Yesterday (5/19/13) we shared this video in the Sunday Morning Forum. For those of you unable to join us, please enjoy this 2 minute look at Pentecost offered by the folks at Busted Halo.
Have other questions? Please use our Comment section to continue the conversation.
The Lord is my shepherd
Psalm 23:1
“The Lord is my shepherd.” This line from Psalm 23 is among the most famous images from the Bible. But as I describe in And God Said, for most people the English words hide the ancient imagery.
So begins Joel M. Hoffman in his post, The Lord isn’t the Shepherd You Think (or: Don’t Mess with the Shepherds) on his blog God Didn’t Say That.
Hoffman, in imagining a 21st century “shepherd,” tells us he would cast Woody Allen to play the role in his imaginary movie. But he doesn’t let us stop there.
So even though the Hebrew in Psalm 23 is ro’eh, and even though ro’eh literally means “shepherd,” I don’t think “The Lord is my shepherd” is a very good translation.
He points us to the qualities of “shepherd” in the Hebrew Bible. Shepherds…
… have a surprising and surpassing ferocity about them
We see … in Jeremiah 49:19, where God is “like a lion” that can’t be stopped. Using increasingly powerful imagery, the text has God ask, “Who is like me? Who can summon me? Who is the shepherd who can stand before me?” (NRSV). In other words, God is so powerful that even a shepherd will be beaten back. In modern terms, again, the imagery is nonsensical. But in the Bible, shepherds were symbols of strength.
… are similar to royalty and nobility
King David was a shepherd. … in Micah 5:5, … shepherds are in parallel with rulers, a literary device that, in the Bible, suggests that they were similar. And in Nahum 3:18 we find shepherds in parallel with nobles.
… have “sex-appeal”
Finally, shepherds were symbols of romance. Song of Solomon, the most overtly sexual book of the Bible, is filled with images of shepherds. … The famous imagery in verse 2:16, “my lover is mine and I am his,” ends with two Hebrew words to describe the heroine’s lover. They translate as, “[the one] who is a shepherd among flowers.”
After this expansion of our wimpy 21st century understanding of “shepherd” Hoffman summarizes: “In short, for the ancient image of a shepherd, think John Wayne, not Woody Allen.”
I encourage you to read The Lord isn’t the Shepherd You Think. You may hear Psalm 23 with new ears, new hope, and new delight.
If you’re in the desert on 4/21/13 come join us in the Sunday Morning Forum at St. Margaret’s at 9:00 am. If not, let me/us know what you think about Joel’s post and linguistic analysis; leave a comment.
We talked about Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:1ff) on Sunday. As always, Forum members voiced a number of questions, expressed their wisdom learned by experience, and each of us left a little fuller and richer for the fellowship and conversation.
Some random observations and questions from Sunday:
Come back, as the week progresses we’ll work through some of the other comments from Sunday. Please continue the Sunday conversation by commenting here.
On Sunday May 6th we heard “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” Last Sunday, May 13th, we heard “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last….” And today, May 20th, we hear, “[Father] as you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” The speaker in each instance, of course, is Jesus. He is speaking to those who gather around him—in every age—to hear what he is saying. He is speaking to us.
As the Sunday Morning Forum gathers (9am PDT) at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Palm Desert, CA this Sunday morning we will wonder aloud with each other what this means in 21st century America, in our lives, and in our common life. We will also pray for each other. Having heard something about who and whose we are and knowing that we are sent into the world to “bear fruit that will last” we pray for each other:
O God, we pray for the gifts of ministry. Inspire our minds with a vision of your kingdom in this time and place. Hear us, O Christ.
Touch our eyes, that we may see your glory in all creation. Hear us, O Christ.
Touch our ears, that we may hear from every mouth the hunger for hope and stories of refreshment. Hear us, O Christ.
Touch our lips, that we may tell in every tongue and dialect the wonderful works of God. Hear us, O Christ.
Touch our hearts, that we may discern the mission to which you call us. Hear us, O Christ.
Touch our feet, that we may take your Good News into our neighborhoods, communities, and all parts of the world. Hear us, O Christ.
Touch our hands, that we may each accomplish the work you give us to do. Hear us, O Christ.
Strengthen and encourage all who minister in your name in lonely, dangerous and unresponsive places. Hear us, O Christ.
Open the hearts and hands of many to support your Church in this and every place. Hear us, O Christ.
O God, we praise you for the depth of your love for the world revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We thank you for choosing and sending us to reveal by our word and example your steadfast love: making some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip your people for the building up of the Body of Christ. Bless us in our words and works that your Name may be glorified, now and for ever. Amen.
Litany: The Book of Occasional Services, 2003, excerpted, p. 246, Collect, p. 237 adapted
I welcome you to join us (who have more questions than answers and who have love to share). Consider becoming part of the Forum. Have questions but can’t attend? I encourage you to leave your questions here and I’ll answer as best I can. ~dan rondeau
… so said Tertullian in the 3rd century CE. Martyrdom isn’t relegated to days long ago and places far away. As a community we remember those who, even now, witness to the faith with their very lives.
On May 16, 1983, a small number of Episcopal and Roman Catholic clerical and lay leaders declared they “would not abandon God as they knew him.” Possibly over two million persons, most of them Christians, were then killed in a two-decade civil war, until a Comprehensive Peace Treaty was signed in January 2005. During those years, four million southern Christians may have been internally displaced, and another million forced into exile in Africa and elsewhere. Yet despite the total destruction of churches, schools, and other institutions, Sudanese Christianity, which includes four million members of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, has both solidified as a faith community, and gradually expanded at home and among refugees, providing steadfast hope in often-desperate setting.
—from the blog post on Holy Women, Holy Men
The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) is currently revising the “old” Lesser Feasts and Fasts calendar of the Episcopal Church. The commemoration of the Martyrs of the Sudan is “new.” This work of revision (and more) of the SCLM will be discussed in the General Convention in Indianapolis, IN this summer.
The Collect for this Commemoration
O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by your providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death, and so by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest, may we, too, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
____________
Image: Holy Women, Holy Men
The words are familiar: “The Lord is my shepherd ….” I have recited this Psalm many times with the dying, with the bereaved, with those struggling to find the strength to move on, or the strength to face a fear-filled future.
I have been with agitated men and women of a certain age, robbed of mental acuity by illness or injury, and watched calm wash over them and through them, watched peace come to them as I recited the words of Psalm 23.
But, change the word order and you will have the heart of our conversation in the Sunday Morning Forum as it gathers at 9:00 am on Sunday, April 29, 2012.
The Lord is my shepherd … . Ah, peace, strength, and …
IS the Lord my shepherd …? Ah. Wait. What? How dare you suggest …
In the readings appointed for Sunday we hear:
The Lord is my Shepherd … (Psalm 23:1)
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us … (1 John 3:16)
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd.The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep….” (John 10:11)
Look through the ups and downs of your life.
Telling our stories of encounter with the Risen Lord, the Good Shepherd, is a fulfillment of our Baptismal Covenant to “proclaim by word … the Good News of God in Christ.”
I invite you to leave a comment, even a story, here. Let your words open the mystery and meaning of speaking this way about God and our relationship with God.
With the war in Iraq officially ended and the troops coming home, the challenges faced by these returning troops demands our attention and response. In Georgia the Rev. Robert Certain (Fifth Rector of St. Margaret’s), men from the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and a couple of parishioners organized an effort to meet the needs of returning veterans and their families. CareForTheTroops is a catalyst for action in Georgia and provides care. Moreover, CareForTheTroops provides a model for other faith-based and community efforts to increase awareness of the challenges faced by returning veterans and their families and provides a model for reaching out to those who have served us well. ~dan rondeau
Dedicated to the mental health care of our returning troops and their families, we provide information and training to families, clinicians, congregation and community leaders, so that they become more aware of the culture, unique symptoms and issues faced by military families. (CareForTheTroops Home Page)
Source: CareForTheTroops
Previous Advent “windows” about caring for our Veterans
Advent Calendar in one place
About the Online Advent Calendar
For further reflection
Adam Lewis, a strapping Florida man, joined the Marines in 2004 when he was 19, and within a year he was fighting in Iraq’s Anbar Province with Golf Company, 2nd Marine Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment. It was a bloody time in Anbar, with vicious and sometimes hand-to-hand combat with insurgents. Lewis kept busy.
He was first wounded in August 2005 by a bomb blast that perforated an eardrum and left him with ringing in his ears and other injuries. He wasn’t hurt badly enough to be sent home, so he went back on duty and was traveling in a Humvee when the road gave way and he tumbled down an embankment, suffering compression fractures in his back. The Marines put him on light duty until he felt better, and he went back out into the fight.
This time, during operations in Fallujah, Lewis was shot in the head by a sniper. Luckily he had just turned his head and the bullet struck his skull at an angle, but the wound was still severe. After surgery came more than two years of rehab, culminating with his retirement from the Marine Corps on medical grounds in 2007.
To help himself land a god job and a career, Lewis took remedial reading courses to help repair the damage from his head wound, and went on to college. It took him three years to earn his associate degree. He got married and has a two-year-old daughter. This past summer he began seriously looking for work.
So far, no luck.
Having given so much for his country, Adam Lewis, at 26, has been without meaningful employment for four years, and is frustrated and angry after four months of intense job hunting.
Read the rest of Adam’s story to see why organizations like CareForTheTroops will be needed for a long time to come
It’s about water. It’s about sustainability and justice. Episcopal Relief and Development sells a Fair Trade Coffee called Bishops Blend. The coffee is purchased from Pura Vida Create Good. The Create Good Foundation was formed by Pura Vida Create Good in 1998 and continues to be supported by Pura Vida Create Good. Between Create Good Foundation and Episcopal Relief and Development water and hope are brought to and shared with coffee growers in Central America. ~dan rondeau
At the same time Pura Vida Coffee (currently named Pura Vida Create Good) was formed in 1998, the Founders also established a public nonprofit called Pura Vida Partners (currently named Create Good Foundation) to accept donations from customers and others to fund projects that would improve the lives of coffee farmers and their families. Pura Vida Create Good has funded from inception a significant portion of the overhead costs associated with operating the Foundation, and has and continues to make monthly contributions to the Foundation.
When you purchase Pura Vida coffee for your office, church or food service establishment, we hope you experience the intrinsic satisfaction of knowing you are helping us provide clean water, health care, and economic opportunity fo coffee farmers and their families. (Create Good Foundation website)
The Create Good Foundation is committed to helping the lives of poor people who live and work in coffee growing regions around the world through water and economic infrastructure projects.
We will be the premier organization to empower coffee producers, their families, and their surrounding communities through water and economic infrastructure projects paving the way for the next generation.
Source: About Create Good
Home Page for Create Good
Advent Calendar in one place
About the Online Advent Calendar
For further reflection
A key factor in having a stable and thriving community is to have an economic infrastructure that supports jobs. Throughout the developing world, jobs and opportunities are seriously lacking. This leads to migration, lack of personal investment, poor health, and little hope.
Water is a major issue throughout the world, which is why we work to bring clean water to people. However, clean water alone is not enough. People need access to jobs and opportunity. We are working to bring new opportunities to communities that allow innovation and jobs.
Here is what we have been doing;
Since coming to St. Margaret’s in 1993 I have been proud of the partnership of this congregation (collectively and as individuals seeking to serve Christ) with Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. A strong bond with CVRM continues to this day through caring individuals and through our St. Margaret’s Outreach Center. ~dan rondeau
Since 1971, Coachella Valley Rescue Mission has been an oasis, a place of refuge for the homeless and needy in our valley. We are a safe haven, a place of rest for the weary, and a place where daily physical and spiritual needs may be met.
Over the years the mission has continued to meet the ever growing needs of individuals, who for a variety of reasons, have found themselves without the basic necessities of life. A dedicated staff and volunteers serve more than 130,000 hot meals annually and provide shelter to thousands of men and women with children. Food, clothing, and showers are also provided for those who do not shelter with us.” (CVRM website)
“To serve those in need by sharing the saving grace of Jesus Christ through the provision of food, shelter, clothing, and spiritual recovery.”
As ministers of reconciliation, we are to facilitate the reconciliation of men and women to God, to themselves, and to society.
Those in need of recovery due to loss of job, home, health, emotional, mental or spiritual support, or physical or substance abuse find themselves drawn to our ministry. We are to facilitate that reconciliation through the available means of this Mission, i.e. food, clothing, shelter, counseling and discipleship. Through these modalities we pave the way for them to be reconciled.
Source: Mission & Vision Page for CVRM
Home Page for Coachella Valley Rescue Mission
Advent Calendar in one place
About the Online Advent Calendar
For further reflection
“The LORD blesses everyone who freely gives food to the poor.” Proverbs 22:9 CEV
If you have ever hiked or camped in the wilderness you KNOW how precious water is to your survival. Drink contaminated water and you become sick. Go without water, become dehydrated, and you are in peril within 48 hours. A person can survive without food for days or weeks, a person deprived of water will likely be dead within days, not lasting even a week. ~dan rondeau
charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Source: About charity: water
A 3-minute look at how water changes everything from the page: WHY WATER?
Advent Calendar in one place
About the Online Advent Calendar
For further reflection
In 2004, I left the streets of New York City for the shores of West Africa. I’d made my living for years in the big Apple promoting top nightclubs and fashion events, for the most part living selfishly and arrogantly. Desperately unhappy, I needed to change. Faced with spiritual bankruptcy, I wanted desperately to revive a lost Christian faith with action and asked the question: What would the opposite of my life look like?
I signed up for volunteer service aboard a floating hospital with a group called Mercy Ships, a humanitarian organization which offered free medical care in the world’s poorest nations. Operating on surgery ships, they’d built a 25-year track record of astonishing results yet I’d never heard of them.
Top doctors and surgeons from all over the world left their practices and fancy lives to operate for free on thousands who had no access to medical care. I soon found the organization to be full of remarkable people. The chief medical officer was a surgeon who left Los Angeles to volunteer for two weeks – 23 years ago. He never looked or went back. I took the position of ship photojournalist, and immediately traveled to Africa. At first, being the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court felt strange. I traded my spacious midtown loft for a 150-square-foot cabin with bunk beds, roommates and cockroaches. Fancy restaurants were replaced by a mess hall feeding 400+ Army style. A prince in New York, now I was living in close community with 350 others. I felt like a pauper.
But once off the ship, I realized how good I really had it. In new surroundings, I was utterly astonished at the poverty that came into focus through my camera lens. Often through tears, I documented life and human suffering I’d thought unimaginable. In West Africa, I was a prince again. A king, in fact. A man with a bed and clean running water and food in my stomach.
I fell in love with Liberia – a country with no public electricity, running water or sewage – Spending time in a leper colony and many remote villages, I put a face to the world’s 1.2 billion living in poverty. Those living on less than $365 a year – money I used to blow on a bottle of Grey Goose vodka at a fancy club. Before tip.
Our medical staff would hold patient intake “screenings” and thousands would wait in line to be seen, many afflicted with deformities even Clive Barker hadn’t thought of. Enormous, suffocating tumors – cleft lips, faces eaten by bacteria from water-borne diseases. I learned many of these medical conditions also existed here in the west, but were taken care of – never allowed to progress. The amount of blind people without access to the 20-minute cataract surgery that could restore their sight astonished me – all part of this new world.
Over the next eight months, I met patients who taught me the meaning of courage. Many of them had been slowly suffocating to death for years and yet pressing on. Praying, hoping, surviving. It was an honor to photograph them. It was an honor to know them.
Charity.
For me, charity is practical. It’s sometimes easy, more often inconvenient, but always necessary. It’s the ability to use one’s position of influence, relative wealth and power to affect lives for the better. charity is singular and achievable.
There’s a biblical parable about a man beaten near death by robbers. He’s stripped naked and lying roadside. Most people pass him by, but one man stops. He picks him up and bandages his wounds. He puts him on his horse and walks alongside until they reach an inn. He checks him in and throws down his Amex. “Whatever he needs until he gets better.”
Because he could.
The dictionary defines charity as simply the act of giving voluntarily to those in need. It’s taken from the word “caritas,” or simply, love. In Colossians 3, the Bible instructs readers to “put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”
Although I’m still not sure what that means, I love the idea. To wear charity.
-Scott Harrison
Hear what the Spirit is saying 