SHEEPISH: Great sermon from Father Tucker. Excerpts:

…I’d like to consider this image for a bit and see what it might mean for us in our lives as Christ’s disciples. Christ is our shepherd — our pastor — and we are His sheep. I think, though, that our suburban notion of sheep is a bit off the mark. To most of us, a sheep is a sweet, little animal, all white and fluffy and adorable. It’s almost a teddy bear in the popular imagination. Having grown up in the country, I can assure you that the reality is a different matter altogether.

A sheep is an astoundingly stupid animal. A sheep can’t take care of itself, but has to be led around and protected and kept from wandering off. And a sheep smells bad — at times, worse than a hog. When the Good Lord describes us as a flock of sheep, then, He really isn’t paying us a compliment. He’s simply being honest.

The Church, then, is much like a flock of sheep — dirty, loud, stubborn. And weak.

[clipped]

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