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Good morning. Jesus described himself to his friends as well as to those who were suspicious of him, in multiple ways. I am the Gate. I am the Way. I am the Truth. Perhaps looking sideways at the clergy of his day he said, I am the Good Shepherd – and you can’t help but wonder if this might have pricked the conscience of some, whose calling to be the spiritual shepherds of the flock wasn’t all it might have been. 
The Bible uses the idea of sheep and shepherds a lot, and people are repeatedly spoken of as like a flock, in need of care, protection and direction. Arguably the best known of all the Psalms speaks of God as like a shepherd to us. And this resonates. I think of a school friend of mine who died far too young, and who in the final weeks of his life began a conversation with me about this very thing. What could it possibly mean to have God as your shepherd as death approaches? I think of a post-graduate student in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. She was an atheist, but had agreed one Sunday to be my translator as I preached on this theme in a local church – not long after the ending of communist rule in her country. She interrupted me in mid-flow to question whether God could care for us personally like a shepherd cares for his sheep. And yet this rests at the heart of what we understand the church to be. A people, cared for, pursued when they are lost, protected when they are vulnerable, and brought home to a place of safety by a Shepherd who knows their needs best of all. 
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Amen.