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 The Shepherds Staff.
In the Keyboards for Christ Music Program I incorporate the "Staff" in music in relationship to the Good Shepherd and his Staff. It seems like all the Biblical Heroe's were Shepherds. Moses went from son of Egypt to a humble shepherd in the fields, as did Joseph, David, Noah, they all used the STAFF. The staff was a means of protection and a tool for the Shepherd. The hooked end allowed the shepherd to pull a sheep to safety. In music the Staff is the lines that the notes are placed upon.
I like to give the children Candy Canes for this lesson. It is a part of my STS system to help them remember about the Shepherds staff and the Music Staff. I know there is a story that goes with the candy cane but I dont use it because that is not the purpose of this exercise. We are not trying to teach about the candy cane and what it symbolizes, but the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ and how we should be like the shepherd and how he uses the staff as a tool we also use the staff in music as a tool.
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In the Bible, David, Noah,Moses, they all were Shephard's. It was a common thing to take care of sheep. Sheep were very important in Biblical days. If you remember in the Bible when Jesus was born the SHEPHARDS were in the fields keeping WATCH over their flocks (SHEEP) by night. The shephard cares, protects and loves his flock. He will even give his LIFE for one of them. That is just what JESUS did. He loves us so much and protects and cares for us that he wants us to be with HIM in heaven. So he gave his life for all of us.
A Staff is used in music to place the notes (Numbers) on. But also by a Shepherd to help with the sheep. It is curved so that it can go around the sheep's neck and the shepherd can pull the sheep to safety. The shepherd would give his life for his sheep.
Jesus the Good Shepherd
Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."
Suppose you owned a hundred sheep
And one wandered away when you fell asleep
Wouldn't you leave the rest to find
The one that left. Aren't you inclined
To seek the one that you own
Though you must leave the rest alone
And when you find the sheep off track
What would you do to get him back?
Would you simply hand him a map?
Or perhaps you might try and give him a slap.
No, you would lift him right off his feet
And carry him home all the way down the street.
Rejoicing all the way you go.
Just as God's angels do, you know.
For there is more rejoicing over one who repents
Than over those who simply stayed in the fence
Story about the SHEEP
Not so long ago and in a pasture too uncomfortably close to here, a flock of sheep lived and graze. They were protected by a dog, who answered to the master, but despite his best efforts from time to time, a nearby pack of wolves would prey upon the flock.
One day a group of sheep, bolder than the rest, met to discuss their dilemma. "Our dog is good, and vigilant, but he is one and the wolves are many. The wolves he catches are not always killed, and the master judges and releases may to prey again upon us, for no reason we can understand. What can we do? We are sheep, but we do not wish to be food, too."
One sheep spoke up, saying "It is his teeth and claws that make the wolf so terrible to us. It is his nature to prey, and he would find any way to do it, but it is the tools he wields to make it possible. If we had such teeth, we could fight back, and stop this savagery." The other sheep clamored in agreement, and they went together to the old bones of the dead wolves heaped in the corner of the pasture, and gathered fang and claw and made them into weapons.
That night, when the wolves came, the newly armed sheep sprang up with their weapons and struck at them, crying, "Begone! We are not food!" and drove off the wolves who were astonished. When did sheep become so bold and so dangerous to wolves? When did sheep grow teeth? It was unthinkable!
The next day, flush with victory and waving their weapons, they approached the flock to pronounce their discovery. But as they drew nigh, the flock huddled together and cried out, "Baaaaaaadddd! Baaaaddd things! You have bad things! We are afraid! You are not sheep!"
The rave sheep stopped, amazed. "But we are your brethren!" the cried. "We are still sheep, but we do not wish to be food. See, our new teeth and claws protect us and have saved us from slaughter. They do not make us into wolves, they make us equal to the wolves, and safe from their viciousness!"
"Baaaaaad!" cried the flock, "the things are bad and will pervert you, and we fear them. You cannot bring the into the flock!" So, the armed sheep resolved to conceal their weapons, for although they had no desire the panic the flock, the wished to remain in the fold. But they would not return to those nights of terror, waiting for the wolves to come.
In time, the wolves attacked less often and sought easier prey, for they had no stomach for fighting sheep who possessed tooth and claw even as they did. Not knowing which sheep had fangs and which did not, they came to leave sheep out of their diet almost completely except for the occasional raid, from which more than one wolf did not return.
Then came the day when, as the flock grazed beside the stream, one sheep's weapon slipped from the folds of her fleece, and the flock cried out in terror again, "Baaaad! You still possess these evil things! We must ban you from our presence!"
And so they did. The great chief sheep and his council, encouraged by the words of their advisors, placed signs and totems at the edges of the pasture forbidding the presence of hidden weapons there. The armed sheep protested before the council, saying, "It is our pasture, too, and we have never harmed you! When can you say we have cause you hurt? It is the wolves, not we, who prey upon you. We are still sheep, but we are not food!" But the flock drowned them out with cries of "Baaaaaaaddd! We will not hear your clever words! You and your things are evil and will harm us!"
Saddened by this rejection, the armed sheep moved off and spent their day son the edges of the flock, trying from time to time to speak with their brethren to convince them of the wisdom of having such teeth, but meeting with little success. They found it hard to talk to those who, upon hearing their words, would roll back their eyes and flee, drying "Baaaddd! Bad things!"
That night, the wolves happened upon the sheep's totems and signs, and said, "Truly, these sheep are fools! They have told us they have no teeth! Brothers, let us feed!" And they set upon the flock, and horrible was the carnage in the midst of the fold. The dog fought like a demon, and often seemed to be in two places at once, but even he could not halt the slaughter.
It was only when the other sheep arrived with their weapons that the wolves fled, only to remain on the edge of the pasture and wait for the next time they could prey, for if the sheep were so foolish once, they would be so again. This they did, and do still.
In the morning, the armed sheep spoke to the flock, and said, "See? If the wolves know you have no teeth, they will fall upon you. Why be prey? To be a sheep does not mean to be food for wolves!" But the flock cried out, more feebly for their voices were fewer, though with no less terror, "Baaaddd! These things are bad! If they were banished, the wolves would not harm us! Baaaaaaadd!"
So they resolved to retain their weapons, but to conceal them from the flock, to endure their fear and loathing, and even to protect their brethren if the need arose, until the day the flock learned to understand that as longs as there were wolves in the night, sheep would need teeth to repel them.
They would still be sheep, but they would not be food!
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