According to tomorrow’s Lectionary, “As [Jesus] went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34). My impression is that most people now are not lacking in shepherds to guide them. But whether those shepherds can be trusted is another matter. There are all kinds of advantage to be gained from persuading people to see things your way – financial (‘buy this’, ‘buy that’); political, although that may be similar to the first; the affirmation that comes from feeling people are on your side; the desire to fight and win a ‘culture war’; etc..
Even church people like me want to be ‘shepherds’ possibly for selfish reasons. It often seems to me that the church is treated as an engine for compelling a new generation to follow the ways of an earlier generation, and more often than not the new generation will see through that.
So what can I do to see that the ‘great crowds’ are looked after? To feel I can do it is patronising. but what I can do is to point to Jesus. As DT Niles said, “Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where bread is to be found.”