When I think of shepherds I imagine shepherds just like the ones that I read about in the Bible. I can imagine other things like nice dogs, shepherd's pie but when I close my eyes, I see those men in front of me with their rod and their packed lunch. What do you think of when you hear the word shepherd? Shepherds were watching over their flocks, day and night. Same kind of routine, leading their sheep, keeping them safe, watching over them, continuing to count. Run after a sheep that has got lost. I read somewere that Shepherds were not treated with all the dignity and respect many other professions had. In fact, it was above the lowest common denominator in the ancient world. Some said about shepherds, "you hope your daughter wouldn't marry one". If something got missing, people used to say: Check with the shepherds they might "have" it. To be a shepherd was, lonely, cold at night, not well paid and dirty. One cold and lonely night in the
Living in a city as I am, in Malmo, Sweden, it feels natural to talk about bridges.In the year 2000 we got a bridge over the Sound to Copenhagen, Denmark. A bridge between two nations once fighting each other, now connected.We need to continue to build bridges, between different cultures, ideas, people etc. These bridges are harder to build but necessary in the society we have today.We need these bridges in order to reach people with the "Good news"