Words for Life: You Are Never Alone - Psalm 23; John 10:11-16
a sermon by The Rev. Dr. Fred A. Holbrook, June 30, 2024
The tears flowed. Bob had lived with his sister for over thirty years. Neither of them had married. Her health had been failing and he didn’t expect her to live much longer. Bob was struggling too and was in the hospital when his sister died. He wasn’t certain that the doctors were going to release him for the funeral. Bob had his family call and ask me to do the service.
When I dropped by his room to prepare the funeral, Bob shared that their health had made it impossible for them to attend church for several years. I assured him that God understood. After doing some planning together, I asked if there were any passages of scripture he would like for us to use.
Bob said without hesitation, “Psalm 23.”
“That psalm is near and dear to many of us,” I replied.
His tears made the silence holy. “Would you like to hear it?” I asked. He nodded and I took his hand.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Bob gripped my hand even tighter as we continued. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.”
Psalm 23 is the most requested passage of scripture for funerals. This psalm comforts those who grieve. It is truly one of the most memorable of texts from the Bible. Psalm 23 is, without a doubt, one of the “words for life” we are studying this summer because it convinces us that, whatever we face, we are not alone.
The first three verses are a statement about God’s work in our lives. The third person masculine singular, “He,” is used four times. Verses four and five are directed to God, affirming what God is doing in each of our lives. “You are with me; Your rod and your staff comfort me; You prepare a table; You anoint my head with oil.” And the final verse is our response: “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
We can talk about God but until we experience God firsthand, we will never really respond to the Lord like we should. We can talk about the Lord as our shepherd, but until we walk through the tough times, through the dark valleys, and feel God’s comforting presence, the Lord never becomes real for us.
YouTube broadens our horizons—sometimes with negative images and sometimes with positive. Chase Birch, a 10-year-old little girl was arriving in Memphis, TN for a three-week intense treatment at St. Jude Children’s Hospital. She had an aggressive form of brain cancer. Chase heard that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was singing a concert, but she knew she would not be able to attend due to her scheduled treatments. The family inquired about having a few members of the choir surprise Chase by singing in the lobby of the hotel as she arrived. The YouTube video captures the entire choir and orchestra greeting her as she enters the lobby wearing her mask. They sing for her and conclude with that beautiful hymn: “God be with you till we meet again; By His counsels’ guide, uphold you, With His sheep securely fold you: God be with you till we meet again.”
The Living Bible translates Psalm 23, verse 1: “Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything that I need.”
Douglas Steere tells this story in his book Together in Solitude.
“I know a Norwegian pastor who was arrested for his share in the underground during World War II. After a trial in Germany, he was sentenced to death. By a series of extraordinary events, the pastor was still among the living when the war ground to a close in 1945.” Steere writes, “I once asked him what happens inside a person when a sentence of death is passed upon them. He could only speak for himself, the pastor replied, but for him, it was an occasion when a great flood of heavenly mercy poured into his heart: for his judges, for his captors, for his countrymen, for all people everywhere. It was a mercy so clean that he regretted his own death because he would no longer be around to try to change the hearts of people at the close of the war. He yearned to help them to make their decisions in this all-encompassing climate of compassion.”
My friends, perhaps the reason the 23rd Psalm resonates in our souls is because we are like little lambs being embraced by the Good Shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd, I know my own and my own know me…. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Perhaps it resonates in our souls because it convinces us that whatever we are facing, whether declining health or a bad mammogram or a raging disease, broken homes or broken hearts, deep chasms between progressives and conservatives in America and abroad, imprisonment or depression, death or loss, God is saying to each one of us, “You are not alone. You are not alone.”
My wife, Laura, played the leading role in Carousel when we were in college. The main character, Julie Jordan, falls in love with Billy. In the second act, soon after she has told him that she is pregnant with their child, Billy is involved in a robbery that ends in his death. Julie is devastated and her dear cousin Nettie holds her close and offers love and hope as she sings [G↓]:
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone
We who believe never walk alone. The Lord is our Shepherd. The Lord is real and loving and gentle and with us. The Lord is real for Karen Hulce. Karen is the best friend of my sister, Pat. Though they live four states apart from one another, they have remained close for over forty years. Karen chose my sister to serve as godmother for her children, Jeremy and Whitney.
Just after midnight on a Saturday in the spring of 2010, Whitney, a 2nd grade teacher, was crossing a four-lane road after leaving a restaurant with her friends. They all ran across but Whitney, a 25-year-old vibrant young adult, didn’t make it. She was hit and killed by a car. And Karen, her mother, was awakened by the police who told her of the tragedy.
I drove my sister to the funeral. Over 700 people were there. Karen and other family and friends were walking through the valley of the shadow of death. They could have felt very, very alone. But at her home afterwards, Whitney’s mother, Karen, looked up at me and said, “You’re the preacher, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“I can’t tell you how sad losing Whitney is for me but there is an amazing peace God has laid on my heart. I know I have tough times ahead, but will you pray for me? With God’s help, I’ll make it.” I leaned in and placed my forehead against Karen’s and we prayed that God would stand with her every moment of the days, weeks, months, and years ahead.
“Yea, though I walk through the darkest valley… Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me….”
There is a 32-year-old at a church I served who, at the age of 19, had to have the first of two radical mastectomies due to cancer. We met before her second mastectomy and I shared with her a little book by Leslie Weatherhead entitled The Will of God. She shared with the congregation how it had meant so much to her. Weatherhead says that God has an intentional will which is God’s original plan for our lives. Sometimes the circumstances change that plan. A brain tumor, a car accident, an affair, a layoff, the death of a child—and in the midst of the new circumstances, God’s will can be discovered. God can take circumstances beyond our control, circumstances that make us feel that we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and God can make some sense out of them. God has a plan even when the circumstances change. And we discover that ultimately, nothing can ever happen to us that will separate us from God’s love or defeat the will of our Good and Loving Shepherd.
Let me clarify God’s intentional, God’s circumstantial, and God’s ultimate will as we reflect on a tragedy like what happened at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX.
There is no doubt that God’s intentional will was for the nineteen students and two teachers to live full lives, completing good, long years on this earth. But the circumstances of that fateful day changed the plan. Their lives were cut short.
Their families and friends are still numbed by the circumstances, by the shock. What happened was sudden, unexpected, horrible, unbelievable. But, with God’s help, the victims’ families and friends will be able to heal, to put their lives back together. God takes tragic circumstances and, because we are not alone, God stands with us. God places friends and loved ones in our path who hold us up as we walk through life’s darkest valleys.
And ultimately, with God’s help and the promises of the Good Shepherd, things will be okay. Nothing is perfect this side of heaven, but God can bring a touch of heaven to earth as we heal physically and emotionally and spiritually. We know that God’s ultimate will is for all of us to join one day with departed loved ones who are victims of heinous crimes. God’s ultimate will is for us to reunite with those who are no longer with us. God’s ultimate will is for us to rejoin all the saints who from their labors rest.
But, until that day, Psalm 23 comforts Bob in the hospital and 10-year-old Chase in the Memphis hotel lobby and Whitney’s mother Karen, and the families and friends of Uvalde. Psalm 23 comforts you and me.
As we conclude, I invite you to close your eyes. For those of us who know this Psalm in the King James Version, let’s say it aloud. Let this be our Prayer of Commitment. Let the love and comfort of the Good Shepherd shower over us as we hear these words. For, with God, we never, ever walk alone.
Psalm 23 (unison): The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Amen and amen.