NOTES: 1] Jesus' shepherding imagery needs to be re-interpreted into our local scene). 2] Shepherds in that day were not well regarded.That some were invited to the manger is a sign of  God's inclusiveness. God & the Messiah are often pictured as shepherds in the Hebrew Bible, & bad rulers, civil & religious, pilloried in its pages as faithless, unreliable shepherds.

WARMING UP: Do we know what the going price for wool is these days?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identified God at work in anything that's happened since last week's Group?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:
1-6        Today, when most of us have no contact with sheep, shepherds, sheep pens or gates, even wool, is 'sheep pen' imagery still useful? If we think it still is, what connection can we see between this story of a shepherd & our life today? Do we still have some strong feeling of God protecting us? Who, or what's trying to break through what to get at us? Is it just criminals? Is it too soft an option just to leave it at 'the devil'? What is it they're after? (Don't dismiss that one too quickly!) On another tack, does Jesus really have free & unhindered access to us as 'one of his sheep'?

Is it just too simplistic for people like us to think of ourselves as 'sheep'? Aren't sheep supposed to be silly creatures? Doesn't that kind of thinking simply give more ammunition to our critics & enemies? In day to day life with all its complications, can we say we really hear the voice of Jesus calling us like Jesus calls his sheep by name? Are there too many other attractions for us to hear his voice over them? Such as? How do we recognize Jesus' voice today? Or is that too pious, too hymn-booky?

Can we say we understand what Jesus is on about any more than those who didn't get it back then?

7-10     Is 'gate', or 'door' imagery any more helpful than 'sheep' imagery? If we believe it is helpful, can we share what we mean, how we feel about it? In what way(s) does Jesus a) keep us safe? b) stop us from getting lost? c) give us freedom to come & go as we need?

Are there still 'thieves & robbers' abroad - in the sense that Jesus means - right here & now? In what sense does he mean it? Are there categories of people we should think of as 'Thief', 'Robber', etc., or is to think like that to be a 'bad Christian'? Isn't it wrong to label people? What might it mean today for us to have our life taken away by one of these false leaders? Does it necessarily mean that we literally die physically?

Have we yet discovered what it is to 'have life' & 'have it to the full' as Jesus offers? Is there any sense in which you are still among the living dead? How would you explain all this to someone asking what Jesus is talking about?