Look Ahead to Good Shepherd Sunday

Adapted from an article written by John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, published on the institute’s website and used with permission. 

During the past month in this surreal, upside-down world, Christian churches have been scrambling to minister in times of anxiety, fear, and—in some places—especially intense trauma.

Throughout Lent and for much of that period, we were looking ahead toward Easter. But, because of the COVID-19 situation, Easter passed without our being fully able to appreciate it.

Now, in the shadow of Easter, I pray for deep, Sabbath-like rest for all pastors, musicians, artists, and liturgical technical coordinators who had been working creatively and resourcefully to prepare for Easter services that were canceled or had to be largely adapted to an online setting that followed social-distancing guidelines.

So perhaps it can be a gift to once again look ahead, to set our sights on another milestone.

Here’s a proposal: as we move together toward Ascension Day and Pentecost, let’s set our sights on May 3, 2020: Good Shepherd Sunday.

Christian traditions that follow the most common lectionaries typically mark the fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday) with Bible readings from Psalm 23, John 10, and other texts that help us envision the compelling image of the risen Lord as our Good Shepherd. How we need this now!

Truly, the Lord is our Shepherd even in the valley of the shadow of death. Truly, the Lord leads us beside still waters—even, surprisingly, when the waters of chaos are all around. Truly, the Lord sets a table for us—even when we behold the mystery of our Lord’s Supper communion online.

So find some bookmarks and place them in your Bible at Psalm 23 and John 10. Search for the most compelling shepherd references throughout your Bible—in Jeremiah and 1 Peter and more.

As time allows, ponder these questions: Which musical setting of Psalm 23 is your heart song? (Or which five are your top contenders?) Which icons and images paint the picture of the Good Shepherd in ways that resist sentimentality and open up new dimensions of awareness and gratitude?

Over at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship website for church resources in a COVID-shaped world, we look forward to sharing several resources for Good Shepherd Sunday, including several about musical settings of Psalm 23.

Also, the institute has curated a wide range of resources that help us celebrate Christ as our shepherd.

Look for posts on hymns by Michael Hawn, choral music by music by Pearl Shangkuan and more. For starters, see these family devotions by Bob and Laura Keeley based on Psalm 23.

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship supports and collaborates with Preachingandworship.org. Visit this site for more than 1,000 resources tagged "Good Shepherd Sunday" — resources from and reports about a wide range of Christian worshiping communities, updated daily.

All of these are good resources showing us how to observe Good Shepherd Sunday in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. So let’s pause, take a breath, and look ahead, with the help of these resources, to the Sunday marking Jesus as our Good Shepherd.