Pastoral Education

Today we travelled to Neot Kedumin which means “pleasant pastures of old.” The Holy Land has undergone much change in the past four millennia. The continuous agricultural use of the land, as well as ever-growing consumption of water, has drained the land of its natural resources; some parts of Israel could be accurately described as a man-made desert. Neot Kedumin is a nature preserve that recreates the landscape of the Holy Land as it would have been in biblical times. This is done by only planting trees and plants that are mentioned in the Bible (examples include Olive, Almond, Cedar, and Sycamore trees as well as grapevines, hyssop, date palms, etc…) 

Neot Kedumin is a beautiful place, and our guide showed us things like how olive oil and wine were made in biblical times, and explained the meanings of the agricultural references that Jesus makes in his parables. These explanations and illustrations of the parables really opened our eyes to the Gospel stories in a new way.

The most exciting part of today’s excursion was the hands on experience of pastoral care in action! You might be wondering, “How do you engage in pastoral care while hiking in a nature preserve?” We did it the old fashioned way – with real sheep!

Our guide brought us to a pasture that had both sheep and goats. She divided us into groups and gave us the opportunity to herd the sheep and goats. In turns we had to lead them to certain places in the pasture, to divide the sheep from the goats, and to keep them from scattering or falling off the cliff! This took patience and teamwork but we turned out to be pretty successful shepherds.

What we learned about shepherding is that the sheep want to feel protected. Psalm 23 provides great shepherding advice when it says, “Your rod and your staff give me comfort.” Intimidation or aggressiveness won’t cause the sheep to follow the shepherd (one seminarian commented after our experience “beating them doesn’t work”). We learned that the shepherd does not lead the sheep by standing at the front of the flock. Rather, he stands at the rear and uses the rod and staff to show the sheep their boundaries. Also by standing this way the sheep feel his presence and protection.

This led me to reflect on how the Lord relates to us in our lives. There are times when we wish that we could see God or wish that he would give us some clear sign or direction for us to take. We like specific and certain directions to where we are going. However, this is not always how God relates to us. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is always with us and protecting us, though we may not see him. Following God’s will for us involves taking the initiative of going forward to the green and verdant pastures that are before us and trusting that our God is behind us, directing us, keeping us on the way and protecting us from harm. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul” (Psalm 23).