Sermon by: Robert Austell; October 16, 2016
Text: Psalm 23:4
:: Sermon Audio (link) ::
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:: Scripture and Music ::
Song of Praise:
Blessed be Your Name (Matt and Beth Redman)
Hymn of Praise:
Be Still My Soul (FINLANDIA)
Sermon Song:
How Did You Find Me Here? (David Wilcox)
- temp.
audio link
Hymn of Sending:
What a Friend We Have in Jesus (CONVERSE)
Postlude: Linda Jenkins, organ
:: Sermon Manuscript (pdf) ::
This "manuscript" represents an early draft of the sermon. Some weeks the spoken version varies more than others from the early manuscript. Nevertheless, if you'd prefer to read than to listen, this is provided for that purpose.
I remember years ago – about 20 years ago now – I worked at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem as a hospital chaplain as part of my seminary training. I was assigned to the 10th floor of Reynolds tower -- the trauma unit. Within one week, I was up on the unit visiting patients. One of the very first patients I met was a lady in her late 70s. The first time I walked into her room, I immediately noticed that her face and neck were completely purple, having been bruised severely. She was barely able to speak in a raspy voice. She told me that she was in the unit for a cardiac contusion -- she had been in an automobile accident. Even more startling to me was the other thing she told me -- that she had been in the hospital for over a week, and none of her family had come to see her. As a matter of fact, she blamed one of her family members for the accident, saying that he had been drinking and driving. Well, this was a lot for me to take in that first week. I found myself wondering just what I should do for this lady. I wonder what you might have done if faced with the task of ministering to her? Or perhaps more to the point -- what do you do when faced with great need or crisis in the life of someone you know? Whether in our own lives, or our family, or our church family, or others around us, there is need and crisis around us much of the time. How can we respond? What is our role as church family? And what do you do if you are one of those experiencing the crisis?
That summer I had a chaplain supervisor who oversaw my training. Knowing I would immediately confront situations of intense crisis and caring, he met with me during the first week and gave me a model for pastoral care. He told me, “Robert, almost everyone you meet in this hospital will be experiencing some kind of crisis. These people are walking through the ‘valley of deep darkness’ that is described in Psalm 23. Your job is to offer a ministry of presence to those in that valley.”
Today, with the description of the “valley of darkness” in Psalm 23 before us, I want to describe more fully a ministry of presence. This is not simply a technique for a chaplain in a hospital; it is our calling as Christians and as a church family as we live and move in a world full of crisis. I want to talk about three situations of going into the valley of deep darkness. The first occurs when we minister to others through a ministry of presence -- by walking alongside people in their times of crisis. The second occurs when you find yourself walking through the valley. The finally, we will look at our model for a ministry of presence -- that is, when God walked through the valley of deep darkness in Jesus Christ.
A Ministry of Presence
First, just how shall we minister to people in times of suffering and crisis? What does it mean to have a ministry of presence? When I was in training I discovered some things to do when I visited a hospital room – pray, ask questions, distract. And sometimes, those were what was needed. Yet I also felt like these things were not meeting the deepest needs of those I visited. When I told my chaplain supervisor about what was happening, he suggested that I was going about ministry in an “emergency rescue” fashion. His image was that I was standing on the hill overlooking the valley of deep darkness. Seeing people walking through the valley, I was tossing supplies and rations in to them, even offering a rope or a momentary distraction -- yet, I was staying on the hilltop.
Looking back on that time, I fully agree with him. There were two things encouraging me to stay on the “hilltop.” One was a drive to Find the solution... fix it... achieve success... fix the problem. A second: I was and am scared to death of the valley of deep darkness. If there was a way to interact and minister to the people in it without actually going there myself, I would find it. I wanted to avoid the valley at all costs.
Bill, my supervisor, challenged me to a different kind of ministry. Rather than practice an “emergency rescue ministry,” he encouraged me to practice a ministry of presence. How does that look different than those other things I had been doing? A ministry of presence is sitting with someone, holding their hand or giving them a hug for support. It is listening rather than talking. When I visited a cancer patient, it meant not theologizing when they asked, “Why is God letting this happen to me? Why is God doing this to me?” Rather than launch into an academic discussion of why bad things happen to good people and try to answer those questions which can only be addressed by God to that individual, a ministry of presence meant sitting and absorbing those questions on God’s behalf. It meant putting a face on God in a time when that patient needed to ask some hard questions to God.
A ministry of presence also means walking alongside of people so that they will not be alone in this valley. Caring for people in crisis means asking yourself, “What is the valley like for them? Is it scary? Is it lonely? Is it dark and full of despair?” Being with someone during these times does do something very significant: it puts skin on God’s love. It makes God’s presence in the crisis very tangible. At a time when a person’s prayers may seem to bounce off the ceiling, holding their hand may allow them to actually feel God’s presence and love. Walking alongside someone during crisis is a very real fulfillment of the great commandment to love God and neighbor.
Well, this may all sound real good, but what does this talk of a valley of darkness do for me when I am the one suffering? What is there to say to you if you are even now walking through the deep darkness?
When You are in the Valley
I can tell you that my first impulse when I realize that I am facing crisis is to run the other way. I try to do everything in my power to find a short cut around or a quick escape. I also am quick to deny that I am even in a “valley.” “Things are just fine with me,” I say. Or I try to distract myself from what is really going on -- I’ve already told you a little about my gift for distraction.
John Bunyon, in his famous book,
Pilgrim’s Progress, tells the story of young Christian travelling the road of his life. It is fraught with allegorized pitfalls and distractions like the sloughs of despond and the pit of despair. Time and again Christian must choose between two paths: the one that looks true, but looks terribly difficult; and the one that looks easy but seems somehow false. Those times when he takes the easy road, he inevitably encounters a dead end or some greater danger, and he must return to take the true road anyway. He discovers that the hardships of life are simply reality and we must not find the quick way out, but the real way through.
So also for us, the valley of deep darkness is a part of life. If you haven’t been there before, you will find yourself there at some point. What can you do? One is to realize, as Christian did in Pilgrim’s Progress, that it simply must be faced. Secondly though, if there is anything to learn from my tales of chaplaincy and my words about a ministry of presence, it is that we need not face the valley alone. Christianity is not a “lone ranger” religion, it is the good news of God loving us and desiring relationship with us. Our example is not of solitude, but of being in relationship. Jesus ministered, not alone, but with twelve disciples. He established his Church to be the gathered together family of God. God, who created us in His own image exists in relationship as a Trinity -- one being, three persons.
It is important then, that we have some kind of support group in place -- ready to stand by us when we inevitably find ourselves walking through the valley. That support might be an AA group, a women’s Bible study, youth advisors, your family, or close friends you know you can lean on. Again, the importance of a support group is that in crisis, they put skin on God’s love. They make God’s presence tangible.
When God Walked the Valley
And that is what the church is for as well. We are a family. We are an extended support group. We are the “body of Christ.” The third point today is that our ministry of presence, our example for ministry, comes from God’s own example in Jesus Christ. When we were separated from God, alone in sin, God provided a way to healing and restoration of relationship. In Christ, God became a human being and walked the steps of our life and death with us. Jesus was born and lived among us, and was tempted as we are. He sat and walked with the sick, and healed them. He forgave sins, he developed relationships with the disciples, Mary and Martha, and many others. And he suffered agony on the cross and died for us.
The cross that hangs in our sanctuary is a symbol that should remind us that we are never alone in the valley of deep darkness. Christ experienced pain, suffering, shame, separation from God, and even death so that we need never be alone again. And not only should the cross remind us of Christ’s presence with us in the valley; the empty cross should remind us that God was faithful to his promises, and raised Christ from the dead even as he will raise us to be with him. The empty cross reminds us of God’s promise, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.” And it reminds us that God is faithful to keep his promises. Not only has Christ walked the valley before us, he walks it with us even now. And on a deeper level, he has walked the valley of death and separation from God so we might not have to. That valley he has walked for us.
As the church, we are the body of Christ. And just as Christ gave his body on the cross for our sakes, we are to give ourselves for others’ sakes. We are to the walk alongside each other as part of Christ’s own body. In doing this, we put skin on God’s love -- we remind each other of God’s promises and of God’s faithfulness. This is ministry as the body of Christ.
In conclusion, I’d like to sing a song for you. It is written by David Wilcox and describes a man who is surprised to discover that God is present even in the moment of his deepest despair. He thought he once knew God, but found himself alone at the water’s edge of his hopelessness. Yet, even as he was about to drown in his despair, he discovered God to be present. He realized the truth of God’s promise to his children in scripture, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.” It is not necessary to come to the water’s edge alone, however. Having a support group in place means that there will be someone there in the darkness to remind you of and put skin on God’s promises.
“How Did You Find Me Here?” (audio)by David Wilcox, 1988
The night I fell in sorrow,
I knew I was alone
A dozen good-time friendships,
But my heart is still unknown
I thought I was your footsteps
In the sand along the shore
And I mumbled empty phrases
That sang so well before
Now inches from the water, about to disappear
I feel you behind me, but how did you find me here?
I couldn’t reach for rescue; I hid myself from you
I couldn’t stand to see me from your point of view
‘Cause I knew I’d disappoint you if I showed to you this child
Who was crying out inside me, lost in the wild
Now inches from the water, about to disappear
I feel you behind me, but how did you find me here?
I feel you behind me...
Laughing in the water, wash away the tears
I feel you behind me, but how did you find me here?
I feel you behind me, but how did you find me here?
The missing piece here is that “goodness and lovingkindness” are shorthand for God, Himself. These are not just the blessings of God, but the very character traits of God, Himself. Both words are used to describe God or God’s deeds a couple hundred times in scripture. The word ‘goodness’ is tov, as in mazel tov, as in God created the heavens and the earth and it was tov/good…. God created the plants and trees and it was tov/good… God saw all that He had made and it was tov/good. The work of God’s hands, whether in creation or salvation is tov/good. And ‘lovingkindness’ is a word we have talked about before: hesed. It is the incredibly rich word that means faithful love, compassion, mercy, and more. It is one of the most-used descriptions of the character of God given in the Bible. While “goodness and lovingkindness” are blessings to us, they are more than that, they describe the very presence and activity of God in our lives.
How can this be? Aren’t we following after God, the Shepherd? How is God also following us? While it is hard to understand, it is a reminder that God is bigger than we can imagine, certainly bigger than we are. God’s presence and power and blessing are so comprehensive that they indeed can go ahead of us and follow after us. The Irish understood this. In numerous Celtic prayers you will hear lines like “God before us, God behind us, God above us, God under us.”
For that reason, this final verse revisits something we talked about several weeks ago in verse 3. There, God’s restoration and guidance are described as “for His name’s sake,” that is, bringing glory to God’s name. And here at the end, we are reminded again that all of this shepherding and hosting activity, all this saving activity, all this grace and mercy and lovingkindness, are a demonstration of who God is. And in being and doing all these things, God is shown to be God, shown to be good, shown to be merciful and gracious.
First, just how shall we minister to people in times of suffering and crisis? What does it mean to have a ministry of presence? When I was in training I discovered some things to do when I visited a hospital room – pray, ask questions, distract. And sometimes, those were what was needed. Yet I also felt like these things were not meeting the deepest needs of those I visited. When I told my chaplain supervisor about what was happening, he suggested that I was going about ministry in an “emergency rescue” fashion. His image was that I was standing on the hill overlooking the valley of deep darkness. Seeing people walking through the valley, I was tossing supplies and rations in to them, even offering a rope or a momentary distraction -- yet, I was staying on the hilltop.
I can tell you that my first impulse when I realize that I am facing crisis is to run the other way. I try to do everything in my power to find a short cut around or a quick escape. I also am quick to deny that I am even in a “valley.” “Things are just fine with me,” I say. Or I try to distract myself from what is really going on -- I’ve already told you a little about my gift for distraction.
And that is what the church is for as well. We are a family. We are an extended support group. We are the “body of Christ.” The third point today is that our ministry of presence, our example for ministry, comes from God’s own example in Jesus Christ. When we were separated from God, alone in sin, God provided a way to healing and restoration of relationship. In Christ, God became a human being and walked the steps of our life and death with us. Jesus was born and lived among us, and was tempted as we are. He sat and walked with the sick, and healed them. He forgave sins, he developed relationships with the disciples, Mary and Martha, and many others. And he suffered agony on the cross and died for us.
“How Did You Find Me Here?” (audio)
In the Sermon on the Mount, the first and longest teaching of Jesus recorded in scripture in Matthew 5-7, Jesus began with what are called the “Beatitudes” or the “Blessings.” One of those mentions righteousness and makes a ready connection in imagery to the 23rd Psalm. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6) Clearly it is something we need and should want, and is something God provides. But what is it?
When we read that the Good Shepherd “guides us in the paths of righteousness” we are at once reminded that a Shepherd leads and guides. We are also reminded, as a few weeks ago, that such a path implies a journey rather than an arrival, and that continuing to heed the Shepherd’s voice is critical to staying on the path.
A final significant part of this half-verse that I want to highlight is the reason given for this righteous guidance. You might think God would guide us in paths of righteousness for OUR own sake. To be sure, we benefit from God’s guidance and from obedience to God. But here is a deep and significant theological point. The Psalm says this is for the sake of God’s name. Does that mean that God is some kind of egomaniac who wants a bunch of adoring fans? Not at all! That’s what WE might do with honor coming to our name; but God is pure and holy and that is precisely what is at stake!
So like last week, this half-verse appeals to us to obey or repent , follow or turn back, to listen to God’s voice in scripture. In doing so, we not only move towards God’s best for us, but God’s best for our community and world, and we honor and point to God as God and Good Shepherd when we do so.
Today we continue on our series on Psalm 23, looking at the phrases, “He leads me beside quiet waters” (v. 2b) and “He restores my soul” (v. 3a). In previous weeks we have looked at the overall metaphor of God as Shepherd, an image that describes God’s provision, protection, and guidance. Last week we asked the question of why the grass is not always green. Two answers stood out: 1) that God’s Shepherding is often (and ultimately) spiritual, though sometimes physical; and 2) like sheep and shepherds, life is a journey from one place to the next, sometimes over rocky and dangerous paths, and we are prone to wander from our Shepherd’s guidance and get ourselves into trouble. 
Back on Rally Day we sang and heard the verse from Psalm 119 that God’s Word, the scriptures, are a light to our path. That is how we know. God has given us His Word to guide us, not only through the journey that is life, but to places of spiritual nourishment and rest like the green pastures and quiet waters of Psalm 23. Particularly when we realize that “He leads me beside quiet waters” is not only refreshing water, but REST, we realize that God has actually led us precisely to that in His Word. 
It is at this point that the Psalmist takes a step out of the metaphor. We have been reading about sheep and pastures and quiet waters. But in verse 3, we hear about the SOUL. That’s a human thing, not a sheep thing. But it flows right out of the Shepherd metaphor; in fact, it’s presumably still the Shepherd who restores our souls. As I dug into that phrase this week I discovered something really interesting and it has everything to do with listening to and obeying God’s Word and will. The word translated ‘restore’ is also often translated in the Bible as ‘repent.’ Either way it’s the idea of turning something around that is lost or heading towards being lost and returning it home, to its previous state, to the place it needs to be.
So I have two takeaway questions for you today; perhaps you have others stirred up by the Holy Spirit. One is: Where is God’s voice/Word calling me? OBEDIENCE is at the heart of God’s best for us. We are quick to turn it around and turn it into a system of rewards and punishments, but God’s Word – even God’s so-called “rules” – are not rewards and punishments, but are the leading of our Shepherd. That’s why we read and study the Bible, so we will recognize and hear our Shepherd’s leading. I know obedience is hard and it’s hard to see it as the blessing itself. But it’s one of those things that you can experience for yourself. Try regular Sabbath-keeping and see if you don’t experience significant rest. Try regular, prioritized giving and see if you don’t experience God working in your finances and even your spiritual life. Pay attention to God’s morality; it is not hard to see where going against that has its own harmful consequences. 
