April 29, 2007
Fourth Sunday of Easter

Psalm 23

The images that most of us bring back to mind as we hear the 23rd Psalm are those from our childhood in Sunday School; images of a Shepherd tending to the sheep in a grassy hillside with beautiful scenery that brings a calming and peaceful feeling. But what about when there are the times and events in our lives or in our world where that peace is difficult to be experienced or we are hopeless, or our comfort is turned into doubt. Perhaps some of us have experienced one of those times recently when a young man shot thirty-two other people and then himself on the campus of Virginia Tech University. It is difficult to make sense of a world in which a young person can be so troubled, so destructive, and so unable to receive the help that others offered him. How do we make sense of a world in which such bright, innocent, promising young lives are tragically and suddenly lost? How do we begin to understand a world where people in America, Iraq, Darfur, and a thousand other places die regularly and senselessly?

We, like the people crowding around Jesus in the Portico of Solomon, are asking similar questions "Are you the Messiah?" The people crowding around Jesus want a clear and decisive answer; instead, he is cryptic and evasive. The people want him to speak with authority about weapons and strategies; instead, he talks about sheep. How does this Jesus have anything at all to do with the worries and dangers of our lives? How can our faith in Jesus help us through a tragedy like the one at Virginia Tech? What can the gentle shepherd do to help?

The wonderful thing about Psalm 23 is just how realistic it is about the darkness of life. The psalm itself knows darkness and fear; like the writer of the psalm, many Christians have traveled through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. They too have known the threat of the unknown and yet many have also known the comfort of God's presence, walking alongside them through that dark valley.

The ultimate truth of our Christian faith, the truth we remember this Easter season and every Sunday as we celebrate the Lord's Resurrection, is that our Shepherd leads us out of death into life. God prepares a table for all of us; a table with overflowing cups and over-abundant blessings. And Jesus, our Great Shepherd, invites us to come and share with him at the table of blessing.

Silito

Take a look at some of the previous messages from the Rector