The House of the Lord
with Rev. Laura Sherwood
July 21, 2024
Come to engage with the well-known Twenty Third psalm in a new way with Lectio Divinia. Hear a message that tells us Because of God, we are drawn into a community where our fundamental needs of body and spirit are cared for.
The Scripture
Jeremiah 23:1-6
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.
5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
6 In his days Judah will be saved
and Israel will live in safety.
This is the name by which he will be called:
The Lord Our Righteous Savior.
Psalm 23
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,
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.
Read the Full Text
I learned about Lectio Divina for the first time in seminary and I appreciated the permission to let the scripture speak to me without worrying about a serious study. We didn’t learn it as a replacement for study by any means, but as a way to connect with scripture in a different way and to be open to how the spirit might be speaking to us through the reading.
Over the years, when I have listened to scripture in this manner, my attention is most often drawn to specific words or phrases from the text. Occasionally, my mind is filled with images rather than words. That has been my experience with Psalm 23 whenever I hear it read. I’m guessing that the images I picture when I hear this psalm are shared by many – God as shepherd, lying down in a green pasture, being led by a still waters, or dwelling the house of the Lord. Every image gives me a sense of how God is present with me, with all of us, and how God intended us to be present for each other.
Finish reading
For the remainder of the sermon, I’d like to explore some of the images conjured by Psalm 23, the meaning behind them and the feelings they evoke, starting with probably the most common image – God as Shepherd. For me, as for many of us I believe, the image of God or Jesus as shepherd gives a feeling of comfort and care, that we have nothing to fear because we have a shepherd who is always with us, always looking out for us.
It’s also comforting on a personal level because it helps us to feel that we are not alone in any trouble or despair, that God still walks with us and helps us to find rest for our souls. I not only have those images of Jesus leading the sheep when I hear the Psalm, but I overwhelmingly imagine. God in Jesus leading me, walking with me in green fields and beside a peaceful stream of water. It feels deeply personal.
When these words of prayer were written, I’m sure they were an expression of great personal comfort and trust in God during very stressful and insecure times that the Psalmist himself was experiencing. But they were much more a prayer for the faith community-as-a-whole because they ultimately paint a picture for us of what it means to be a part of the world the way God intended it to be. It is the image of the last line that points us to that greater meaning when it says that the individual will dwell forever in “the house of the Lord.”
“The house of the Lord,” was another way of saying the Temple, the place where the community gathered to worship God, for all of us here, the Church Sanctuary. When I hear “the house of the Lord”, the image I typically see is the church where I grew up or one of the many churches I have served, including this one. We are all in the House of the Lord right now, not because of the physical properties of this beautiful space, but because of the people with whom we are sharing this space.
The House of the Lord is where all the other images of Psalm 23 reside. The sure and trustworthy Shepherd who makes sure the sheep get what they need for life. On a practical level: green pastures meant nutritious food. Still waters – or as the Hebrew literally translates – waters of rest – meant a place to stop and rest during a long journey and to drink safely from waters that will not carry us down stream. “He leads me on right paths,” – a big part of the Shepherd’s job was to lead the sheep to places of food and water, often in areas where the walking was treacherous – a right path meant a path they could walk safely without fear of slipping and falling down a steep slope.
A Psalm that often conjures beautiful images of soft, fluffy sheep walking tranquilly in a green valley with peaceful streams of water, was meant to be a practical picture of how a shepherd puts his life on the line every day to do the dirty, sleepless, physically demanding work of keeping the sheep together on their trail, so that they wouldn’t starve or go thirsty, become injured or fall prey to other animals. God the Shepherd not only loves and cares for all of us like that, God created the community of faith so that we could care for each other like that.
The House of the Lord is the image God has given for what the Church is meant to be. Where we care about what each of us needs for our body and soul, but actively participate in making sure we get it.
From the practical needs of hunger, thirst, and safety to the spiritual embodiment of nourishment, refreshment, and peace – all represented in the Psalm’s images of a shepherd and sheep, green pastures, still waters, and safe pathways. Images brought to life in the House of the Lord.
I am looking out right now at a living image of the House of the Lord where this community of loving care that God created is made manifest. When you get up from your seats today or turn off your screens and go back to the world of your own lives, know that you are taking not just all the images, but the full reality of the House of the Lord with you. May you feel its nourishment, refreshment, and peace dwelling within you and may all whom you encounter feel the same through you.
In the name of the One who leads us beside the still waters and never leaves our side, amen.