Saturday, May 6th, 2017
The Lord is My Shepherd
Life is often described as a journey. It's a rich metaphor, we can all relate to, because who doesn't love a road trip? One never knows what lies around the next bend!
The experience of an expedition can serve to symbolize many different trials and triumphs one faces along the way.
Each of us begin our expedition as tiny toddlers on the "pathway of life." Each of us face our own dangers and delights, come upon monsters and mentors. We walk with others for a time, sometimes we walk alone, only to finally hang our cloak on that final hook.
Many great stories have been told, which highlight something important about life through the metaphor of a trip. For example, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey, James Joyce’s Ulysses, more recently The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Even movies like 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles', 'Little Miss Sunshine', and 'Thelma & Louise', use travel to describe life.
One of my favourite examples comes from today's Psalm. In the 23rd Psalm, we read about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. We learn how our Lord makes us rest in the green pastures we encounter. He leads us beside quiet waters. His direction on our trek is down the right paths, for his name's sake.
No story is worth telling without conflict, resolution, climax - and just as first Peter chapter two said, in today's reading, we will endure pain, we will experience suffering, and it will be unjust. The fact of the matter is, we have all wandered, we have all strayed; but we have now returned to the shepherd, which Peter describes as the guardian of our souls! We are not alone!
As he leads us, his people, we come to learn to recognize his voice. Do you know how to recognize the voice of God within your soul? That still, soft, quiet sound leading you to love, to share, to do what is right in the face of wrong? We, the sheep, follow our shepherd because we know the sound of his voice. We should not feel comfortable when the strange voice of the thief comes among us. We should not become familiar with that voice.
Jesus told us he was the gate through which the sheep go in and go out and find pasture. And though the thief will try to steal and kill and destroy, Jesus wants to lead us to fullness and abundance of life!
I'd like us to soak in that metaphor this evening. We're journeying together, on a quest to love others just as Christ loved us. But unlike so many of the ancient and modern tellings of the life-journey, in our story we are not alone. We have a good shepherd who directs us, protects us, connects us, perfects us, and someday resurrects us!
Amen
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