4th Sunday in Lent Year A

The 4th Sunday in Lent Year A March 22, 2020 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.” What a gift it was to me to discover that the beloved and familiar 23rd Psalm was our assigned Psalm for worship together today! In this season of wilderness in which we find ourselves, these familiar words can be words of comfort and inspiration for us. I tried to remember the first time that I knew the 23rd Psalm, and I could not, because I feel like I have always known it. Perhaps I learned it in Sunday school as a child in children’s chapel when we would read from our little 1928 prayer books. Perhaps it has been internalized in my adulthood at some point; perhaps it was through reading it and praying it through so many funerals as a priest of the church burying people who I loved. I wonder if you can remember first knowing the 23rd Psalm? Think for a moment about the thoughts and memories that this familiar Psalm evokes for you. This week, I spent some time with colleagues talking about this old, familiar Psalm. The Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, has written extensively about the Psalms, and in his book, The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary, he writes about how the psalms fall into three different categories. There are psalms of orientation; there are psalms of disorientation; and there are psalms of reorientation. Brueggemann categorizes the 23rd Psalm as being one of the psalms of reorientation. The psalms can be a great gift to us in this uncertain season because they articulate things that we are often not comfortable articulating. (Think Psalm 22 which we read on Good Friday that begins, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? * and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer; * by night as well, but I find no rest.”) Of these psalms of disorientation, Brueggemann writes, “I have tried to show that a major move of the Psalms is to move from an ordered reliable life to an existence that somehow has run amok. The Psalms give expression to that new reality of disorientation, when everything in heaven and on earth seems skewed…”i In this schema of psalms of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation, the 23rd Psalm is a Psalm of reorientation. It is a song of thanksgiving and of confidence. This psalm offers its comfort and finds its meaning in the truth that “it is God’s companionship that transforms every situation.” Brueggemann concludes his portion on Psalm 23 by writing, “Psalm 23 knows that evil is present in the world but it is not feared. Confidence in God is the source of new orientation.”ii It is important for us to remember in these strange and frightening days that Psalm 23 is not just a psalm of comfort but it is a psalm of thanksgiving, of gratitude, and of confidence. It is a psalm whose speaker has known hardship and suffering but has come out on the other side through the grace of God. It is the song of a person of faith who has learned to trust God even when times are difficult and frightening, frustrating and confining. It is the song of a person whose confidence is firmly rooted in God through a sense of gratitude for all the times that God has already shown up and offered care. When we tap into a regular spiritual discipline of gratitude, then we are more inclined to remember the ways that God has been with us all throughout our lives, and we are more inclined to see the glimpses of surprising new life that God offers us, even in these strange and frightening days. This past week, I received a gift in my email from Anam Cara Ministries. It is a 2 week self-guided retreat titled: From Isolation to Invitation A two-week guide for retreat in a time of quarantine. iii In this lovely offering, there was a whole section on gratitude, about how gratitude isn’t so much as a feeling as an action, about how we have to work to strengthen our gratitude muscles, and how we can be grateful even when we are lonely, sad, anxious, or afraid. I especially appreciated the practice which was invited for this portion of the retreat, and so it is my invitation to you to join me in practicing gratitude and reconnecting with your confidence in God this week in the light of the beloved 23rd Psalm. I invite you to spend some time creating a gratitude list for your life by considering different blocks of time in your life. This is an activity that you could do in one sitting or it is something that you can do over a series of days. First start with your childhood. “Think of all the people who helped you before you asked. Make a gratitude list for the doctor who delivered you, the nurse who held you, or the teachers who helped you learn to read and write and do math—even the bus drivers who got you to school, and the janitors who ensured it was kept clean. You may not remember their names, but without them you wouldn’t be where you are.” For 10 minutes jot down as many people, experiences, events, books, clubs, activities, lessons, etc. as you can think of which brought something good into your life during your childhood. Then move on to your youth/young adulthood: Take 10 minutes to list as many of the people, experiences, events and lessons from your youth and young adulthood which helped you to grow and which contributed in some way to who you are now. “What would you say to the coaches who inspired you to achieve a goal, the musicians who wrote your favorite songs, or the boss who gave you your first job? What about the friends and family who laughed at your jokes and loved you through your bad moods? Your list could get very, very long—for you have been given a lot.” For those of you who have been alive a bit longer, you could do this by decade or by seasons of your life. Keep going with making this gratitude list until eventually you get to today. As another writer puts it, “Today may be a great or a horrible day, but you can start wherever you are. At times I walk through my house and look at what fills it. I’m grateful for the farmers who grow the coffee I drink, for the workers who take away my garbage. I remember meals around my table, or the friend I was with when I bought my butter dish. I look at cookies my neighbor dropped off, the quilt my grandma made. I’m grateful for the mailman who carries letters to my door each day, for the friend who sends a card, and for my job that pays the bills. As I remember what I’ve been given, I practice saying thank you. Expressing gratitude changes something in me, and it changes the people I thank. When I express gratitude to someone for something, I shatter the lie that I’m on my own and no one cares for me. I have been given so much; I have benefited from the beauty others offer to the world.”iv Take 10 minutes to list the things you are grateful for today. You might want to walk around your home to look at and touch various objects you have. As you consider each item, think about where it came from, how it got into your possession, and how it’s served you, entertained you, or supported you in this season. In closing, I’m going to invite us to go back and to read the 23rd Psalm again together slowly, savoring each line and the confidence that our God inspires in us as revealed to us through gratitude. If you are so inspired, I invite you to pray this Psalm every day this week, with your family or on your own, to remember your confidence in God and the gifts of new life that God offers even in this season. i.Brueggemann, Walter. The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. p 123 ii.Ibid p 156 iii.From Isolation to Invitation A two-week guide for retreat in a time of quarantine by Jenny Walley, Dr. Matthew Green, and Tanya Lyons https://mcusercontent.com/7499435774ed1dd632448147c/files/6dde3fac-dcae-4cb9-8088-88e67672df0e/Isolation_to_invitation.pdf pp 13-16 iv. This part of the retreat was adapted from Chapter 18: “The gift of gratitude” from The Gifts I Never Knew I Had: Reflections on Ordinary Treasures, Tanya Lyons (2019)