A Good Shepherd

I've been working through the book of John in the Message bible as a personal journey and journal.  There have been a bunch of things I've found interesting but it's been late and I haven't quite decided how to write a public blog on it (yep, believe it or not I don't wear my entire world on my sleeve).

Tonight I came across John 10.11-13.

The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself, sacrifices himself if necessary.  A hired man is not a real shepherd.

The good Shepherd is willing to die for his sheep and puts the sheep before himself. A hired person can’t be that Good Shepherd.

I’m not exactly sure, but somehow this teases my mind about hiring people to do jobs in the church before finding a volunteer who is qualified or willing to be trained to do it. The volunteer does the job because their heart is in it. While that may very often be true of the employee, there will always be a financial piece which makes it easier to think of as a “job” instead of a relationship.

Say the parish decides to cut your salary, or drop the position all together because of financial issues beyond your control.  Do you leave?  Volunteers do the job because they care for the people they are impacting and the God they are serving.  Sometimes I think that gets muddied when money comes in the middle of it.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 10:00 PM