Ezekiel- BCP

So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.

I was speaking with a friend at school two days ago. We were discussing the fact that Heresy does not simply go away but keeps re-emerging. I asked him how he felt about our church with the growing acceptance of what constitutes truth. I asked him how that may effect his ministry. Without blinking an eye he made the causual but profound reply. The mission field begins in the pews.

Ezekiel is called to prophesy against the shepherds. In their gorging themselves on the fruits coming from the sheep themselves (fat, wool) they lost sight of the task at hand. Shepherds are not to cull the heard but shepherd. The judgement is not that shepherds are not supposed to eat but that in their eating and feasting they have lost sight of the sheep and now the sheep are wandering becoming food for all type of wild animals.

How large is the sex trade in the world? How seductive its claims? How easy is it to get lost in the seduction of gratification? How easy to lose sight of the fact that millions are dying of Aids or the other host of other sexually transmitted diseases or the fact that sex often trumps relationship so children are abandoned in the pursuit of greater and greater gratification.

How large is the corporate ladder? How important the paycheck? By making the right moves now a person could make the salary and find himself or herself at the top. By saving every dime and investing it in the market you can protect yourself for a self indulgent retirment. So what if you need to work 80-90 hours a week. So what if persons around you are not making it . So what if communities are being compromised for profits. So what if individual success calls us to lose sight that others (our families, our neighbors, our communities)

Libertarianism, Democracy, Socialism, Communism, Maoists, Republians, federalists, Jihadists, all have their claims. They all if followed will help us be better people. They will help us become the community that will overcome corruption, greed, envy, hate, war, and oppression. Each has its claim the idea that it will bring people to a better life. By following its tenets these human systems will enrich and deliver.

And so the sheep have become scattered. They walk through high mountains and become pray for wild animals. Lost and with out guidance they will seek strange places to lay their heads. They will seek comfort, solace, salvation in lands that willingly offer to take them in. They will be bathed and gloried for entering these lands. Yet will what our scattered sheep find be enough. Will sex and work and politics be enough to sustain the sheep. Will it comfort the sheep in times of crises. Will it lift up the sheep for who they are? Will it love them without seeking anything in return? Will it save?

Yet the shepherds eat losing sight of the sheep. The collar and the stole becoming the very thing that judges us.