St. Paul’s United Church                                                                  Good Shepherd Sunday, April 29, 2007

 

Still Our Shepherd –

Rev. David Mundy & Allanah Coles

 

Psalm 23                                                                                                                      John 10:11-18

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The Lord’s my Shepherd, I’ll not want,

he makes me down to lie in pastures green,

he leadeth me, the quiet waters by.

 

She was and is a good shepherd, this colleague in ministry. That Sunday morning, years ago, she was on vacation and came to the church I was serving to have her soul fed. I noticed that she had spent much of the service with her head down and she admitted afterward that she could remember very little after it was over except that we had sung one of the hymns that was part of the funeral service for her mother a few months before, The Lord’s My Shepherd.

 

Always a compassionate pastor, she had asked for leave from her responsibilities so that she could care for her ailing mother while she was dying in a community thousands of kilometres away. After years living apart from one another they talked about their shared faith as two spiritual women, as well as mother and daughter. It helped them sort through some unfinished business and to be open and honest. They also read scripture together and one of the last things that happened before the mother died was the daughter reading her the twenty-third psalm. Of course it was included in the funeral.

 

That day in church took my friend by surprise. She was used to looking out on people who were moved by the singing of the psalm with the familiar hymn tune, Crimond which we just heard. She wasn’t prepared for the tears which coursed down her own cheeks. It was a little embarrassing in unfamiliar surroundings, but she really didn’t mind.

 

It’s likely that her experience is one that many of us have gone through ourselves, and we might wonder why these words set to this music have such an emotional effect on us. After all, we rarely see sheep, let alone understand what it is to be a shepherd. Yet we all seem to be able to appreciate that we are protected and surrounded by God’s love, no matter what comes our way in life and that Christ is the healing shepherd.

 

My soul he doth restore again,

and me to walk doth make

within the paths of righteousness,

even for his own name’s sake.

 

This is also Good Shepherd Sunday, which means that our scripture passages have a “shepherdly” theme to them. Shepherdly is not a word, but it should be! One of them is the 23rd psalm which we have chosen to sing rather than say in worship this morning.

 

Even though the heading for Psalm 23 is “a psalm of David” it’s unlikely that all the psalms were written by David, as was once thought. This one may have been, though.  In tradition David was a shepherd himself, and you may recall the story of Samuel, standing before Jesse, David’s father, in his own version of “Israeli Idol’ looking for a future king. Jesse parades all his other boys, fine, strapping young men, before the prophet who then asks if there aren’t any more. Jesse says, yes, there is another in the fields, tending the flocks, and this proves to be young David who eventually becomes the “shepherd king.”

 

Why do you think this psalm continues to be so meaningful for us three thousand years or so after it was created? Is God still our shepherd?  The answer may come in the fact that this is hands-down the most popular psalm of the 150 in the psalter and even people who aren’t biblically literate will say “we want the shepherd passage” as we plan funeral services.

 

Harold Kushner who authored  the bestseller When Bad Things Happen to Good People has also written a lovely little book on the 23rd psalm called The Lord is My Shepherd: Healing Wisdom of the Twenty-Third Psalm . While Kushner is a Jewish rabbi, the book contains universal wisdom.

 

He suggests that a big part of its appeal is that it tells the story of our lives. As children we have a sense of security and well-being and trust that God is with us. As the years progress we are bumped and bruised by events that we often struggle to understand. We realize that God doesn’t magically protect us from harm. If we are fortunate we eventually sense that God does not abandon us. God is with us, even in the dark passages of life and we are loved.                       

 

Yea, though I walk in death’s dark vale,

yet will I fear no ill,

for thou art with me and thy rod

and staff me comfort still.

 

Many of us have gone through our own experiences of loss, very much like that of my colleague in ministry, although every situation of grief is unique. Sometimes, though, “death’s dark vale,” or “the valley of the shadow of death” as the King James Version of the bible puts it, is something other than physical death. It can be the death of hopes and dreams, whether in relationships or personal goals.

 

Years ago I noticed that a member of my congregation who was faithfully in church with his young family and came to bible study tended to be cynical to the point of pessimism in his view about the way the world worked. One day I spoke with his wife who told me his story. He had established a successful truck repair business with a longtime friend. At that time he was married to his first wife and the two girls I saw in church were from that relationship.

 

Then he found out that his partner and supposed friend had been siphoning money out the business and he was forced to declare bankruptcy.  Not long after all this his wife, who had a troubled upbringing, took her own life. While I had experienced him as rather negative, I came to realize that he was doing everything possible to walk through the darkness, with God at his side.

 

Whether it is in the midst of illness or disappointment or death, we pray that we will not make the journey alone.

 

My table thou hast furnished

in presence of my foes,

my head thou dost with oil anoint,

and my cup overflows.

 

We appreciate that through the course of our lives we have been nourished and encouraged by those who have exemplified the self-giving love which this Easter season celebrates. These are the people who have “set the table” and modelled what God’s love is like. A few years ago musician Bobby McFerrin offered a tribute to his mother with a very unusual version of the psalm we heard today.

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I have all I need. She makes me lie down in green meadows,

beside the still waters she will lead. She restores my soul, she rights my wrongs, She leads me in a path of good things and fills my heart with songs. Even though I walk through a dark and weary land,

there is no other that can shake me.

She has said she won't forsake me. I am in her hand. She sets a table before me in the presence of my foes. She anoints my head with oil and my cup overflows. Surely, surely, goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in her house forever, forever and ever. Glory be to our Mother and Daughter and to the Holy of Holies. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.


At the time the song  was released  some folk thought this was blasphemous,  substituting a human mother for our heavenly parent,  but it was a moving reminder that we often learn the way of God’s love through relationships. For some of us it has been our mother, which would be fitting on this day. For others it has been a father or a grandparent or a person or persons from the Christian family, which is the church.

 

The term “pastor” which has traditionally been applied to clergy actually means shepherd and there are many of us who could point to an minister or priest who has been exemplary in that role. But when we take a moment,  we are aware that there have been many pastors who have been with us and helped us to find what we need when we have passed through the valley of the shadow of death, whether it is actual physical death or depression or uncertainty in times of difficult transition in our lives.  We might take a moment in the quiet to fondly bring to mind who those people have been for us.

 

Is there anything else we need to say about God as our shepherd? There is so much more, of course, but perhaps we can focus on Jesus as our shepherd. In the gospel lesson Jesus say that his sheep hear his voice, he knows them and they know him. Earlier in this same chapter Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who is so protective of the flock that he will sacrifice his safety and even his life for the well-being of the flock. The word translated as “good” in our English versions of the bible would be more accurate as “authentic.”  Jesus is the authentic shepherd, the “real deal” who would not mislead his flock or allow it to be scattered by predators.

 

Do you remember a car commercial from television a few years back that showed  flock of sheep blocking a road so that the automobile can’t get through? None of the travelers  want to get out and shoo the sheep away because the vehicle is so comfortable. What makes this really impressive is that all the passengers are wolves. Well, Jesus says that a true shepherd won’t allow the sheep to be scattered by the wolf, whether it has four legs or four wheels. Unlike the hired hand, who looks after the sheep because he is paid to do so, the true shepherd protects them because they are his. Christ is with us and his love is unfailing.

 

One last thought this morning. It has been good to have Allanah sing the first four verses of our beloved hymn today. The only drawback, if it could really be called that, is that we don’t get to sing them! We will join as a congregation, a Christian flock, in singing the fifth and final verse of the psalm of the healing shepherd, which is 747 in Voices United and is projected on the screen.

 

Goodness and mercy all my life

will surely follow me,

and in God’s house

for evermore

my dwelling place shall be.

 

The God of mercy, who is revealed to us in Jesus the Christ, is still our good shepherd.  Thanks be to God!

 

Prayers of the People – Good Shepherd Sunday – April 29, 2007

 

God of green pastures and still waters, we thank you for the tranquility of this place this morning. Around us are people who want to be in communion with you, and we are in surroundings which encourage us to lift our spirits toward you. We are grateful for the quiet security of praying together and the assurance that you hear and care.

 

Some of us need to be restored this morning, God of life. We have been busy and feel drawn in too many directions at once. Please centre us again, and allow us to know what is important enough to capture our imaginations rather than consume our souls. Teach us what we already know – that sometimes less is more.

 

We honour you, Holy One, for the unexpected places we find you and you find us. Help us to remember that you will be present in our work as well as our worship, and in our play as well as our praise. Show us that every place and moment can be sacred when you are there.

 

We are grateful for life in Christian community with it joys and its sorrows. Some of us are in the valley of the shadow these recent days. We are concerned about the health of loved ones. We are anxious about relationships and job security. We need to know that you travel with us, our God.

 

We remember others who have experienced grief in recent times and ask that your strength will be sufficient for every need, as well as those who continue to feel the loss of loved ones with the passage of time.

 

Assure us today that in life, in death, in life beyond death, we are not alone, and that you know each of us by name, and we are cherished. We take a moment in the silence to bring before you the deepest concerns of our hearts and minds

 

***Silence***

 

We look beyond ourselves into a world of great need, God of the nations. We trust that you are sovereign and that your desire for all peoples everywhere is peace and justice.

 

When we are disheartened by what seems to be the human determination to be destructive, make us aware of the victories, great and small, which make our planet a better place.

 

When we are tempted to believe that there is only bad news, remind us that goodness and mercy can be seen everywhere when we allow our eyes to be washed clear by the healing love of Christ, our Shepherd.

 

All this we pray, in your holy name. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ORDER OF WORSHIP – SUNDAY,  APRIL 29, 2007

 

 

CALL TO  – We come to worship this morning, not as the majority in our culture

WORSHIP     but as the minority.

                       Just the same, we are not timid or afraid, because Christ is in our midst and gives us hope.

We come believing that our praise and our practice of faith can enliven our world,

so we worship God, three-in-one, with confidence.

 

 

 

PRAYER OF – God of tradition, God of new beginnings,

APPROACH     we seek your direction for our personal lives and for our life                             together this morning. We are not always sure of the way forward, yet we trust that you are with us and will show us the way, whatever our age and whatever our needs. We join now in the prayer Jesus taught his disciples,

Our Father...

 

 

 

 

OFFERTORY – Loving God, it takes faith to give you our best instead of our left-

PRAYER           overs. We ask that you accept what we bring today in our attitudes,                   our commitment, our gifts of money. Use all we bring for your                    purposes and our life together. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

 

 

 

SENDING – Now may the love of God, the creator, surround you,

FORTH        The grace of Christ, the Good Shepherd attend you,

                      And the peace of the Holy Spirit, our comforter, keep you. Amen.