Living Psalm 23
based on Psalm 23 and John 10:11-18
by Rev. Karen A. Goltz

            Have you ever been in a nursing home or a hospital, visiting someone who’s no longer completely in touch with reality?  Maybe you’re visiting a family member, someone very close like a parent or a grandparent, but they’re just not themselves anymore.  They may not even be able to remember who you are, or who they are.  It’s painful to see a loved one go through that, and I imagine it’s difficult and frustrating for that person to lose touch with everything that’s familiar.

            I’ve been on a few visits like that, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t uncomfortable for me.  It’s hard to connect with someone who’s so disconnected from everything.

            But then I’ll read the twenty-third Psalm aloud to them, and all of a sudden it’s like a light’s been turned on.  Someone who can’t recognize their own family or remember their own name will begin to recite the psalm along with me.  There’s just something about those verses that makes the connection, that soothes the soul.  This psalm, like all the other psalms, is a prayer of the people to God.  A prayer that speaks to God for us when we can’t come up with the words on our own.

            The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  Just a simple confession of faith; one that’s so familiar that we almost take it for granted.  The Lord is my shepherd.  I need someone to guard me and guide me, someone to take care of me and see that all my needs are met.  The Lord is the one who does that, and I know that the Lord will make sure that I’ll never be without anything I need.  I know that as surely as I’m standing here today.  Such a simple statement of faith, but so profound.  It’s easy to understand why that one simple statement is so comforting to someone who’s losing touch with reality.  I think most of us are so firmly rooted in reality that the simple trust that the sheep has in the shepherd is difficult for us to emulate.  We’d rather guard and guide ourselves, believing that we’re better able to take care of ourselves than the shepherd.  But when we’re suddenly in a position where we have to acknowledge that we’re not the most qualified to see to our own needs, then we can hear the truth of God’s promise:  the Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  [continue]