AUGUST and September in Cumbria is the season of the local agricultural shows. These shows provide opportunities for farmers to display their sheep, cattle and other stock as well as opportunities to share know-how and have a good ‘catch-up.’ For many others, the shows provide opportunities to observe, learn and share in the pleasure that the farming community brings.

The Bible is full of accounts of farming and farmers albeit from a different time and place. Jesus lived surrounded by those who tended their flocks, grew corn and harvested from their vines. He understood their challenges, their experience, their difficulties and their rewards. He made the most of this understanding in his teaching and thus we have parables such as The Sower or The Lost Sheep.

If you attended a local show you have been lucky enough to watch a demonstration by an expert sheep dog handler. You may even have taken the opportunity to attend a local sheep dog trial. There you will have seen man and dog in harmony. I wonder if Jesus had had such an opportunity he might have been inspired to use the analogy in his teaching: Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and us, as the sheepdog, obedient to Him and with a life dedicated to His Service.

Mervyn Hull, St Mary’s Church, Allithwaite.