Psalm 23
The valley of the shadow of death has again arrived at our doorsteps. On Monday we heard the news 3 people dead --one hundred sixty plus injured and maimed. The toll was just breathtaking. Boston added to the list of places struck by terrorism. And then the west Texas the terrible tragedy of the fertilizer plant. The president a few nights ago said it’s been a tough week- as Christians we might categorize this week as the valley of the shadow of death.
This week as the news
trickled out I thought Boston could as easily have been Buffalo. A fertilizer
plant could have easily been a grain elevator. Little Martin Richard, the eight year
old little boy ---could have been one of
our little children--- Sandy Hook Elementary could have easily been South Davis or Eggert or Ellicott or Windom
or any of our elementary schools. The
valley of the shadow death has again come home. It has washed up on our shore—it has come to
our cities and neighborhoods, the valley of the shadow of death invades our
lives from time to time These horrific
events of this raise our anxiety levels to high alert- they remind us that we
too, are not all that far from the valley of the shadow of death. Of course, the valley is much more than just
bombings at marathons or tragedies like West Texas. We
experience the valley of the shadow of death in the many things that wash over
us, that swamp our lives.
Peter in the reading
from the Acts of the Apostles- knows a little bit about walking through the
valley of the shadow of death. Today he
is plunged into the valley of the shadow of death— a fellow disciple- perhaps
even a good friend --- has died. Immediately Peter rushes in to be with his
flock as they face the death of their friend Tabitha.
The writer of acts
tells us that Tabitha was good woman – that she was “devoted to good works and acts
of charity.” Tabitha dedicated her life to caring for the least of these-- by
sewing clothing and garments for widows.
As Peter arrives he find chaos filling the house- weeping and wailing.
Peter immediately
removes everyone from the room where Tabitha is lying – he puts them outside and then he kneels down at the bedside before
Tabitha’s cold, dead body and he prays. He commends this situation to God- his lifts
his sister Tabitha in prayer and places her at the gates of heaven—he says “Lord,
Tabitha-- she is yours I commend her to you.”
Peter’s response to the valley of the shadow of death is one of faith
and of prayer- his response to the
valley of the shadow of death to put it in God’s hands- to place it at the
gates of heaven and says this is yours do with it as you will.
Perhaps Peter’ knows
what the Psalmist who wrote the 23rd Psalm knows— perhaps Peter’s faith
is grounded in knowledge of this ---that when we arrive in the valley of the shadow of death that we do
not go there alone-- “Yea though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with
me-- your rod and your staff they comfort me.”
Perhaps Peter knows that even in the valley
of the shadow of Death- Christ goes with us- Christ ahead of us-- Christ goes beside us.
But the 23rd
Psalm tells us that Christ not only
does go with us into the valley of the shadow
of death but that Christ leads his sheep to places of refreshment healing and
restoration, he leads his followers to lie down in lush verdant, green pastures, he leads his followers to still waters- he
restores their souls- he restores their spirits.
Today you and I have
arrived at this brick edifice, this holy
temple of God we have arrived at this
church probably at little hungry, probably a little shaken and discombobulated,
probably a little tired- maybe even frustrated-- probably looking for a bit out of sorts– we are probably looking to have
our spirit’s revived--our souls restored.
We are probably looking to have God breathe a little bit of life back
into our weary and worn out souls. We
are probably looking to have our souls restored.
For some of us that
restoration will come when we are embraced by the hug of a dear friend, for
some of us that restoration will come as we kneel down and let go of something terrible
that we have done and realize that God is wiping the slate clean- that we get a
do over, that we get to begin again.
Restoration will come
in a tiny circle of bread placed in the palm of our hands- Restoration will
come in a minuscule sip of wine as we take into our lives again not just bread
and wine- but we take in the presence of Almighty God.
But this restoration is
not just for ourselves it is not something that we hold onto, tightly and
greedily. Christ restores us so that we can restore others- Christ restores us that
we can bring healing to our neighbors and our neighborhoods , so that we can be
the hands of restoration in the world
about us.
In
this day and age of technology we have now have the ability to see events like what happened on Monday afternoon
firsthand- I get goose bumps and a lump
in my throat- every time I watch the scenes of Monday afternoon-- of people
rushing to where the bombs exploded--
soldiers and police officers tearing and ripping down barricades to get to the
injured people - folk picking each other
up---- carrying the wounded away- hands covering gaping wounds.–I was amazed to
hear the stories of marathon runners who didn’t stop running at the finish line
but continued running right to the
hospital to donate their blood for the
wounded.
What
I saw on Monday afternoon was first-responders, physicians, marathon runners,
ordinary folk immediately began to put people’s lives back together- they
immediately began to restore souls and spirits. They reminded the people whom
they encountered on that day evil is really just a shadow and that love, that
compassion always wins.
May
we on this day take the restoration, the life that God breathes into our souls
and share that restoration and share that life wherever we encounter evil,
wherever we find people hurting, wherever we find people who have lost hope. May we do so, so that the rest of the world
can know what we know that when we go into the valley of the shadow of death-- we
don’t go there alone – we go there with God and we go there with each other. May we share it to remind the world that evil
never wins and love always triumphs.
AMEN
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