Sermon: Psalm 23

Sermon: Psalm 23

              “It seems like we only get together like this at funerals.”

              I don’t know how many times, as a Pastor, I’ve heard that phrase.

              At the same time—I’d imagine funeral goers could flip that around in a way, “It seems like I only hear Psalm 23 preached at funerals.”

              And there is a good reason for it—it is THE Psalm of Comfort.

              It reminds us that God was present with the person who has died, that their whole life was shot through with God’s presence… and for good measure those who mourn are reminded that the same is true for them.

              Additionally, there is that promise of being shepherded through the Shadow of Death and finding a dwelling place with the Lord Forever…

              These are all deeply important promises—they are also promises we Christians ought to be reminded of on the other side of the funeral pall as well… Psalm 23 is for the living too… Psalm 23 is for us here and now—for the living as well as for the dead.

Let us pray

              The Lord is our Shepherd—the one who calls us by name, the one whose voice brings us comfort and awe—Jesus Christ… is God meeting us! God continually meets us in Jesus.

              The Book of Revelation makes this point in a twofold way, it does this strange thing with the Throne of God…
…you see it and there is God, then there is the Lamb, then there is God
It also tells us a paradoxical truth, the Lamb is the Shepherd.

              The Gospel of John makes a similar point by saying it plain, “I and the Father are one.”
              That one, Jesus whom we love and trust, Jesus who is our sibling and our friend—through him we see and know God—we can begin to grasp that the Lord is our Shepherd.

              Grasp as well that when we talk about salvation—what God has done for us through Jesus—that we are saved for this life too…
called to a full life,
an abundant life,
a life of meaning and joy
a life worth savoring!

              You know why “Keep the Sabbath” makes the 10 commandments? Because otherwise we would miss the green pastures and still waters the Shepherd kindly leads us to on account of our many labors and distractions.

              Now, E.B. White, once wrote, “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”

              That first impulse, saving the world—that’s part of God’s guiding too, part of following along right pathways.

              We are called to follow our Lord. This is the ongoing story in the book of Acts—the Early Church continually acts faithfully… to a point and then call it good—but the Holy Spirit refuses to let them be, instead it prompts them forward in faith, to act like Jesus—Peter raises a woman from the dead in Acts just as Jesus did in Luke—he’s being the Body of Christ in the World, which is what we are!

              The salvation we are given by Christ is not something to be horded or guarded, but instead given away, salvation is multiplied by being divided! We are to open our hands and our hearts to everyone—just as Christ our Lord has done for us and for the whole world!

             

              And then we get to the crux of it all, here in verse 4—there are 26 words before it and 26 words after it—it is the smack dab center of Psalm 23, and the center of the faith.

              “You are with me.”

              “You are with me.”

              “You are with me.”

              This is why we call Jesus “Emmanuel” which means “God with us.”

              This is why St. Patrick prayed that powerful prayer:

“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, 
Christ on my right, Christ on my left, 
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, 
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, 
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, 
Christ in the eye that sees me, 
Christ in the ear that hears me. “

              What if we were aware of God’s presence
—aware of the way Jesus is always with us
—aware that at this very moment the Holy Spirit is here with you—right now!

              Right now in your neighbor next to you, right now in the scripture you read, right now in the words of my mouth, right now in the holy meal we will eat and drink, right now!

              God present with us in adversity as well, after all when we look for God dwelling among us, where do we find God? On the Cross.

              Even when we are surrounded by enemies—in our lowest moments, comfort and balm are on offer by God.

              Lost in all the weird imagery of the book of Revelation is it’s central message, a message of hope to a bunch of Christians facing persecution—be washed, receive the overflowing love of God! Even in your hour of need!

              Surely this is all good news! God who is merciful and just knows and loves us in Jesus Christ.
 We are called to a meaningful life and to bring meaning and hope to others.
God is with us!
God is with us even in the worst!
Even to the end and beyond the end.
Nothing can snatch us away from the hands of the good shepherd.

              Thanks be to God.

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