Sermon Text: Psalm 23
Sitting down at the dinner table to eat has become more problematic to my family in the past week. We have changed out diet to explore whether my daughter Jennifer and I have Celiac's Disease. This is a condition in which one's body has an auto-immune reaction against gluten which is a protein found in wheat products. Since much of what we eat contains some sort of wheat we are required to read the ingredients label on every food product. If a product contains wheat we must just say no or otherwise deal with uncomfortable and damaging symptoms. So we are going gluten free in our diet and will see if that makes a difference in our quality of life.
We have a similar challenge in the Christian life and that is to ingest healthy spiritual food. As the scripture says, "Whatsoever things are true, pure, and good, if there be any honor, let your mind dwell on these things." I'm afraid if we followed that advice that would cut out most of the media we ingest from the TV to YouTube. Perhaps in our spiritual lives we should try a fruit only diet and only take into our spiritual bodies the fruit of spirit: Peace, love, joy, gentleness, kindness and self control. That would bring healing to our spiritual bodies.
The key to our spiritual health is found in the first verse of Psalm 23 which says: "The LORD is my shepherd." The key to our spiritual health is our friendship with the LORD, our shepherd. As the Psalmist says, "The Lord God is our sun and shield, He gives strength and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." We need a spiritual guide and protector because as another secular song puts it: "It ain't easy to get to heaven when you're going down."
When you walk through a grocery store looking at the food items from the perspective of a person with Celiac's Disease, it's like walking through a minefield. There are so many opportunities to hurt yourself. One wrong purchase, even a seemingly healthy food like yogurt may contain wheat as a filler, and you lose the battle for your physical health.
We face a similar struggle in our spiritual lives. As we navigate the minefield of choices in our daily lives there are plenteous opportunities for disaster. We may get burned out from triangulated relationships or we may get programmed by the media we consume. As Christians we are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It takes a lot of energy to maintain our spiritual lives. Our trouble arises when we neglect our friendship with the LORD, our good shepherd. As long as we are growing in our friendship with God we will find there is nothing we lack and there is nothing we need.
Friendship with the LORD, whom Psalm 23 calls our Shepherd, develops until following God's leadership becomes second nature. We luxuriate in the abundance of spiritual sustenance God's provides. We freely eat the bread of heaven and drink the cup of eternal salvation. We can relax and be ourselves, secure in our friendship with God. Even our peculiarities and blemishes do not know diminish the love of our Divine Shepherd. We have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. We are spiritually well fed, watered, and satisfied.
We sleep well at night and awaken refreshed and ready for further service. When our spiritual energy feels depleted, we know how to tap into God's power through prayer, study, and silence. Difficult choices demand our attention but we intuitively know what to do and how and when. The Spirit nudges us to contact someone we haven't seen in months and we find their dog just died and they needed some loving support at that moment. A relational knot that has been tied for years seems to dissolve and unravel before our very eyes. Miracles really do happen when we are following the Good Shepherd along the right path. We move in the flow of the Spirit and God gets all the glory.
Everything is fine and dandy until we enter the dark valley. We see the shadow of death on the canyon walls and our knees feel weak. We stand beside another hospital bed and pray with a fearful family facing late stage cancer. Or perhaps we are the one laying in the hospital bed, learning for the first time the feeling of vulnerability and lack of control that comes with the term "hospital patient." Or perhaps we are staring into the pit of financial ruin or the destruction of a long term relationship. Even in such desperate circumstances, we fear no evil. As Martin Luther wrote of the evil one, "One little word shall fell him." (Hymn: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God")
Fear is the opposite of love. Our friendship with God is not based on fear. In fact, many of us must overcome fear of God as we begin our friendship with God. When we overcome our fear of God and enter into friendship with God, no other fear may conquer us. We become fearless with God at our side. We trust God. We have experienced God's discipline and support. We know God will defend us from all evil. The Good Shepherd imparts courage and comfort in times of need.
God sets a table before us as our enemies gaze and glisten. We feast without worry knowing our friend , the Good Shepherd, has our back. That rod and staff is God's big stick and God knows how to use it in our defense. From this place of friendship with God, we are able to defend the friendless, welcome the stranger, and minister to the sick and dying. Safe in God's loving embrace, we offer a supportive shoulder for others to cry on. Having been anointed with God's Holy Spirit, we have plenty of Spirit to share with others. The life force inside us overflows the boundaries of our energetic field and embraces all whom we encounter.
When wolves and robber barons discover God has our back they lose interest in pursuing us and seek out easier targets. We are then pursued by goodness, mercy, and love. As the Apostle Paul put it: "If God be for us, who can stand against us?" Our ultimate security is good for this life and the life to come. Again, Paul says, "Who shall separate us from the love of God? For whether we live or whether we die we belong to the LORD." Our friendship with Christ, the Good Shepherd, provides the foundation for spiritual health, abundance, sustenance, and help, in this life and in the life to come.
The Episcopal spiritual director Margaret Guenther counsels, "When in doubt, I always assume God is at work." That is good counsel. When you are struggling or doubting or at the end of your rope or wondering "Lord, I'm doing all I can here, where on earth are you!" it is a good bet to trust that God indeed is at work. In ways you may not yet perceive or understand. But in ways you can count on are gracious to save and love you.
Life is hard, but God is good. We are going to have bumps and disappointments and even years of barrenness. Certainly death awaits us all. But if Jesus conquered death, then surely he can conquer everything else. He became like us so we could become like him—close to God, innocent, forgiving, compassionate, loving, and living.
Live with faith into that truth. Hang tough while being tender. Trust God to see you through it all. Trust God to be your Good Shepherd whose love shall not fail.
This week I came across a story that reflects this hope in the midst of pain and suffering and indeed includes images of the shadow of death. Here, death is an adversary, but finally there is a table set before them in the face of this enemy. The image of death as an enemy is so well described in A Small Good Thing by Raymond Carver. In this story, Ann orders a birthday cake from a baker for her son Scotty. Before the birthday arrives, Scotty is struck by a car as he rides his bicycle. At first it appears to be nothing, but suddenly he slips into a coma and is in the hospital. Ann and the father Howard await their son's fate as they keep vigil with other parents. Ann and Howard take turns going home to shower, rest, and eat. When they do, they receive several messages on the answering machine from a strange man saying such things as "Have you forgotten Scotty?" It is the baker, who assumes that they are yet another customer who has not picked up a cake and treated him unfairly. He does not identify himself, and the couple wonders, who could be so cruel? Scotty dies and the parents must return home in sorrow and pain. There is another message, but this time Ann recognizes who it is.
At four in the morning they go to the bakery to confront him. Violence hangs in the air. They bang on the door and he lets them in but as he accesses the situation he picks up a rolling pin to protect himself. Only when Ann says, "My son is dead" does the baker realize what he has done. He is left humble and repentant, confessing that he is bitter from watching other happy families celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, taking them for granted, while he and his wife could not have children. He begs forgiveness on that early morning with the smell of warm bread and coffee hanging in the air. He asks them to sit at the table and he serves them warm cinnamon rolls and coffee. "You probably need to eat something," the baker said. "I hope you'll eat some of my hot rolls. You have to eat and keep going. Eating is a small, good thing in a time like this," he said. He served them and they shared their stories. Carver concludes with these words: "Smell this," the baker said, breaking open a dark loaf. "It's a heavy bread, but rich." They listened to him… They talked on into the early morning, the high, pale cast of light in the windows, and they did not think of leaving." (Raymond Carver: Collected Stories, The Library of America, New York, NY, 2009, 424 -425.) Here, in the early morning hours, this former enemy, the baker, set a table before them in the face of a foe with which we must all eventually struggle, namely, the shadow of death. Warm cinnamon rolls and coffee, bread and wine, a table of grace.
As Psalm 23 in the King James Version phrases it: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, my cup overfloweth. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever." We are invited to feast with our Divine Friend even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
No wonder Jesus dined with his disciples every day. They broke bread and drank wine. They did this because they were human. They did this because they were friends. Friendship with God is our incredible invitation. We have been summoned to the feast of life where we may dine with our Divine host and our friend, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Are you hungry? Let's eat.
