I would look forward to seeing about 1,200 brand new baby lambs with their mamas. I could spend hours in the pens with them, observing, petting, holding, dodging protective mamas, and bottle-feeding the orphans.
As an adult, and theology student, I can’t help but think of the Biblical metaphor of God as a shepherd when I’m on the sheep ranch. It’s vivid imagery to me as I watch the behavior of sheep and the work of the shepherd.
Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
The words in bold type are the ones I really pay attention to as a mother, teacher, and caregiver. Peter continues with inspiring advice and then really gets our attention with this:
Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
And finally, here’s the real challenge:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
As I watched my uncle Alan, the sheep rancher, care for the orphaned lambs, I learned the meaning of this Scriptural metaphor. As the shepherd of this flock, Alan would watch over the orphans in those first critical hours. He would willingly feed them around the clock and eagerly keep them warm in November chill. He was an example to me of how to give love so that they didn’t realize they had lost their mama. He humbly cared for these orphans despite his own loss of comfort, sleep, and warmth.
And those orphaned lambs? They had no anxiety. They were cared for and didn’t worry about how they would survive. They knew it would all be okay. They had a shepherd.
God does all of this for us.
During this busy season in our society, let’s remember that we are cared for, loved unconditionally, and will be given everything we need.
No need for anxiety.
We have a Shepherd.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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