Old South Sermons:

Want

by Rev. Nancy S. Taylor, Senior Minister

Based on Psalm 23

Shepherd Sunday

May 3, 2009

Listen to this sermon

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“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

With that simple, bold sentence the Psalmist begins to put paint to canvass. He summons white sheep, green pastures, refreshing waters and a skilled shepherd. In the corners of the canvas, the psalmist reveals the lurking dangers –  want, death, evil and enemies – but these are no match for the shepherd: a trustworthy provider, a wary guardian and a deft guide.

The 23^rd Psalm is a statement trust and an affirmation of faith: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

For the Psalmist it is that simple, that true. There is no hedging here … not a hint of maybe, or perhaps or under the right circumstances the Lord will be my shepherd.

No, the assertion is a bald as it is bold: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”

But the thing is, this is no flight of fancy, no groundless dream. On the contrary, the Psalmist sings this bald, bold affirmation of trust because he and Israel have seen it and experienced it. They have known God’s faithfulness intimately and personally … from freedom from slavery to manna in the desert, from defeat of enemies to guidance to the Promised Land. Along the way they were threatened by all the menacing adversaries – want, death, evil and enemies – but God provided, guided, rescued, fed and comforted.

Hold that thought. I will return to it.

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This past Thursday I drove the 2 ½ hours from Boston down to New Haven. Once there I navigated the familiar streets until I reached the campus of the Divinity School at Yale, my alma mater. At the registration area I greeted old friends and new acquaintances: a selection of professors and ministerial colleagues. We were a smallish group – perhaps sixty in all. We were gathered from across the country for two days to discuss together the future of the church.

I was there, participating and providing leadership, because they wanted you there. They wanted Old South Church in Boston at this conference and conversation.

The conference and conversation concerned the decline of the church in North America … a church menaced by adversaries of many kinds: secularization, religious pluralism, materialism, to name a few. Churches and institutions of the church are in grave peril, falling prey to a new world: a post-Christendom, post-modern world. It is a world to whose residents the Christian church appears irrelevant and archaic, a fossil from a past era.

I was at this conference and conversation because, in contrast to much of what is happening out there, Old South is not in decline. The conference participants aren’t interested in decline. We can see and measure it all around us.

The conference was interested in success. Old South is thriving and, what makes this fact statistically improbable is that we express a confident, joyous, public and progressive Christian faith … a faith marked more by grace than judgment; a faith marked by liberality and openness, by radical welcome rather than by exclusiveness.

They wanted to know: What is happening at Old South Church? I was eager to tell them.

I told them about Quinn Caldwell and Elizabeth Myer Boulton. These two young, gifted leaders both have national reputations in their own right. Churches and institutions of the church that are dying have a tendency to look old and shabby, outworn and outmoded. We, by contrast, have Quinn and Liz … and also Elissa (our theological intern from Harvard Divinity School). By their very presence, Quinn, Liz and Elissa embody and point to the future of the church …proclaiming that we are not interested in clinging to the past … we are aimed at the future. To look at them it to see the future of the church … and to see that the future is bright.

I told them stories about how we worship at Old South. I told them that from everything we can tell, Jesus was exciting to be with and that it was our best hope to communicate and express some of that excitement today.  I told them that at Old South we believe that a sanctuary filled with worshippers can and should be as thrilling, as profoundly engaging, as riveting – in its own way – as is Fenway Park when the Sox are in town … for it is given to us to handle the mysteries of life and death, time and eternity, spirit and flesh, good and evil.

Then, saving the best for last, I told them about you, the congregation … about your ability to adapt and change, your readiness to face into the future and to try new things … in contrast to many congregations who are inclined to cling to what is known and familiar, even as it is killing them.

In particular, I told them about how you are managing during this economic downturn. In a time of want, in a time of fear, I told them about your faithfulness and trust in God.

I told them that while others are responding in fear, you are responding in faith; while others are crying out that the sky is falling, you are planting you feet, lifting your arms, and are holding up the sky so it doesn’t have a chance of falling.

I told them about an Old South member recently laid off of work. He came to us to say, “I am going to be looking for work. In the meantime, how can I help at Old South?” He volunteers at the Front Desk. He has walked from hotel to hotel with postcards advertizing Old South events and worship services. He has chatted up the hotel concierges and gotten the word out.

I told them that when the economic downturn was becoming more and more evident last fall, two of our most generous families responded by increasing their pledges, each by $10,000 over what they were giving in 2008.

I told them about an Old South member who received an inheritance and who has decided to tithe this inheritance to Old South … committing half of that tithe to mission and outreach and the other half toward the restoration of our stained glass windows.

I told them that it was in the middle of this economic downturn that the Mission and Outreach Committee voted to give away $85,000 … sending it out in the form of grants to a variety of local, tender ministries of mercy … ministries of housing, homelessness, youth violence and care for the elderly.

I told them that other members were even now planting an edible garden in our churchyard to produce food in a time of economic hardship … at a time when food insecurity is a frightening, daily reality for many who live in Boston.

I told them of our new knitting group, of the shawls they are creating and how we are sending these out to provide a warm embrace to those in need of comfort.

I told them about a young member of Old South, just now graduating from law school, who has landed a terrific job with a Boston firm. He was to begin with his new firm in September … that is, until the economy tanked and the firm delayed his start date until January. Initially stunned by the news, the next thing this Old South member did was to offer to serve as a voluntary part-time intern at Old South … September to January.

I told them the story of another Old South member – a realtor – who discovered in the course of this economic downturn that some buyers were acting like predators: taking advantage of sellers who are, in effect, wounded prey. Rather than represent heartless and greedy buyers, this realtor made a decision only to represent sellers … until things turn around.

I told them the story of an Old South member in process of selling a home and who has anonymously and generously committed to giving a portion of the proceeds to our mission and outreach efforts.

I told the story of Old South members who in June will be driving to Appalachia to build homes for others who are in more dire circumstances than they.

I told them that as the ancient psalmist once painted a picture of what it looks and feels like to trust in God during perilous times, so too are the members of Old South painting pictures of what it looks like and how it feels to trust God when all around us the world shouts that the sky is falling and our neighbors are seized with panic.

If the sky is falling, we will stand with God in holding it up.

If the poor are experiencing food insecurity, we will plant food and support feeding programs.

If home-owners who must sell are vulnerable to heartless and predatory buyers, we will comfort the sellers.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The statement is a confession … a declaration of trust … not in things worldly and material, not in things that rust and decay, but in God.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” It is the declaration of a relationship. It heralds a way of life marked by both trust and generosity. It is the attitude of faithfulness.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” If Old South is thriving, the reason is simple, as bald as it is and bold. It is because we are learning to trust God.

 
 
 

 

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