The Good Shepherd: Planned Song Service

All people that on Earth do dwell

Reading 1: The Great Shepherd

For thousands of years, sheep have provided mankind with clothing, food, and shelter. Now sheep are slow and weak: hardly bright enough to sneak up on a blade of grass without help, and helpless against lions, bears, foxes, or even large eagles. They need to be led to food and water; they need constant care. They are not difficult to care for: a child can do it. So, for hundreds of generations, young boys have spent times watching the family flock--unconsciously learning lessons in duty, care, courage, and self-sacrifice: concepts essential for the understanding of God and "true religion."
The Bible describes our relationship to God by metaphor, parable, analogy: which are different ways of saying, “God is like ...” something that we understand. Very often, God is like the
Ps 80: ¹... Shepherd of Israel,; Who leads Joseph like a flock,
Isa 40: ¹¹He tends his flock like a shepherd:; He gathers the lambs in his arms; and carries them close to his heart;; He gently leads those that have young.
and Jesus is the
Heb 13: ²⁰Great Shepherd of the flock.
This metaphor explains God's care for us so that a child could understand; it provides an important picture of the Eternal Plan of Redemption; it defines the attitudes we should have toward each other, and the way we treat each other. Even to the full-grown Christian, knowledgeable in the subtleties of divine truth, this simple picture remains the most important pattern for leadership in the church.

O Come and Let Us Worship Him

Reading 2: "Shepherd of Israel and Mine"

Psa 78: ⁵²God brought his people out like a flock;; He led them like sheep through the desert.; ⁵³He guided them safely, so they were not afraid;; but the sea engulfed their enemies.; ⁷⁰He chose David his servant and took him from the folds;; ⁷¹from tending the sheep he brought him to be; the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.; ⁷²And David tended them with integrity of heart;; with skillful hands he led them.
Ezek 34: ²Thus says the Lord Jehovah: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only tend themselves! Should not shepherds tend the flock? ³You eat the curds, wear the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but do not tend the flock. ⁴You have not strengthened the weak, or healed the sick, or bound up the injured, or brought back the strays, or searched for the lost; but you have ruled them harshly and brutally. ⁵So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and became prey for all the wild animals. ⁶My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my flock was scattered over the whole earth, and no one noticed, or searched for them.”; ⁷Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah: ⁸“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord Jehovah, “because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become prey for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but tended themselves rather than for my flock,” ⁹therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah: ¹⁰Thus says the Lord Jehovah: “I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that they can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.” ¹¹For thus says the Lord Jehovah: “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. ¹²As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and gloom. ¹³I will bring them out from the nations, and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and in all the settlements in the land. ¹⁴I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down,” declares the Lord Jehovah. ¹⁶"I will search for the lost, and bring back the strays, and bind up the injured, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice."

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need
(alternative 1)

The Lord my Shepherd is
(alternative 2)

⁴While he affords his aid,

I cannot yield to fear.

Though I should walk through death's dark shade,

My shepherd's with me there.

⁵In sight of all my foes

Thou dost a table spread;

My cup with blessings overflows,

And joy exalts my head;

⁶The bounties of thy love

Shall crown my following days;

Nor from thy house will I remove,

Nor cease to speak thy praise.

The Lord's My Shepherd
(alternative 3

Savior, Like a Shepherd lead us

Reading 3: The Shepherd's Suffering

Luke 15: ⁴Which one of you, owning a hundred sheep, if he lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost sheep until he found it? ⁵And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders. ⁶and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” ⁷I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
Mark 6: ³⁴Jesus saw a large crowd, and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.
Isa 53: ³He was despised and rejected by men,; a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.; Like one from whom men hide their faces; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.; ⁴Surely he took up our infirmities; and carried our sorrows,; yet we considered him stricken by God,; smitten by him, and afflicted.; ⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions,; he was crushed for our iniquities;; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,; and by his wounds we are healed.; ⁶We all, like sheep, have gone astray,; each of us has turned to his own way;; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Song by Paul Gerhardt: ¹Ah, Holy Jesus, how hast Thou offended,; That man to judge Thee hath in hate pretended?; By foes derided, by Thine own rejected,; O most afflicted!; ²Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon Thee?; Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone Thee!; 'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied Thee,; I crucified Thee.; ³Lo, the good shepherd for the sheep is offered,; The slave hath sinned, and the Son hath suffered,; For man's atonement, while he nothing heedeth,; God intercedeth.

The Ninety and Nine

Sweeter as the Years Go By

Reading 4: The Shepherd's Flock

John 10: ²Jesus said, “The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger; they run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice. ...; ⁸All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ...; ¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away; and the wolf snatches and scatters them. ¹³He runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. ¹⁵and I lay down my life for the sheep. ...; ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”
Ezek 34: ¹⁷As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord Jehovah: “I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. ¹⁸Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?” ²⁰Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah to them: “See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away, ²²I will rescue my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.”

Footprints of Jesus

(additional verse): ^1aThough they lead o'er the cold dark mountains,; seeking His sheep,; Or along by Siloam's fountains,; Helping the weak:

Fear Not, Little Flock

Reading 5: The Shepherd's Example

1 Pet 5: ¹To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ²Be shepherds of God's flock that is around you, serving as overseers--not being compelled, but voluntarily, not greedy for money, but eager to serve; ³not domineering those entrusted to you, but becoming examples to the flock.
Acts 20: ²⁸Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. ²⁹I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. ³⁰And even from among yourselves, men will rise and distort the truth, to draw away disciples after them. ³¹So be on guard!
1 Pet 5: ⁴And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Bring Them In

Seeking the Lost

Reading 6: The Shepherd's Call

Humans are not sheep, although in ethical and religious matters, we need leadership just as badly: surely, as Jeremiah said,
Jer 10: ²¹A man's way is not within himself:; It is not in a man who walks to direct his steps.
But we must choose our shepherd, and we choose whether to follow--or not.
Hosea 4: ¹⁶Hosea exclaimed, The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can Jehovah shepherd them like lambs in a meadow?
John 10: ²⁶Jesus told the Jews,You do not believe because you are not my sheep.; ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
Would you hear the Shepherd's call today? Those who follow have the eternal promise:
Rev 7: ¹⁷The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.
Or if, having chosen the faithful shepherd,
1 Pet 2: ²⁵you have like sheep again gone astray, would you now return to the Shepherd and Overseer of your soul?
Come, while we stand and sing.

O Thou, In Whose Presence
(alternative 1)

Jesus, the Loving Shepherd
(alternative 2)

Notes

Structure

This plan is structured around the observation expressed by G. B. Caird in The Language and Imagery of the Bible, p. 177-178:

Man begins with the familiar situations of home and community and derives from them metaphors to illuminate the activity of God; but the application of these terms to God establishes ideal and absolute standards which can be used as instruments for the remaking of man in God's likeness. Man is created to become like God, and the ultimate justification of anthropomorphic imagery lies in the contribution it makes to the attainment of that goal.

I used my own topical Bible and Hymn references (Shepherd and Shepherds), and added some connections from Kenneth E. Bailey's Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.

The sources may claim some originality; the plan itself unfolded very simply from the sources.

Song Choices

The subtitle "Shepherd of Israel and Mine" is the beginning of a famous hymn by Charles Wesley, not available in our books. The reading, "O, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended?" is a very famous hymn by Paul Gebhardt, a German reformer, also not in our books.

The first two songs are drawn directly from psalms that include the "shepherd" motif as a side note. They serve to indicate the ubiquity of the theme in the Bible.

Psalm 23 is well represented in the hymnals. I ordered the choices by ascending familiarity. Note that most of these songs are very familiar: and if all the songs are familiar to the congregation, an important goal of these plans has not been achieved. The selection should take into account the musical background of the congregation. In a very weak congregation, "Orlington" may be the only possibility; in a stronger congregation one might even consider singing "Ah, Holy Jesus, How Hast Thou Offended?" and using "O Thou, In Whose Presence" as an invitation song.