A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Winnette
Nov. 1, 2009
Goodness and Mercy Follows, Psalm 23
Halloween is over! Many of you are probably delighted that it’s over, the candy bowls, fake fangs, pumpkins, spiders and black witch hats can all be put away. Sorry, I’m not yet ready to let it go quite yet. How many of you know people who elected to walk through Valleys of Shadows paying money to go through Haunted Houses or Forests? Do you know someone who enjoys watching horror films of terror and gore? I’m not one of them. You cannot pay me enough to watch a horror film. There is a burgeoning young adult fascination in our culture with vampires, witches, and werewolves. The shelves of Borders book stores are crowded with fangs and fur – Twilight, Sookie Stackhouse, Anne Rice. It interests me that the monsters of old are now popping up as romantic heroes. Vampire doctors and detectives, werewolf police officers, and spell-casting soccer moms abound in fiction.
One translation I ran across in my study of Psalm 23 might be of interest to those who enjoy reading about the creatures who go bump in the night. The Hebrew word for the 23rd Psalm’s “darkest valley” is Tsalmaveth. Biblical studies have tried to locate metaphor to a particular place such as the Valley of Hinnom, a dark place of human sacrifice. The word means death shadow, or a place of the dead or extreme danger. One biblical scholar has studied the term and he thinks it may have resonated as personified gremlins, demons, or dark creatures. He suggests that the shepherds of the day, claimed death shadows were little monsters that crept in the shadows ready to imperil the sheep. They sent wolves to bite, prepared holes to break legs, and worked many kinds of mischief. The good shepherd was clever enough, attentive enough, and courageous enough to lead the sheep past the shadowy dangers. It could be simply a wacko theory. Regardless, the Valley of the Shadow of Death is a metaphor for the life-sapping, suffering, frightening experiences in our lives. The point of the Psalmist is that we need not live in fear - we are not alone. The Good Shepherd is with us with a couple of big sticks, a rod and a staff. The Psalm makes no promise that we can avoid the dangers of life. The Psalmist walks through the valley but not alone. Our belief in God’s partnership gives us courage to walk. Our God invites us to live our lives in partnership, as family, in and as the House of the Lord forever.
We live in a world filled with real danger and terror: we have read and heard all week the terrifying war-torn lives being walked in Afghanistan, and Iraq. We have too many friends who are fighting to walk through valleys of cancer. Too many are journeying through periods of impoverishment, homelessness, joblessness, and worry. Why would people elect to be terrified by film or Haunted House? I wonder if the experience of walking through a fearful haunted house helps people somewhat manage their real fears. I wonder if it builds within them a kind of courage, a fortification that if they can survive the fake terrors, they will be able to survive the real ones with equal aplomb. Maybe it works like a practice, a role-play in that it creates an interior courageous experience.
I saw many costumed, role-playing monsters last night. The fascination with heroic vampires, werewolves and witches may serve the same purpose that heroic stories always have, to build interior fortifications. Our fascination with heroes and their stories builds within us imaginative scenarios that help us cope with life’s challenges. The readers of fantasy resonate with the thriving creatures, even if they are villainous anti-heroes. The vampires have night-vision powers that help them survive in the dark. Maybe a young reader dreams of having a similar strength to enable him to negotiate the anxiety of growing up in a country that has diminishing career paths. The witches have spells that empower them to manipulate their circumstances. Maybe the teen reader imagines having abilities to really impact her world. Maybe she dreams of a spell to stop global warming, another to help the honey bees and polar bears thrive. The over-politicization of many issues of the environment can only be teaching our youth that the problems are unsolvable. So they dream of magical, life-altering powers. The werewolves have the strength and ferocity to overcome any attacker. In a world of rampant individualism, our youth dream of having the personal power to protect themselves when attacked.
I am not sure how worried we should be as we watch old symbols of evil being so popularly embraced. I worry that the young adult audience seems to have little interest in the good old moralistic heroes of old. I will keep pondering this vein of sociology. This morning though, I want you to walk away with two commitments. They will help us and our children build courage to walk our lives in this world.
First, be educated as Christians. Let me plug our church education program. We must support our teachers that they teach our children the stories of the Saints of faith.
We need to continue teaching each other the stories of the Saints, so that we can imagine and invite their courage into our lives. So bring the children, bring yourselves to the opportunities to learn the stories of faith together.
Encourage the children to cherish the images of our Scripture. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” I saw no shepherds out last night with crooks and sheep-shaped candy baskets. Many years ago there was a Candid Camera episode where a school counselor was offering the results of a vocational aptitude test with a teenage boy. It was great. His expression was superbly frustrated as she shared that his vocational testing proved that he would be most vocationally suited as a shepherd. Poor young man. We don’t have shepherds in our culture, but I would love for our youth to be dreaming of growing up to be leaders in the church and their community modeling their work aspirations on Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
I saw no slingshot-bearing David’s trick or treating last night. I saw no youth dressed up as Martin Luther King Jr. preaching justice for candy. A Saint Francis of Assisi costume would be really cool, a cassock and some birds and squirrels. I am not suggesting that we ban our children from reading about witches or dressing up as vampires.
But I hope that we are powerfully teaching them the real stories of truth and how the faithful have overcome dangers and toils with courage and love.
Media addicts us to negativity. Our country’s peaceful responses to the wars of the world, our country’s participation in environmental and economic hope is pulverized in the media, polarized by political wrangling. No wonder the heroes of the day are bloodsuckers, and life-renders. We have a noble task before us. We are called to fight for life, to teach and learn our faith’s seminal stories, so that the fortifications deep in our hearts are God centered. Teach the stories of the Saints, and role-play their courage in your imaginations. Teach the children to role-play the Saints; their spirits will come to our aid for we need them.
Share the stories of Bradley Hills and its founding. In this day of financial worry, let’s hear those stories of how a few people were called to found a new church. Study how they shared their time and talent to build a sanctuary, to provide an organ, to create a nursery school. Those Saintly stories help us manage our fears about money. They teach us how to be generous with our time and talent. Let’s introduce our children to Howard and Ariel Biggs, to Henry and Dorothy deCourt to all the founding Saints of this church who gave of their lives so that this community can live as one of God’s heartbeats in the world.
Let’s cherish the stories of the second, third, and fourth generations of Bradley Hills Saints. Remember the Pastors Brown, Hall and Andrews, the St. Johns, Ed Murphy, Poppy Hummers, and Emily Wilson. We will grow as we learn each others’ stories of victory in life. I would love to see children dressing up like an Okura, an Adamson, a DeLouise, or like the Hatchetts, or Betty Hansen, or Edith Mafabi.
“And we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” We are in the House of the Lord. While Haunted Houses may have some beneficial outcomes in building courageous interior fortifications, I know my second commitment will serve us better. Memorize and regularly recite the 23rd Psalm. I don’t care if you learn and teach the King James or the NRSV. Pray the Psalm, sing it, let it reside readied in your heart. When you hear the words, imagine the life-enriching community it celebrates. When we say it we invoke God’s presence as our Shepherd; our saving Christ is present. The Psalmist comes and shares her trust. Our enemies are invited and they sit before God’s bountiful table put in their places – disempowered before God’s love. And God’s powerful characteristics: Goodness and Mercy are there flanking us readied to empower us with God’s wholeness. We are assembled in the house of the Lord; each of us is here with all the Saints of life.
Psalm 23 teaches us that we are not alone. In the valleys and battle-grounds of our lives we are not alone. God is with us like a shepherd who leads us to cool beverage, hearty foods, calm restful parks, and deep peace.
The Good Shepherd soothes our souls and guides on good journeys. We are not alone in the dark places; God is present with us. The holy cook, our God, even feeds us in front of our enemies. And then blesses us with oil, and an overflowing cup. Our true selves are valued even before our enemies, we are shown to be beloved children of God.
Our walks of life are difficult; the psalm does not promise an idyllic bliss, or a romantic paradise. Our hearts would not believe it if it did for much of our experience in the world is difficult. The Psalm teaches us to cling to God and each other in the midst of life’s difficult journeys. It teaches us to enjoy the restful and bountiful times with deep joy. It teaches us to feed one another, to shepherd one another, to protect one another, and to cheer one another as God’s Children. It teaches us to partner with God in making a good new world.
I heard a story of a little girl who offered to recite the psalm. She stood in front of an audience, made a polite bow and then said in a loud voice, “The Lord is my shepherd – that’s all I want.” She then bowed again and went back to her chair. Good enough. Amen.
