The 23rd Psalm

Often called the Shepherd's Psalm, Psalm 23 is without doubt the most sung psalm of all the Psalms. We hear it at weddings, at funerals and on many other occasions. Of all the hymns and psalms in the hymn book it is the one too that is given the most number of alternate tunes to sing it by - Crimond, Wiltshire, Orlington, Brother James's Air and being in Common Metre it could easily be sung to many other well known hymn tunes too e.g. Amazing Grace. Why is this Psalm so popular? Not just because our Queen choose to have it at her wedding, but because, I believe, it deals with the most fundamental issues of life, our relationship to God, life's journey and our hope regarding the life to come.

I'm sure many of you watched the television debate between the leaders of the three major parties. Most of it was very predictable, I felt, and did not really inspire one to feel terribly hopeful. In some ways I felt all the leaders were not truly giving us all the truth they might have about the current situation our nation faces, and that probably because, if they did, that might have an adverse effect on our present economic standing in the world. But there was no real attempt to get us on board, to seek people's help in dealing with the current situation. It was as if we are all in so many ways taken for granted and that those who have become unemployed or lost businesses are simply considered to be the unfortunate casualties of what has happened. In my mind the banks should have been made to pay compensation to these people, made more accountable for their actions, after all, we have all paid dearly to save their skins and their jobs and their business.

Such Responsible Caring ought to be in a greater way at the heart of our society. All the parties have been talking about fairness which I think is a bit rich, for two reasons 1) life is seldom fair 2) what seems fair to one person often is not fair to all e.g. not everyone would agree that all people no matter how well off they are should get free care when they are elderly, especially if the cost for that were to have to be paid from higher taxes on us all to make that possible.

I have always believed that to whom much is given from whom much is required. God gives, God blesses not such that only I should benefit but that others may be helped by that bounty. I was struck, because I had not fully realised this before, when reading a book by Steve Claiborne entitled 'Ordinary Radicals' how far our society has departed from God's economy. I particularly like the prayer, of one ten year old boy, in his further book 'Prayer for Ordinary Radicals' that he quotes:

"Dear God, Please make all the poor people rich.
And all the rich people poor.
Then bring us back to medium so
we will take better care of each other.
Amen.

Why do we like the 23rd Psalm so much because, I believe it speaks to us personally of God's providential care for you and for me. It teaches us that we matter to God and that his will for us is that we should know his blessing and abundance, upon and in our lives.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want"

Notice that little word 'my'. This psalm is a personal testimony to God from someone who clearly knew God. 'The Lord is my shepherd'. How key this is also to fully understanding what this psalm is all about. Being in a relationship to God makes all the difference in the world. It changes our understanding of life, our attitudes to others, especially those in need, and it radically alters our fundamental hopes and aspirations in life. Paul writes Philippians 4:12

"...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Paul goes on then in the next few verses thank God for his fellow believers who helped him in time of need. The Psalmist recognises that no-one should live in want. God has abundantly provided. When we open our hearts and respond to the needs of others then their wants are supplied. As he has shown his care for us, so should we likewise show his care one for another.

Why is the church in the west struggling and declining? Because we fail to show God's care and God's concern for the lost and the needy as much as we ought to, for our friends, our neighbours, our work colleagues, and for our communities. We spend so much on ourselves and on our churches, but so little on reaching out to the spiritually and physically needy of our parishes. In God's economy there is no 'want'. In ours, we are all too often found to be 'wanting'. For what we claim to believe and what we actually do fails to measure up to the God in whom we say we believe, what he has said and done for us.

Do we have the same care and concern that God shows us here in this psalm, directly engaging with the psalmist, ensuring that he knows times of rest and refreshment for his soul, restoring him and guiding him in 'paths of righteousness'. If we believe that God can and does make a difference to a person's life, for the better, ought we not to be helping others to share with us more, in the benefits brought, of this God's truth for our lives, by witnessing about it just as the psalmist does here in word and song. We have a Gospel worth proclaiming yet how reluctant we often are to talk about our faith and to help others know its saving worth for their lives.

You don't have to be overly zealous to do this either, just try, for example, dropping into your conversation the phrase 'Isn't God good' and see what response that elucidates. I find it interesting that not one of the present party leaders, though they talk about the need of rebuilding society, has ever been willing to admit that at the heart of our nation's troubles is the fact that as a nation we have turned from God to worship other gods and idols. Would that there was such an honest admission, then I might feel more confident about many of their other proposals to get our nation moving towards prosperity again.

The battle before us is first and foremost not an economic one but a spiritual one. The root problems are those of greed, dishonesty and theft. James 4:2f

"You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God?"

Love and truth go hand in hand in the fight against evil. We need the comfort of God that is his rod and staff to strengthen us and to give us the courage to speak out and to speak up against that which has gone wrong. Those who seek after leadership positions whether in church or nation must be people of the highest integrity and those, who prime motivation is that not of seeking ever to get their way, but of being there to heed God's Word and to serve those who have put their trust in them. For as the Psalmist rightly reminds us

"He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

There is that which is right and that which is clearly wrong in God's sight. The enemies of the truth have had it too easy for too long. Now, it is time for us to be more willing to let it be known what is and is not acceptable in God's sight. To raise again those standards which have for too long been allowed to slip. To bring to account those who misuse their positions and power for self gain, to the detriment of others, to expect higher ideals, to emphasise Christian principles and living and to seek to see them predominant again at the heart of our society and

The benefit of doing so could be I believe immense and immeasurable. For, it would be to know as a result of that once again God's blessing and abundance at work at the heart of our lives and of our land. The promise is there for us, God's providential care is no less than it has ever been, his provision is real, let us fully draw upon it that we may see the realisation of it anew in our days. For, as the Psalmist puts it v5 & 6,

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love (I prefer 'goodness and mercy') will follow me
All the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever."

What a different outcome God promises us, not just those limited benefits and blessing only of this earthly life. But those of an eternal life worth living and a living faith worth dying for in order that what has begun here and now overflows and produces those things that are everlasting and which stem from the understanding that we are precious in God's sight, valued and of worth to him above all, that, life is meant for greater things and that those things that really make it special, caring, sharing and knowing God are those things that no matter what, point us to a hope that transcends all else and gives the deepest meaning to all that is.

God's presence, God's providential care and God's provision ought then to inspire us as nothing else to get involved in our communities, in wider society too and in particular with the future concerns of our nation. For, only if we stand up and speak out for God and his gospel truth might prosperity ever again come to our land both spiritually and economically to God's praise and honour.

Let me finish then, with the prayer of Archbishop Oscar Romero, given also in Steve Claibourne's book 'Prayer for ordinary radicals'. Archbishop Romero died for the faith and the hope he believed in, and because he believed that he could not stand idly by and do nothing when he saw injustice and suffering going on:

"It helps now and then, to step back, he says, and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
It is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything. (pause)
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realising that. (pause) This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen."

"...prophets of a future not our own." Now, there is a wonderful thought!

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." Psalm 23:1"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." Psalm 23:1

Amen, let us pray.