While in Bozeman, MT my husband and I visited an alpaca farm. Holding a 6-week-old “a cria” (Spanish for baby alpaca and pronounced CREE-uh) and walking alongside “a macho” (that one I think you can figure out), I wondered what it would be like to be a shepherdess of these funny looking creatures whose primary job, according to the farm owner, is “to look cute, be friendly to the tourists, and give up their soft fleece once a year during the shearing season.” I wondered how different that would be than the calling of being a pastor, serving as a shepherd of God’s faithful flock. Maybe I’ll find out one day after retiring from parish ministry.
From 10 feet elevation in Miami to 5,000 plus in Glacier National Park in Montana, across the Mojave Desert in Nevada to the coastline of San Luis Obispo in California, the month of July was filled with much travel and lots of wonderful family time.Through it all, the presence of God was felt, the soul refreshed, and the gift of life celebrated.
In the meantime, Psalm 23 speaks into my wonderment. My prayer is to remain faithful to the task of leading God’s people to the still waters of life that refresh the spirit, urging them to lay down and find rest in the pastures of Divine grace, guiding them along right pathways for our Lord’s sake, and reassuring them that, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need not fear any evil, for God is with us. In our continued ministry together here at St. Thomas, may goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our life as we dwell in the house of the Lord, now and forever.
Blessings in the name of the One who is our rod and our staff and comforts us with eternal love, Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd.
Sharing in Christ’s ministry,
Pastor Wynemah +
The Rev. Wynemah Hinlicky
St. Thomas Lutheran Church