Psalm 23
The Divine Shepherd
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
3 he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Sermon: “God is with us”
Psalm 23 is perhaps the best known passage of Scripture in the whole Bible. Children are taught to memorize it in Sunday School. We read it at the bedside of those who are very sick. We recite it in our individual prayers when we are going through times of pain and suffering. We read it at the funerals of those we love. It is a strong and powerful reminder that God is at our side through thick and thin: holding us in Steadfast Love, protecting us, guiding us, meeting all of our spiritual needs--in this life and on into eternity.
But Psalm 23 is about more than just spiritual comfort. I read some commentary on a website this week that challenged me--us-- to think of Psalm 23 in a different way. Rev. Dr. David Lose, a seminary professor, writer, and pastor in Minneapolis, invites his congregation-- and the preachers who read his on-line commentary--to consider Psalm 23 as a psalm celebrating stewardship. (Yes, you heard me correctly--stewardship.) (http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=1498
Let me stop here and define what I mean by the term “stewardship.” Most of us in mainline churches think of stewardship primarily in the context of our Fall Fund Drives, where we raise money for the church budget. (Don’t worry; you can relax and continue to listen without trepidation--I’m not starting the Pledge Campaign early.) Stewardship is MUCH more than raising money. Stewardship is recognizing and giving thanks for what God has given us, and then using those gifts to bless others.
Psalm 23 begins by stating that “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” Several scholars suggest that a better translation of the Hebrew is: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall lack nothing.” (New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. IV, p. 767) And then the Psalm goes on to describe all of the ways God meets the needs of God’s flock. And while everything said here has a spiritual dimension, scholars encourage us to notice that it has a material dimension too. Psalm 23 is a statement about God’s priorities and how God treats God’s flock.
For instance: Leading the sheep in green pastures is literally feeding them. It’s not just giving them a nice place to rest, it’s giving them green grass with rich nutrients to nourish their bodies. Leading them by the still waters is not just giving them a quiet place in which to pray or do yoga, it is first and foremost making sure they have enough actual water to drink, to hydrate their bodies. Leading the sheep on right paths doesn’t just mean helping the sheep lead moral lives, it means the shepherd chooses paths for the sheep where they literally won’t get stuck in nettles or stumble over rocks and or be vulnerable to predators. (NIB, Vol. IV, p. 767 - 771).
Understanding that God’s care in this Psalm includes the material dimension as well as the spiritual dimension--has important implications for how we live. First, it invites us to notice all of the blessings--spiritual and material-- we have in our lives. Even in the midst of a pandemic and societal unrest, God is present with us providing for our needs. Dr. Lose recommends a practice of counting our blessings. Literally making a list. Write down, he suggests, 10 things that you have--right now--that you are thankful for. He recommends this practice because he contends our consumer society generally teaches us to focus on the things we lack rather than spending time enjoying the things we already have. By writing down what we understand to be our blessings--spiritual and material, we change the focus from wanting what we do not have to being grateful for what we DO have, what God has already blessed us with. I invite you--and me--to find some time today to actually sit down and make such a list. To spend some time in prayer noticing, naming and praising God for the blessings already in your life. It is a good exercise--and sharing those lists could be a fun and fruitful activity to do over dinner or zoom calls with family and friends and church members.
So that’s the first part of the stewardship message of this psalm: noticing and giving thanks for the ways God takes care of us--spiritually and materially. The second part is equally important: using the gifts God has given us to bless others.
This psalm--as you heard in the introduction that Alan read--is a psalm traditionally attributed to King David, who ruled ancient Israel approximately 1000 years before the birth of Christ. So it is a psalm understood to be written by--and for-- a king. This is an important detail because part of the psalm’s message is to remind rulers to use the gifts God has given them in ways that bless others. In fact, “in the ancient world, kings were known as shepherds of their people.” (NIB, p. 767). This psalm reminds royalty that they are to be good shepherds, modeling their rule on God’s. In other words, they are called first and foremost to take care of the material needs of their people, making sure that their “flock” lacks nothing, has everything they need in terms of basic necessities: food, water, shelter, protection--so they can thrive.
So, this Psalm isn’t just a psalm about how individuals need to behave before God, it is a Psalm that instructs leaders of nations how to treat the people in their care--and it provides a model by which leaders can measure how well they are doing in providing this care.
Living, as we do, in a democracy, the Psalm applies to us as well, because we share in our leaders’ responsibility of taking care of our fellow members of the flock.
How are we doing? How do we go about even answering this question?
One way is to listen to the voices of people in need. One of the things the Covid 19 pandemic has done for us as a society is that it has shined the light on places where our society and our government needs to do better job of taking care of the basic necessities of people in need.
A non-partisan group called the Poor People’s Campaign is building on the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and is raising up the voices of people in need across our country--black and brown people, poor white people, native Americans, LGBTQ people, citizens--naturalized and native, recent immigrants--to speak to the ways our country could do better by people in need.
Some of the statistics that appear on their website about poor people in our country are staggering. Let me share just a few with you:
Beginning in the 1970s, wages for the bottom 80 percent of workers have remained largely stagnant and today there are 64 million people working for less than $15 an hour.
At the same time, the costs of basic needs like housing, health care and education have risen dramatically. Over the past 30 years, rents have gone up faster than income in nearly every urban area of the country. In 2016, there was no state or county in the nation where someone earning the federal minimum wage could afford a 2-bedroom apartment at market rent.
12 percent of U.S. households face unaffordable water bills. Tens of thousands of households have had their water shut off due to non-payment, precipitating homelessness, child removal and a host of medical problems…[and] at least 4 million families with children are being exposed to high levels of lead from drinking water and other sources.
https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/about/our-demands/
To use the words of Psalm 23, these statistics point out that millions of hardworking sheep have no access to green pastures; millions of sheep are literally drinking poison water; millions of sheep, through no fault of their own, are on paths that lead into deep debt. These statistics are staggering--and heart-breaking--and they could lead us to throw up our hands and say, “I’m just one person, I’m not a member of congress, what could I possibly do about this?”
The first answer, of course, for Christians is to pray. Pray to God--to Christ--our Good Shepherd and lift up to God those who are in such deep need. The second thing we can do is continue to listen to those who are crying out--to listen to what their needs are, ask what they want, ask how we can help. And the third thing is to act on what we hear.
We can act by continuing to financially support non-profit organizations that help meet the needs of the poor and change the systems that perpetuate poverty.
We can act by contacting those who represent us in local, state, and federal government and telling them we want justice for the poor.
We can act by continuing to exercise our responsibility to vote for candidates who see themselves as King David saw himself--loyal to God’s priority of helping the poor and oppressed.
We can act by doing all of the above. And that is good stewardship!
Let us pray:
Dear God, you are our Good Shepherd. You have promised to be with us through thick and thin. You are with us when we stroll through lush, green meadows, and you are with us when we stumble along treacherous paths.
Oh God, help us to notice your presence with us always. Help us to count our blessings and be grateful. AND, God, help us to do the hard, courageous, and humbling work of listening to our brothers and sisters who are crying out in need--even if, sometimes, their voices may sound strident and accusatory to our ears.
Bless our hearing of their needs, and bless our stewardship of your resources. May we all act in ways that bring justice, health and healing to your world. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA 02038
August 2, 2020