My Final Paper!

Lisette Langdorf
Bible as Lit Term Paper
December 8, 2009



Feed my Sheep

For this final paper I’ve decided to pick the topic what I know now that I didn’t already know. As you know, this past summer I was a counselor at Flathead Lutheran Bible camp. I am a religious person. I love talking about God, and the bible. When it came to having to decide what I was going to do for this final paper I had some thinking to do. As I was doing some research on my topic I came across a poem that Henry David Thoreau wrote about a shepherd watching his sheep. I thought that this poem was revenant because we talk about the shepherd and his sheep. God is the shepherd and we, his people are the sheep. But in a sense Dr. Sexson in our shepherd, and we the classmates are the sheep.

Psalm 23 is the famous shepherd passage. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalms 23:1). We the people are the sheep and God is our shepherd. By being in this class I’ve came to the conclusion that Dr. Sexson is our shepherd and we are his sheep. A shepherd loves and cares for his sheep. He watches them closely, protects them from danger and makes sure that they have enough to eat and drink. The Thoreau poem suggests that the shepherd watches his sheep, and that the sheep keep the shepherd company. The shepherd learns and talks with his sheep. Much like the activities we do in class. We have class discussions that the shepherd leads, but the sheep are able to put in their input and opinions. The sheep bring up good points that the shepherd will sit and ponder later. Each one of the sheep has something to offer the shepherd, from the bible thumper to the Jewish boy.

Each sheep is different in their own way. There is the black haired sheep, the sheep who sits outside of the pack, and the creative sheep. From the black haired sheep the shepherd learns to relate the bible to music, how music is inspired by the bible. The different abstract pieces of music, represents a different story from bible. The shepherd gets technological in site from the sheep that is outside of the pack. Who knew that he could shoot a whole movie on his ipod Nano. The creative sheep provides the shepherd with pictures and drawings of topics that have interested him. With every new blog that Dr. Sexson reads from his sheep, is a new in site that gets on his sheep and, how they are thinking about the bible. Then when he brings up our blogs to talk about in class, it shows that the Shepherd has learned something from his sheep. And he wants to spread the good word.

Each one of his sheep is a part of the shepherd. If the sheep struggle, so does the shepherd. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalms 23:4). The shepherd will stand by his sheep. He is there to love and guide them through life. He will never leave their side. If one of Dr. Sexson’s sheep is doing poor in his class, he is there to reassure them that they are other chances to bring the grade up.

“You prepare a table before me” (Psalms 23: 5). But the sheep prepare the table for the shepherd, by their blogs. Each blog that is posted is a different story, opinion, and feeling about the bible. These blogs present a topic to talk about in class. When the blogs are brought up in class it shows that the shepherd has been inspired by his seep.

The Thoreau poem represents the love the shepherd has for his sheep. Day after day the shepherd watches his sheep. But it never gets old for him; he enjoys what the day brings. “Did hourly feed him by” (Thoreau 1881). The sheep keep him company. The sheep fed the shepherd by inspiring the shepherd’s thoughts, and the shepherd didn’t just feed the sheep. The sheep satisfy the shepherds need for love and compassion. The shepherd has no words, or measurements just love and compassion for his sheep. “Held his thoughts as high” (1881). The shepherd has a confident attitude about watching his sheep and thinking. He is confident in himself, and he has no worries with just him and his sheep, his sheep are his first priority.
Prior to this class I did not really understand what Thoreau was saying about his sheep. But as the days went on in this class I began to understand the passion a shepherd has for his sheep, how much passion that Dr. Sexson has for his sheep. On the second day of class he knew his sheep’s entire name. He knew that he was the shepherd for the sheep and that it was his responsibility to help and guide his sheep through the Literature of the Bible. He accepted each one of his sheep, no matter how different they were from the next.

The shepherd knows that he cannot live life twice so he makes the most of his day. Spending his day thinking sensitively with his sheep. The shepherd may not have had a very glorious life, living with his sheep, and everything he does is with his sheep. But it is his life and he loves it. “There was a shepherd that did live” (1881). The shepherd loves his sheep. He is with his thoughts, and his sheep, in a beautiful creation. The shepherd gets the satisfaction in his life by being with his sheep. “Did hourly feed him by” (1881). The shepherd loves his life just the way it is. “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.”

When I was at camp this summer I was considered the sheep. Not until I thought about this topic did I realize that I was the shepherd to my campers. I was there to love and guide them just as Dr. Sexson is there for his sheep. “He leads me beside still waters.” Dr. Sexson represents a shepherd who is watching over his sheep, in this instance they are his students. He thinks so highly of his sheep, and wants to see them succeed.

At the bottom of this paper I have enclosed the poem that has inspired my topic. Dr. Sexson is not just a teacher. He is a Shepherd that is passionate about his profession of guiding his sheep. Being in this class has made me think that there are so many different kinds of shepherds. Some may be religious while others aren’t. Regardless of who they are, they are there to help their sheep along.

“There was a shepherd that did live,
And held his thoughts as high
As were the mounts whereon his flocks
Did hourly feed him by” (Thoreau 1881).


Sources
The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Henry David Thoreau,. Walden, Where I lived, and What I Lived For. 6th. B. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2009
The New Adventure Bible. Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1996, 23rd Psalm