By What Power Did You Do This?
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series I, Cycle B
When I was growing up, my family belonged to St. Paul's Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) on Elmwood Avenue, in Providence, Rhode Island. Actually, in the very poor, rough neighborhood of South Providence. As a teenager, I helped out with something called "Saturday Group," which was a program designed for the children and youth of that inner city neighborhood. It involved recreation (believe it or not, we had bowling alleys in the church, along with pool and ping pong tables!); a free lunch; a thrift shop -- free clothing program; and Church time, led by a lady named Josie. Josie was as wide as she was tall. I have no idea how old she was. Being a wisdom figure, she seemed quite old to us youth. I know she was "retired." And I do know her job beforehand had been as a hat maker, because each week this pious "church lady" would wear the most wild, colorful, outlandish hat. We used to like to go to Saturday Group just to see what hat she would have on that week!
Josie in her retirement was one of the most active people I have ever known. She was like a godmother to all of the children of that neighborhood. Her door was always open. Her pantry was always shared. So was the wisdom and experience of her long, rich life. Josie's life and teachings all connected with the Bible. No matter what a child was dealing with -- a fight at school, a drunk parent at home, gangs, violence -- Josie had a lesson from the Bible that directly applied.
During "Church time" at Saturday Group, Josie would do a little preaching. She would also do a little singing in her high, operatic voice which made all of us look at each other and giggle. Then always, always we would end with the Twenty-third Psalm. At first, I confess, I did not have it memorized. But then one day Josie told all of us that there in the Twenty-third Psalm was everything you needed to get you through this life. For example, you never knew when you were going to be in a valley someday, with the shadow of death breathing down your neck, and you would need to know that "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." You never knew when you were going to come face to face with your enemies someday, and then you could remember that line: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies!" Josie convinced me that everyone should memorize the Twenty-third Psalm. So I memorized it. Today my children know it as well. Thanks to Josie.
Josie knew the Lord as her shepherd. Knowing that empowered her to live out her life as the godmother to so many children in that South Providence neighborhood.
By sharing her image of "The Lord is My Shepherd" Josie helped others to become empowered for the living of their lives. Including me. I have shared "The Lord is My Shepherd" with my own children, and with all of the children and young and not so young people with whom I have worked over the years, helping them, I hope, to become empowered for the living of their lives. And on it goes.
This gem, this priceless treasure of simple yet profound wisdom for the living of our lives, is attributed to King David. In today's text we see that the Israelites loved David. "Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, 'Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in.' " They acknowledged that David was a powerful leader of the people because he lived his life in deep, passionate communion with Yahweh, his beloved Lord God. David was lavishly blessed with many gifts: he was handsome, brilliant, creative, musical, poetic, courageous, charismatic, a great military leader, a wise ruler, a powerful king. But I think David's greatest gift of all was that, blessed so abundantly with all these gifts, he had the gift of humility. He knew that his power was not from himself, but from God. He knew he was a great king only because God was with him. "All of the tribes of Israel said to David, 'The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.' So ... King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David King over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years ... And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of Hosts, was with him."
The thing I like the most about David is that David, shepherd boy made king, when he was at his best, knew his place. He always gave God the credit for his "success," for his power, for his greatness. He knew from where his power came. Therefore, in poetic imagery rising up from his core, his roots, his youth as a shepherd boy, King David writes, "The Lord is my shepherd." This day, as we reflect on the life of David, we need to apply the lessons of his life to our own lives. We need to ask ourselves, by what power am I living my life? Am I living my life in deep, passionate communion with Yahweh? Do I look at all that I have and all that I am as my own achievements? Or as the result of the fact that God is with me. Can I truthfully say that the Lord is my shepherd? Have I been letting God be the shepherd of my life?
Today I would like us to look more closely at the Twenty-third Psalm, and how it can be applied to the living of our lives. For as David knew, and as Josie knows, we have in the Twenty-third Psalm a simple yet profound "manual" of everything we need for the living of our lives.
Today we will look at this beloved Psalm as having three major parts.
First we will focus on what we shall call the "power-up" part -- the part that gives us power for the living of our lives: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." David knew, and Josie knows, that if we truly let Yahweh be the shepherd of our lives, we shall lack nothing that we truly need. I can remember a high school biology teacher, Miss Kelly, who said to us students, "If I had children I would give them everything they need, but nothing that they want." When questioned as to what she meant by this, she explained, "Sometimes a toy, an ice cream, a party dress is something a wise and discerning parent would know his/her child really needs." "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing that I truly need."
Frequently God is blamed for what is lacking in the lives of God's people. The Twenty-third Psalm challenges us, therefore, that if anyone lacks anything, it is not because God has not created enough abundance. It is because some of us have more than we need, and so are to share with those who have not. "How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?" (1 John 3:17). Sometimes Josie, whose life was empowered by the Lord, her shepherd, provided food, sometimes a safe place, sometimes advice, sometimes teaching, sometimes a word from the Bible, sometimes recreation, sometimes much needed discipline, sometimes comfort, always love.
Do you, like David, like Josie, let the Lord shepherd -- lead, guide, and empower -- your life? Do you give thanks and gratitude to God in whom you lack nothing that you truly need? Do you share with those who are in need so that they too may come to know the Lord as the shepherd of their lives?
"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters; he restoreth my soul...." In other words, he supplies everything, in beauty and abundance: food and drink, beauty, and that peace which restores us. When we spend time daily with the Lord it is like grazing in green pastures, like drinking from cool, peaceful waters. It fills us, nourishes us, strengthens and fortifies us, rejuvenates us, restores our souls. It is so clear when we immerse ourselves in the book of Psalms, so many of which are attributed to David, that David spent time throughout each and every day in God's Word, in prayer and meditation, in communion with the Lord. "Blessed is the one ... who delights in the law of the Lord, and on this law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in due season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers" (Psalm 1:2-3). Martin Luther is famous for having said, "I have so much to do every day that I can't get by without anything less than two hours of prayer!" With all of the hectic, busyness of our lives we need to make sure that we have spent time with our Shepherd, being fed, being at rest, finding our peace within, getting our souls restored so that we can go out there and face all that we must do in the world. Which leads into the next line: "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Treading down paths of righteousness is not easy. In fact, if we walk in our own power, it is impossible. But if we let the Lord, our shepherd, lead us, we will be fueled with all the power we need.
Part Two can only follow after Part One. For Part Two is all about when the going gets tough: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me." It does not say there will be no valley, no shadows, no death. It does say, "Even there ... 'Thou art with me.' "
So many visual representations of the Twenty-third Psalm show a meek, mild shepherd, sweetly holding a cute, fuzzy little lamb. It all looks so gentle, calm, and pastoral. But I remember seeing a painting of the Twenty-third Psalm that blasted that image of a meek, mild shepherd to smithereens! In this rendition the shepherd was large, strong, and muscular, resembling Atlas. His clothing was ripped and smeared with blood. Clearly the lamb he was clutching to his breast had been in some grave danger before its rescue. The setting was dark, stormy, gloomy, ominous. The terrain looked treacherous -- jagged, rocky crags, and dangerous, jutting precipices. The shepherd's muscles were strained as he climbed up out of a steep ditch overgrown with dark, entangled branches bearing sharp thorns. Ferocious shadowy beasts could be seen in the distance. One could not be sure whether the shepherd had just rescued the sheep from one of the wild beasts, from the entangling brambles of one of the deep ravines, or from falling off the edge of the cliff. But the resolute, determined look on the shepherd's face made you know without a doubt that that sheep was now safe. That that shepherd had gone, and would continue to go, to the limit to rescue that sheep and bring it to safety. The shepherd was reminiscent of a front page newspaper photograph of a firefighter rescuing a small child from a fire. Total devastation loomed behind them, but there was not a doubt in the viewer's mind that that child would be safe. The painting of the shepherd was reminiscent of another newspaper photograph of a mother, her baby on her hip, fording a raging river. You knew that mother would give her life to get that baby to safety. That is the kind of shepherd who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. The Lord is my strong, courageous, tough shepherd. The Lord is my rescuer when I've wandered too far, when I am in a place of danger, when I am attacked by ferocious beasts, when I am lost in a lonely, desolate, frightening place.
"Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." When the former Bishop of the New England Synod of the Lutheran Church, the Reverend Robert Isaksen, came to our church to visit, some of us were intrigued with his Bishop's staff. "It looks like a shepherd's staff," several people said to him. "It is a shepherd's staff," he responded. Then in his sermon, he talked about it. Admittedly, most of us had never seen one before. One end of it, he said, is the "rod." The "rod" part is used to poke or prod the sheep when they need it. For example, when they are straying from the fold, when they are headed toward a ditch. It doesn't take too much imagination to apply that to you and to me. Sometimes we need to be poked and prodded. The crooked end, he said, was the staff end. A shepherd would use it as a giant hook, to lasso the sheep when they started to meander too far, or sometimes to scoop them out of traps they'd fallen into. Just like God our shepherd scoops us out of harm's way.
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." Again, it does not say we will have no enemies. It does say, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." In other words, "Thou provides strength and nourishment for me to contend with my enemies. Thou art present to me in the bread of new life and in the cup of Thy salvation. My enemies will see this, and will tremble because they will know that my power is not from myself, but from you, the Lord. They will see the One by whose power I do what I do, the One who empowers my life." "Thou anointest my head with oil...." In other words, "Thou baptizes me, anoints me, sets me apart as sacred, puts your own seal upon my brow even in the presence of mine enemies!" So I can live my life boldly, despite my enemies, fearing no enemies, for "Thou art with me."
David, as king, had many enemies. David, as a military leader, ventured again and again on military exploits which marched him smack into the valley of the shadow of death, which brought him face to face with the presence of his enemies. Over 1,000 years after David we see Jesus' disciples empowered even in the presence of their enemies, who asked them, "By what power did you do this?" Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, "By the power of the resurrected Christ." By the power of Easter. By the power of the One who raised Christ from the dead. That same power is within you and me and that is the power with which we walk through our valleys, past our shadows, through our deaths, feasting at the table in the presence of our enemies!
This week my devotions have been excerpts from a book called The Mothers of the Disappeared. The Mothers of the Disappeared is a movement that began in Argentina, when young men and women who worked for justice, fed the hungry, clothed and educated the poor, and worked to provide housing for those living in poverty, began to "disappear." Some would eventually return and tell horror stories of their imprisonment, their torture, and the deaths of many in their movement.
The mothers of the disappeared began their own movement; bearing white handkerchiefs, and the words, "The resurrection lives!" they would gather in the Plaza de Mayo.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." It doesn't mean there will be no evil. It means we will not be overcome by it. It doesn't mean we may not face death. It means: Even there "Thou art with me." Reverend Vernon John, who served as pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, just before the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began his pastorate there, paved the way for Dr. King by his own courageous witness. He said: "If there's nothing in this life worth dying for, then there is nothing worth living for."
Thou preparest a table before me even in the presence of the Philistine army, seeking my head; even in the presence of the Roman authorities, seeking to put Christians to death; even in the Plaza de Mayo; even in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1960s; even in the poor, dangerous community of South Providence; even in the presence of mine enemies; even in the valley of the shadow of death, "Thou art with me."
The third and final part of the Twenty-third Psalm we shall call "A New Place; Beyond the Valley; the place of empowerment -- of power within; Dwelling in the House of the Lord." This is the place David was in when he had the courage to face Goliath. This is the place where Josie dwells when she dares to open her home and her heart to all of the young people who need a godmother in her neighborhood in South Providence. This is the place of power the disciples were living in when they faced those same authorities who had crucified their Lord and said "We have the courage to stand before you today because the one who raised Christ from the dead is on our side, is within us. This is the place inhabited by every martyr who stood resolutely in the Coliseum facing the lions. This is the place of power in which the mothers of the disappeared live and hope. All of these witnesses had arrived at a New Place. A place of empowerment. A place of power within, fueled by the Living God. A place where our cups runneth over. A place where 'Thou art with me' is a constant state of existence, so 'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord even beyond that -- forever!' "
It is in this power that you and I can live our lives. It is in the power of the Great Shepherd who rescues us, frees, us, walks through every valley with us, laid down his life for us. It is in the power which on the third day raised Christ from the dead. It is in the power of Easter that we live. It is in this power that you and I can go forth from this place for the living of our lives, and someday for the facing of our deaths, knowing that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen!
Josie in her retirement was one of the most active people I have ever known. She was like a godmother to all of the children of that neighborhood. Her door was always open. Her pantry was always shared. So was the wisdom and experience of her long, rich life. Josie's life and teachings all connected with the Bible. No matter what a child was dealing with -- a fight at school, a drunk parent at home, gangs, violence -- Josie had a lesson from the Bible that directly applied.
During "Church time" at Saturday Group, Josie would do a little preaching. She would also do a little singing in her high, operatic voice which made all of us look at each other and giggle. Then always, always we would end with the Twenty-third Psalm. At first, I confess, I did not have it memorized. But then one day Josie told all of us that there in the Twenty-third Psalm was everything you needed to get you through this life. For example, you never knew when you were going to be in a valley someday, with the shadow of death breathing down your neck, and you would need to know that "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me." You never knew when you were going to come face to face with your enemies someday, and then you could remember that line: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies!" Josie convinced me that everyone should memorize the Twenty-third Psalm. So I memorized it. Today my children know it as well. Thanks to Josie.
Josie knew the Lord as her shepherd. Knowing that empowered her to live out her life as the godmother to so many children in that South Providence neighborhood.
By sharing her image of "The Lord is My Shepherd" Josie helped others to become empowered for the living of their lives. Including me. I have shared "The Lord is My Shepherd" with my own children, and with all of the children and young and not so young people with whom I have worked over the years, helping them, I hope, to become empowered for the living of their lives. And on it goes.
This gem, this priceless treasure of simple yet profound wisdom for the living of our lives, is attributed to King David. In today's text we see that the Israelites loved David. "Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, 'Look, we are your bone and flesh. For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in.' " They acknowledged that David was a powerful leader of the people because he lived his life in deep, passionate communion with Yahweh, his beloved Lord God. David was lavishly blessed with many gifts: he was handsome, brilliant, creative, musical, poetic, courageous, charismatic, a great military leader, a wise ruler, a powerful king. But I think David's greatest gift of all was that, blessed so abundantly with all these gifts, he had the gift of humility. He knew that his power was not from himself, but from God. He knew he was a great king only because God was with him. "All of the tribes of Israel said to David, 'The Lord said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.' So ... King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David King over Israel. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years ... And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of Hosts, was with him."
The thing I like the most about David is that David, shepherd boy made king, when he was at his best, knew his place. He always gave God the credit for his "success," for his power, for his greatness. He knew from where his power came. Therefore, in poetic imagery rising up from his core, his roots, his youth as a shepherd boy, King David writes, "The Lord is my shepherd." This day, as we reflect on the life of David, we need to apply the lessons of his life to our own lives. We need to ask ourselves, by what power am I living my life? Am I living my life in deep, passionate communion with Yahweh? Do I look at all that I have and all that I am as my own achievements? Or as the result of the fact that God is with me. Can I truthfully say that the Lord is my shepherd? Have I been letting God be the shepherd of my life?
Today I would like us to look more closely at the Twenty-third Psalm, and how it can be applied to the living of our lives. For as David knew, and as Josie knows, we have in the Twenty-third Psalm a simple yet profound "manual" of everything we need for the living of our lives.
Today we will look at this beloved Psalm as having three major parts.
First we will focus on what we shall call the "power-up" part -- the part that gives us power for the living of our lives: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." David knew, and Josie knows, that if we truly let Yahweh be the shepherd of our lives, we shall lack nothing that we truly need. I can remember a high school biology teacher, Miss Kelly, who said to us students, "If I had children I would give them everything they need, but nothing that they want." When questioned as to what she meant by this, she explained, "Sometimes a toy, an ice cream, a party dress is something a wise and discerning parent would know his/her child really needs." "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall lack nothing that I truly need."
Frequently God is blamed for what is lacking in the lives of God's people. The Twenty-third Psalm challenges us, therefore, that if anyone lacks anything, it is not because God has not created enough abundance. It is because some of us have more than we need, and so are to share with those who have not. "How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?" (1 John 3:17). Sometimes Josie, whose life was empowered by the Lord, her shepherd, provided food, sometimes a safe place, sometimes advice, sometimes teaching, sometimes a word from the Bible, sometimes recreation, sometimes much needed discipline, sometimes comfort, always love.
Do you, like David, like Josie, let the Lord shepherd -- lead, guide, and empower -- your life? Do you give thanks and gratitude to God in whom you lack nothing that you truly need? Do you share with those who are in need so that they too may come to know the Lord as the shepherd of their lives?
"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters; he restoreth my soul...." In other words, he supplies everything, in beauty and abundance: food and drink, beauty, and that peace which restores us. When we spend time daily with the Lord it is like grazing in green pastures, like drinking from cool, peaceful waters. It fills us, nourishes us, strengthens and fortifies us, rejuvenates us, restores our souls. It is so clear when we immerse ourselves in the book of Psalms, so many of which are attributed to David, that David spent time throughout each and every day in God's Word, in prayer and meditation, in communion with the Lord. "Blessed is the one ... who delights in the law of the Lord, and on this law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in due season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers" (Psalm 1:2-3). Martin Luther is famous for having said, "I have so much to do every day that I can't get by without anything less than two hours of prayer!" With all of the hectic, busyness of our lives we need to make sure that we have spent time with our Shepherd, being fed, being at rest, finding our peace within, getting our souls restored so that we can go out there and face all that we must do in the world. Which leads into the next line: "He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Treading down paths of righteousness is not easy. In fact, if we walk in our own power, it is impossible. But if we let the Lord, our shepherd, lead us, we will be fueled with all the power we need.
Part Two can only follow after Part One. For Part Two is all about when the going gets tough: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me." It does not say there will be no valley, no shadows, no death. It does say, "Even there ... 'Thou art with me.' "
So many visual representations of the Twenty-third Psalm show a meek, mild shepherd, sweetly holding a cute, fuzzy little lamb. It all looks so gentle, calm, and pastoral. But I remember seeing a painting of the Twenty-third Psalm that blasted that image of a meek, mild shepherd to smithereens! In this rendition the shepherd was large, strong, and muscular, resembling Atlas. His clothing was ripped and smeared with blood. Clearly the lamb he was clutching to his breast had been in some grave danger before its rescue. The setting was dark, stormy, gloomy, ominous. The terrain looked treacherous -- jagged, rocky crags, and dangerous, jutting precipices. The shepherd's muscles were strained as he climbed up out of a steep ditch overgrown with dark, entangled branches bearing sharp thorns. Ferocious shadowy beasts could be seen in the distance. One could not be sure whether the shepherd had just rescued the sheep from one of the wild beasts, from the entangling brambles of one of the deep ravines, or from falling off the edge of the cliff. But the resolute, determined look on the shepherd's face made you know without a doubt that that sheep was now safe. That that shepherd had gone, and would continue to go, to the limit to rescue that sheep and bring it to safety. The shepherd was reminiscent of a front page newspaper photograph of a firefighter rescuing a small child from a fire. Total devastation loomed behind them, but there was not a doubt in the viewer's mind that that child would be safe. The painting of the shepherd was reminiscent of another newspaper photograph of a mother, her baby on her hip, fording a raging river. You knew that mother would give her life to get that baby to safety. That is the kind of shepherd who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. The Lord is my strong, courageous, tough shepherd. The Lord is my rescuer when I've wandered too far, when I am in a place of danger, when I am attacked by ferocious beasts, when I am lost in a lonely, desolate, frightening place.
"Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." When the former Bishop of the New England Synod of the Lutheran Church, the Reverend Robert Isaksen, came to our church to visit, some of us were intrigued with his Bishop's staff. "It looks like a shepherd's staff," several people said to him. "It is a shepherd's staff," he responded. Then in his sermon, he talked about it. Admittedly, most of us had never seen one before. One end of it, he said, is the "rod." The "rod" part is used to poke or prod the sheep when they need it. For example, when they are straying from the fold, when they are headed toward a ditch. It doesn't take too much imagination to apply that to you and to me. Sometimes we need to be poked and prodded. The crooked end, he said, was the staff end. A shepherd would use it as a giant hook, to lasso the sheep when they started to meander too far, or sometimes to scoop them out of traps they'd fallen into. Just like God our shepherd scoops us out of harm's way.
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." Again, it does not say we will have no enemies. It does say, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." In other words, "Thou provides strength and nourishment for me to contend with my enemies. Thou art present to me in the bread of new life and in the cup of Thy salvation. My enemies will see this, and will tremble because they will know that my power is not from myself, but from you, the Lord. They will see the One by whose power I do what I do, the One who empowers my life." "Thou anointest my head with oil...." In other words, "Thou baptizes me, anoints me, sets me apart as sacred, puts your own seal upon my brow even in the presence of mine enemies!" So I can live my life boldly, despite my enemies, fearing no enemies, for "Thou art with me."
David, as king, had many enemies. David, as a military leader, ventured again and again on military exploits which marched him smack into the valley of the shadow of death, which brought him face to face with the presence of his enemies. Over 1,000 years after David we see Jesus' disciples empowered even in the presence of their enemies, who asked them, "By what power did you do this?" Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, "By the power of the resurrected Christ." By the power of Easter. By the power of the One who raised Christ from the dead. That same power is within you and me and that is the power with which we walk through our valleys, past our shadows, through our deaths, feasting at the table in the presence of our enemies!
This week my devotions have been excerpts from a book called The Mothers of the Disappeared. The Mothers of the Disappeared is a movement that began in Argentina, when young men and women who worked for justice, fed the hungry, clothed and educated the poor, and worked to provide housing for those living in poverty, began to "disappear." Some would eventually return and tell horror stories of their imprisonment, their torture, and the deaths of many in their movement.
The mothers of the disappeared began their own movement; bearing white handkerchiefs, and the words, "The resurrection lives!" they would gather in the Plaza de Mayo.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." It doesn't mean there will be no evil. It means we will not be overcome by it. It doesn't mean we may not face death. It means: Even there "Thou art with me." Reverend Vernon John, who served as pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, just before the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began his pastorate there, paved the way for Dr. King by his own courageous witness. He said: "If there's nothing in this life worth dying for, then there is nothing worth living for."
Thou preparest a table before me even in the presence of the Philistine army, seeking my head; even in the presence of the Roman authorities, seeking to put Christians to death; even in the Plaza de Mayo; even in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1960s; even in the poor, dangerous community of South Providence; even in the presence of mine enemies; even in the valley of the shadow of death, "Thou art with me."
The third and final part of the Twenty-third Psalm we shall call "A New Place; Beyond the Valley; the place of empowerment -- of power within; Dwelling in the House of the Lord." This is the place David was in when he had the courage to face Goliath. This is the place where Josie dwells when she dares to open her home and her heart to all of the young people who need a godmother in her neighborhood in South Providence. This is the place of power the disciples were living in when they faced those same authorities who had crucified their Lord and said "We have the courage to stand before you today because the one who raised Christ from the dead is on our side, is within us. This is the place inhabited by every martyr who stood resolutely in the Coliseum facing the lions. This is the place of power in which the mothers of the disappeared live and hope. All of these witnesses had arrived at a New Place. A place of empowerment. A place of power within, fueled by the Living God. A place where our cups runneth over. A place where 'Thou art with me' is a constant state of existence, so 'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord even beyond that -- forever!' "
It is in this power that you and I can live our lives. It is in the power of the Great Shepherd who rescues us, frees, us, walks through every valley with us, laid down his life for us. It is in the power which on the third day raised Christ from the dead. It is in the power of Easter that we live. It is in this power that you and I can go forth from this place for the living of our lives, and someday for the facing of our deaths, knowing that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen!
