Thoughts from St. Andrew's Episcopal Church • Birmingham, AL

Saturday, March 23, 2019

Old Testament: Jeremiah 5:20-31

Psalm 75, 76 * 23, 27

Epistle: Romans 3: 19 - 31

Gospel: John 7: 1-13

1   The Lord is my shepherd; *
I shall not be in want. 

2   He makes me lie down in green pastures *
and leads me beside still waters. Psalm 23 Dominus regit me

I really love this Psalm, and I feel like it is a privilege for me to have gotten it to write about for our Lenten book this year. The Twenty-third Psalm is a favorite of many people all over the world, probably because it basically sums up what God does for us in one place. 

Sometimes I forget all that my Creator does for me, but this psalm reminds me of the good things God does: leads, guides, and comforts. God is with me, and goodness and mercy will follow me always. God anoints my head. My cup runs over, it is so full.

The beginning of the Psalm tells us the Lord is our shepherd and God provides for us. There is a story in John about Jesus being the Shepherd, and the sheep coming when they hear his voice. I watched two videos of modern sheep. One video shows three people, one by one, trying to call a flock of sheep and the animals just keep eating grass. But when the farmer cries out to the sheep, the whole group comes running to him, because they know his voice. It is amazing.

I think every one of us needs to lie down sometime in green pastures, as verse two says, and walk along still waters — like sheep do. In an ideal world, we all might do that everyday to calm ourselves down, especially if we get angry. If we did, peace on earth could be a real thing.

Emmeline Glenn