SermonStudio

In our Bible story for today someone asked Jesus which commandment was the greatest. He said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "

That love comes from God. Jesus called God the "good shepherd."

There was a good shepherd with a flock full of sheep

Who took them to pasture where they could eat.

He watched them through day and he watched them through sleep.

But one was mischievous and wandered away,

So he gathered the others and told them to stay.

And all through the nighttime he searched and he searched.

Then he prayed, "Dear God of the lonely, the least and the lost,

Help me remember and not count the cost,

To love and look after the sheep that has strayed."

And all through the night the good shepherd prayed.

Then with the daylight the good shepherd found

The little, lost lamb, his foot caught under a rock,

And rejoicing, returned the lost lamb to the flock.

Sometimes I'm like that lost lamb too,

Scared or lonely and don't know what to do.

Then God, the Good Shepherd, calls out to me,

And rejoicing, returns me to God's family.

Talk together: After poetry, sometimes we are silent and simply pray.

Prayer: Dear Shepherd, find me and fill me with love so I may love others, as you love me. Amen.