The goal of all clergy – to be a good shepherd; to yearning of all churches – to receive a good shepherd!
The sermon text follows the sermon audio…
Sermon preached at St. Stephen’s, Goldsboro
Sunday July 18 2021
The Reverend Alan Neale
“Someone who’ll watch over me”
In the early 1990’s I served in Rhode Island with Becky Anderson, a priest of the church. Among her many gifts and talents was/is her preaching. One Sunday she was preaching on texts similar to those of today texts. At the early service she quoted words from George and Ira Gershwin’s song, “Someone to Watch Over Me” written in 1926. She read these words,
“There’s a somebody I’m longing to see
I hope that he turns out to be
Someone who’ll watch over me
I’m a little lamb who’s lost in the wood
I know I could always be good
Someone who’ll watch over me”
After the service we talked about the sermon for which I heartily thanked her. Becky said, “Oh, I wish I had sung those Gershwin lyrics.” I said, “Do it… at the later service.” She did, it was heart-wrenchingly beautiful.
Now, do not fear… I do not intend to sing the lyrics but I believe the Gershwins played into what seems an almost primal, mythic, psychic longing… we want someone, someone like a shepherd, to care for us and to care for those whom we love and cherish.
Between the profound pathos of Psalm 22 and the exuberant exaltation of Psalm 24 comes the beloved, cherished, precious Psalm 23 with its endearing references to a tremendous shepherd, nurtured sheep and vistas of rolling greens and full-loaded banquet tables.
I sometimes think that Psalm 23 is embedded in the souls of humanity. I have stood by many a bed on which someone is close to death. Invariably, the recitation of this Psalm causes a reaction as eyes move and fingers tighten.
It is recited at funerals and it is recited at weddings – crucial words for such significant life events.
No wonder this Psalm was quoted by President George W. Bush from the Oval Office when he addressed the nation after September 11 2001.
A profound and evocative context for this Psalm is found in today’s Gospel, Mark 6:34 “Jesus had compassion on them for they were like sheep without a shepherd”, and to this Matthew adds (9:36) “they were wearied and cast away”.
In the first three verses the Psalmist speaks of God in the third person:
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 revives my soul.
And guides me along right pathways
for his name’s sake.
It is, to quote our Prayer Book, “meet and right” to meditate upon, talk about, sing aloud the unchanging attributes of our God. Sometimes we sense our prayer is weak, to strengthen it we mediate upon the greatness of God; when we have God in right perspective then we struggle not with prayer but rather yearn to develop our conversation.
Fearful of scarcity, we have this promise… He will take care of our wants
Wearied by anxiety and dull vistas, we have this promise… He will help us to rest amid verdant pastures.
Overwhelmed by frantic measures, we have this promise… He will lead beside still waters.
Feeling drained, we have this promise… He will restore us.
And, unsure of the future, we have this promise… He will lead us.
GOD’S CARE IS NOT SEASONAL BUT CONSTANT AND ABUNDANT.
With verses 4-5 we now speak of God in the second person:
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I shall fear no evil; for you are with me;
your rod and your staff— they comfort me.
5 You spread a table before me
in the presence of those who trouble me;
you have anointed my head with oil; and my cup is running over.
There must come a time, an infinite number of times, when the Christian soul moves from statements about God to a relationship with God. We wish it could be other but, alas, such times of personal, real-time connection are often accompanied by times of great suffering, angst, dilemma.
The shepherd’s rod has a fourfold use: to fight off enemies, to gently seize the errant sheep, to examine the sheep for wounds and to count the sheep – each one beloved by the Shepherd.
The profuse, copious, lavish grace of God, my God and your God, my Shepherd and your Shepherd – this grace promises an abundance in the “very face of our enemies”. Do not cower.
And the final verse:
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Brother and sister in Christ, know for sure, be confident that you and those whom you love can never stray too far from God’s goodness, mercy and celebrate this tremendous invitation… “to stay with Him in the house of the Lord forever.”
As the archetypal, quintessential, model shepherd Jesus has compassion for us sheep, the Greek word suggests that deep, profoundly deep, in the being of Jesus is a compassion for you, for me, his sheep. His heart is grieved as we find ourselves scattered and distrait by the storms of life; as we find ourselves mangled and rent asunder by circumstances beyond our control.
Friends, we have a shepherd who dies to save us, and who lives to love us. Sheep, come on home; Re-commit your life to Him
A Prayer
Jesus, good shepherd, you know each of us by name; you know us deeply and accept without blame our fears and anxieties, our doubts and our questions. Please deepen in us the awareness of your presence and the opportunity to serve you in ways yet unimaginable.
AMEN