Thoughts for the Day

God the True Shepherd

For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

'Mary Slessor was born into a working-class, Presbyterian family in Aberdeen in 1848. As a child in Dundee, she was enthralled by stories of missions in Africa. For years, she read diligently as she worked in the mills, and eventually in 1875, was accepted as a teacher for the mission in Calabar, Nigeria. Her fluency in the local language, physical resilience and lack of pretension endeared her to those to whom she ministered. She adopted unwanted children, particularly twins who would otherwise, according to superstition, have been put to death. She was influential in organising trade and settling disputes, contributing much to the development of the Okoyong people with whom she later settled. She died in Africa, on this day in 1915.' (Exciting Holiness)

Today people are all too apt to slate missionaries blaming them for many problems, and dismissing all the good they accomplished. Many humble missionaries like Mary Slessor lived and died among the people whom they served, seeking to take the word of God to them, and to carry out His work in that place. The flourishing of Christianity now in countries like Africa is based on the solid foundations that they established.

Our reading comes from Ezekiel, who was exiled in Babylon (593 to 571 BCE). He had a vision of God as the ultimate Shepherd. Just as a shepherd sought his own sheep on the mountain-tops, rescuing them from danger, binding up their wounds, and making sure they had access to food and water, so does God act towards us! This is the model that Mary Slessor sought to copy in her work in Africa, and it is this model that each of us must learn to emulate in our life.

Collect for a Missionary

Almighty God,
whose servant Mary Slessor carried the good news
of Your Son to the people of West Africa:
grant that we who commemorate her service
may know the hope of the gospel in our hearts
and manifest its light in all our ways;
through Jesus Christ Your Son, our Lord.
Amen.