What kind of image do you associate with "the Lord is my shepherd"? Does your mind's eye more readily identify with the identity of "sheep" or "shepherd?" What are the responsibilities of sheep and of shepherds? What is expected of us?

Have you ever been troubled by the biblical injunction that calls for separating the sheep from the goats? The problem with the analogy is that we know from many other texts (such as this week's) that Christians should strive to be counted among the sheep. Goats, with their wicked eyes and wily ways (there is yet to be invented a fence which can successfully contain a goat), are the lost, the unredeemed. But being identified as a sheep is hardly complimentary. The meek and mild nature of a "sheep-like" person is rarely admired.

And sheep are notoriously st…