He revives my soul. He renews my strength. He guides me along right pathways for His name’s sake.

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The Lord is my Shepherd

The Rev. Gail Keeney-Mulligan, May 10 2007

We say it all the time… it is a psalm or song written on our hearts from childhood, but do we mean it. The words talk about our safety with God and how we will not fear death. But there is a lot more to this image.

I grew up in sheep country in southwestern Wyoming, where huge herds of sheep were shepherd by Basque immigrants year in and year out.

The sheep were protected by the shepherds and the dogs they trained. They knew the shepherds voice and he would talk to them and sing to them and they would literally follow him when they heard his voice.

But they did wander and some would get lost or become prey for the wolves and coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions. They would be targeted prey as they wandered away… often in search of more grass or a drink of water or protection from the bitter cold winds. But there were lead sheep too, sheep that all the others would follow and they could and would follow them over a cliff. So, not all the sheep followed the shepherd all of the time.

With the Lord as our shepherd, we are saying that we hear and follow his voice, that we do not stray from the heard to find our own way, to take care of ourselves, to do our own thing. There is one shepherd and one flock and together we are safe. Yet the reality is that many things seem to distract us from our shepherds voice and we wander far and wide, even when the rest of the flock depends on us.

We use this psalm most often in times of death and dying. We find solace in the rod and staff assuring us of God’s abiding presence. But there are parts of the psalm we give very little thought to.

He revives my soul. He renews my strength. He guides me along right pathways for His name’s sake. The Shepherd leads or guides the sheep from the valleys to the mountains and back again. But this suggests that sheep are listening and following or at least letting the sheep dogs guide them in the direction they are to go… The right paths or the paths of righteousness as the old English language states. God, as our shepherd, guides us in the paths of right living, right relationship for HIS NAME’S Sake.

And here is the real reason we like sheep go astray. We do not wish to follow in the paths on which he calls us or up the steep mountain or through the winter storms. We huddled, we flee, we wander.

I remember standing on the hillside as a teen, watching the shepherd guide the dogs and gather the sheep. I remember vividly how some of the reluctant sheep would find the dogs biting their hind legs to move them back to the herd or in the direction they needed to go. I remember the dogs racing around a group of sheep headed in the wrong direction and barking at a hair raising decibel, to turn the sheep around.

How will our Lord shepherd us, how can those he sends get our attention, barking us back into the heard and turning us back in the direction we are called to go, for our safety, for the safety of the whole herd, and for His Name’s Sake.

I believe with all of my heart that the cry of those in need is the barking of the dog sent by the shepherd to turn the sheep back… the sheep who are wandering on their own, thinking only of them and theirs. I think that the stress and pain of those who are caring for chronically sick and dying, the grief of those all over the world in the midst of senseless tragedy are barking dogs, calling us back to the fold. I believe the cry of the poor, the terror and anxiety of those living in the midst of violence, despair, disease and bigotry are the sheep dogs nipping at our heels, for God’s sake.

Jesus’ voice is always, always calling us to Follow Him. Are we listening? Are we doing what he would do? Are we caring for the flock? Are we feeding the sheep? Are we defending the lambs? Are we hanging together for One another and for the one who leads us.

If we hear our Shepherd’s Voice and follow him, we will NEVER perish. No one can snatch us from the heard. The Book of Acts is scripture written by Luke about the life of the Church as it blossomed and grew with the spread of the love of God in Christ.

The reading from Acts today is about a woman named Dorcas who was raised from the dead by Peter. How many of you have ever even heard the name Dorcas, much less have a clue of the importance of her witness. Her ministry was central to the life of the church in Joppa, and important enough that she was the one person scriptures tell us was raised from the dead by one of the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection. Why Dorcas? Who was she?

She was not one of the apostles. She was not a theologian or preacher. She was according to Acts, a woman deeply devoted to good works and acts of charity. She touched lives and won converts to the faith because of the way she loved them and persuaded others to help. She followed and assisted the good shepherd.

At her wake, where Peter found her lifeless body, many women had gathered to mourn her loss. As they wept, they passed around the afghans, sweaters and shawls she had made for them, very likely telling their own stories on the way she loved and cared for them. Dorcas gave expression to all of them of true discipleship, of what it means to live the compassionate life all Christians are called to by Jesus.

The Lord was her shepherd. She followed him and she shepherded others for him, by her example and invitation for them to share with her in this work.

If the Lord is our Shepherd, he leads us not only through the valley of the shadow of death, but he leads us in right paths all the days of our life. His sheep hear his voice, know his voice and follow him. When the Lord is truly our shepherd, we shall not wont. Rather we will live our lives in service to others, reaching out to them in their need, their hunger, their loneliness, fear, sickness, grief and despair. As sheep, we are of one fold and our life is with the one flock. We cannot stray form one another.

Dorcas’ life is an expression of the life we are all called to live a life of compassion.