Sermon Summaries

Just 3 p.m. on this sunny Tuesday afternoon. It's about 45 degrees out, and I had a nice long walk earlier.

What a crazy couple of weeks it's been...

Going to Brattleboro on the 8th and riding with Mike and his friend Alice was kinda cool. The rest of the week, however, not so much. She had promised to show me some techniques for massaging Mike's neck and shoulder, (which are STILL in pain) and while she did "some" work on him, I was never part of it. From both our perspectives, she mostly neglected him/us in favor of other people. Then, when it came to the weekend and I was coming home with Arianna and Tayler... well, let's just say that it didn't go to plan, nor was she right about literally ANYTHING in her rant to me and Mike on Messenger later. At this point, it looks like Alice may be our only option for a ride. The good news for Arianna, however, is that she and Tayler are apartment hunting in preparation to get her son, Takoda, back. Currently, she has a bed set up for him at her grandmother's place, and (assuming she's telling the truth), she has a job interview Friday morning. Prayers for the entire situation there.

In relation to this, Mike DID go back to the hospital yesterday morning. They told him to chew gum and take Sudafed for decongesting everything. At the same time, they found that his brain literally sits slightly crooked in his head!! (We always knew he was a bit "off"... LOL) Anyway, he's scheduling an ENT appointment and an MRI to gain more information. At least it doesn't seem like anything serious, so that's a HUGE relief!! Prayers appreciated.

Meanwhile, my mother is home from the nursing home. They sent her back the 13th. When she found out that Carissa had their storage keys, she blew up and called to have the locks changed!! At this point, my daughter and I are like, 500% DONE helping them. My father has people looking into permanent placement for him, and my mother may or may not have people as well... IDK, but I hope so. We continue to trust God's provision and timing while praying it all happens sooner than later. Dad's people have deemed the duplex unfit for him and mom needs 24/7 professional care available for when she falls again.

The update with Andrea and Matt is that I've seen her 3 times in the past 5 days. The reasons for the first two, however, were not good. Her father passed away on the 12th after a brief stay in hospice care.* The calling hours were Thursday evening and the funeral on Friday afternoon. As my parents have known them somewhat longer than I have*, I paid for a cab so they could attend the calling hours with me. I then walked home. The church where they held the funeral is only 3 blocks from me, so that was a much shorter walk. I ended up seeing her again yesterday afternoon due to the fact that I was already nearby on another errand, so it worked out well. Prayers appreciated for the family as well as for Matt's continued recovery.

And so, onward...

As I was thinking briefly about my Message Intro today, I came up with 2 examples of "quiet water" in my own life. One physical and the other more emotional/spiritual, but both from childhood.

First, I thought about the pond we used to swim in at various times when I was little. Some of my first swimming lessons took place at Pleasant Pond in Henniker, NH.. They were provided through the YMCA. The times I enjoyed more, however, were just with my grandfather and my parents. It was just a peaceful time when we all had a chance to cool off in a calm, natural setting and just appreciate the water.

The other times I thought of were the bike rides my father and I would take. These started from the time I learned to ride when I was about 8, and continued through High School, and possibly even a bit later. We would set out after lunch on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, or in the Summer, it might even be after supper since it was still light out for a couple of hours. We had a basic route we would follow, although we sometimes did it in the opposite direction, just for a bit of variety. And there were also moments when we might skip a portion of it entirely, based on time or energy in the moment. Of course, this was all dependent on the weather, as well. Generally speaking, we would take rides from about May to October, if it was warm enough and not raining. (Or, heck, being that this is New England, snow would not be out of the question) Anyway, I have always treasured those times with dad. They were like oases in the desert of my otherwise fairly arid childhood.*

As we'll discover in today's message, this analogy is rather accurate...

Turn to Psalm 23 and read slowly with me --

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.²     He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,³     he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths    for his name’s sake.⁴ Even though I walk    through the darkest valley,^[a]I will fear no evil,    for you are with me; your rod and your staff,    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me    in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil;    my cup overflows.⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me    all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord    forever.

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As I watched Pastor Joe's message online yesterday afternoon, he first brought out the "takeaway line" of the entire sermon --

"The Good Shepherd leads us into life as we learn to rest in His love."*

He then went on to review the fact that, in this series, we are looking not only at the Psalm itself, but at how our Core Desires as human beings are fulfilled by it with God's loving care.

This portion focuses on our innate need for peace, safety and security. The question we ask ourselves here is, "Am I safe??" Just as we need these elements at work in our lives, sheep require them too. Especially when it comes time to drink water.

As we discovered last time, our modern day images of this Psalm, usually depicted by lush pastures with small streams flowing through them, are not accurate. At least most of the time, the areas David has written about here are actually deserts with patches of brown grass and water is scarce apart from the rainy season. Knowing this brings a whole new depth of meaning and poignancy to the words, doesn't it??

As Pastor Joe pointed out here, it is primarily a psalm of survival. Of life and death, overseen by a loving God Who cares deeply for His sheep.

The key factors when finding/providing water for sheep are that it be accessible, calm, and clean/trustworthy. Joe also brought out the fact that the "quietness" of the water doesn't relate so much to it's volume, like the pond I mentioned above, but to the lack of threat. This not only refers to the quality of the water itself, but to the surrounding area. There cannot be any predators to disturb the sheep while they drink, or they will simply run away and possibly die of thirst rather than stay to die by attack. (If you recall from our earlier messages here, sheep are not stupid, but defenseless) The water sources sheep drink from are living nourishment for them.

What is the first thing you think of as the top source of death in a desert?? If you said either heat exhaustion or thirst, you would be wrong. Shockingly enough, the single number one source of death in the desert is not heat, or thirst, or even wild animal attacks. It's WATER!! Yep, you read that correctly!!

This is due to the flash flooding that happens during a heavy rain. The problem is that the ground is so dry and hard that the water can't penetrate it. Therefore, it seeks the path of least resistance and forms deep trenches, or ravines. The Arabic word for this is "wadi". The water then rushes down, potentially creating a current strong enough to carry any unsuspecting sheep away with it!! Pastor Joe describes this as "chaos waters", not unlike times of turmoil in our lives. This is why the shepherd needed wisdom to know the best areas in which to lead the sheep to "quiet, or calm" waters.

These places of quiet water may have come in a few different ways --

• Natural springs, hidden in various places around the area.

• The shepherd may divert water from larger streams with stones or dig channels.

• The shepherd may also dig a "basin" and fill it with water. This relates to accessibility, as the sheep cannot reach too deeply into any given container or pool.

• In the second two methods, we see the slow, tedious, physically demanding, and highly intentional efforts of the shepherd to tend his sheep well.

As we can see here, the work of a shepherd is a major responsibility. (It's not an "easy life" of sitting around on the hillside watching the sheep graze all day. It takes a good knowledge of the region and seasons, it takes walking the sheep to good areas, defending them from attack/guiding them on the path, and ensuring that they get enough to eat and drink, even if they have to work even more to give it to them. This requires a deep love for the herd, and each member of it.)*

As we consider the thoughts of David's original readers here, images of Eden come up again. In Genesis 1, we see the Spirit of God hovering over the chaos waters of the Earth. The Father then calls for the water and land to be separated, preparing a good environment for both animals and humans to flourish. When we get to chapter 2, we find that God has established rivers, not only flowing through the Garden itself, but extending out into the rest of the region. In the same way, God gives water, life, and nourishment in our lives.

Now, admittedly, this concept may not match our lived experiences every second of every day. But the point lies in the fact that those negative times are always temporary, right?? Whether it's a rough moment, day, week, month, year, etc... God is there to support us in it if we let Him. Life outside the Garden is hard and arid. We mostly feel the chaos, don't we?? Like David, our lives are filled with loss, pain, and betrayal. In this psalm, David invites us into peace and rest in God's love, just as he has discovered for himself.

Pastor Joe then presented us with the truth that The Good Shepherd bringing life-giving waters out of the chaos waters of death is a meta-theme of the Bible. We find it in numerous places throughout Scripture. Starting from Creation, which we mentioned above, we find it in the stories of Noah, the Exodus, the Wilderness, and later in Jesus. (Of course, Abraham is required to establish the Hebrew Nation as a people in the midst of this.)

I didn't write everything down, but the Old Testament stories show how God brought His Chosen People at each point THROUGH the waters, not AROUND them. This is especially true to Noah's experience in the Ark and the Israelites while fleeing Egypt in the Exodus. In the Wilderness, we see how God provided water and sustenance in various ways.

In the New Testament, we find Jesus bringing His own type of "water" to a thirsty land. Between His healings and His preaching, Jesus proved Himself to be a source of both physical and spiritual life to those whose lives He touched. In John 4, Jesus even refers to Himself as "Living Water" to the Woman at the Well. Since I'm sure most of you know the story, I'm not going into detail here, but the fact that this woman was going to the well at Noon tells us that she was intent on avoiding people. As a result, she and Jesus were the only ones there at that time. The significance for us here in relation to Psalm 23 is that shepherds generally bring their sheep to water at midday. The other point Pastor Joe brought out here was that, like the Woman at the Well became a source of "quiet water" to her community after having the conversation with Jesus, we are all meant to be sources of quiet water to others in our own lives.

In closing, Pastor Joe shared the truth that, particularly for those like himself who lead others in the ways of God, we may be tested or challenged immediately ahead of time in order for our delivery to be all the more "authentic". As an example, this happened to Joe the day before this message was to be delivered. Pastor Matt had called saying that he was sick and unable to be there that week. This meant that Pastor Joe had to step up, and quickly!! Now, as I've shared here before, Joe has a long-standing battle with anxiety. He had plans with his wife and kids that had to be postponed due to his need to prep this message in time for that Sunday's service. That, combined with the last minute factor, caused him a lot of stress. At the same time, as he settled into his office at the church to work on it, he heard God telling him to rest as he was working. This amazing sermon was the result of Joe following God's lead and trusting in a time of personal anxiety.

His closing thought was that our love for each other stems from resting ourselves in God's love.

After that, communion was served, so I didn't continue watching. But now that you're mostly done reading this, grab a small snack and savor the wonderful message you've just received.

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. Andrea's father had been suffering with Alzheimer's for several years, along with other age-related issues. As she said in her FB post, "It is with a sigh of relief that I announce my father's passing...".

2. My first memory of the family was from the age of 4 when I attended the Nursery School Andrea's mother ran at the time. That's over 50 yrs...

3. It's not an easy life growing up as an Only Child with a Narcissistic mother and few friends. (Especially when you know you should've been the older of 2 children.) My brother died of SIDS at 2 1/2 months when I was 3.

4. Although it wasn't part of the sermon itself, I wanted to share something cool I saw on Pinterest last night that relates to Psalm 23. This woman shared that the word "shepherd" actually comes from a Hebrew term that speaks to the point of being "one who sees". She was encouraged to know that God sees her. Amen!!?? (A brief search here doesn't entirely bear this out, but mentions a close companion or friend, "ro'eh", is the Hebrew word. It also refers to the term "Yahweh Ro'i", which may relate to the term Hagar used when she became pregnant with Ishmael, calling God, "the One Who Sees".)

5. As always, parenthetical statements are mine.

   
   

No music this time, as I only watched the sermon bits on YouTube.