Everything we need

 

Psalm 23
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
March 19, 2023

Photo of a person with a salt and pepper beard, wearing sunglasses, a Pride ballcap, and a t-shirt that reads "I promise to TEACH" with hearts in all the Pride flags below.  Holding a sign that reads "My non-binary child is my hero" and the non-binary flag (yellow, white, purple, and black stripes) with Pride hearts on either side.

Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved scriptures, its opening verse known the world over: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The poetry of the King James version is studied in literature classes. It is the version most of us know by heart. It is a song of trust, traditionally attributed to David, composed while he was young man on the run for his life from King Saul. David prays for God’s protection, indistinguishable from the care of a shepherd for a flock. So confident is David of God’s love and care that he places his life fearlessly in God’s hands. Everything in David’s life—the challenges, the hard lessons, the overflowing blessings—comes from God’s goodness and mercy.



This is all well and good for someone anointed to be king, someone who is assured of their position in society, of the innate power they possess, perhaps even take for granted. Imagine how this prayer would sound coming from the lips of a trans youth, someone whose life is threatened and questioned just because of who they are. In other translations the first line reads, “God is my shepherd, I have everything I need.” Everything, as in gender-affirming healthcare, being allowed to play sports and use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, safety in public space, a restored and abundant life.



Imagine how it would sound coming from a disabled person. Everything they need, as in accessible, affordable transportation, a living wage, all the healthcare they require, safe and fully accessible public spaces, a restored and abundant life.



Or someone who has no community or nowhere to live. Everything they need, as in freedom from judgment, affordable housing, social services, a living wage, good food, clean water, clean air, healthcare, education, a restored and abundant life.



Or someone who needs a prescription for mifepristone or for insulin or another prescription they can’t afford. Someone who needs an abortion. Someone whose pregnancy threatens their life.



Or someone who lives in the vale of death’s shadow, on death row, incarcerated, someone who uses drugs, whose life is criminalized and marginalized because of the color of their skin, because of their religion, because of who they love, because they dare to be their authentic selves.



When we read Psalm 23 this way it becomes a social justice psalm. It is a prayer for those who live in harm’s way and it is a prayer for those who disrupt their lives for them. We need this prayer to be read for the living, not only for comfort, but for resistance, for strength, for hope, and for joy. There are those who are self-assured of their position in society and the innate power they possess who are testing to see whose lives they can control and the rest of us remain quiet. The table has indeed been set before us in the presence of adversaries, and those who are vulnerable have every reason to fear harm.



We cannot be quiet. If it feels like every Sunday I talk about transgender and non-binary people, genderqueer and genderfluid people, queer people, poor people, people of color, fat people, disabled people, neurodivergent people, people with mental illness, people who use drugs, homeless and unhoused people, it’s because these kids are our kids, these people are our people, and we are theirs.



This is the Jesus we follow. This is the Jesus who is threatened by empire, whose life is pursued not by goodness and kindness but by evil and violence. For too long, the Church has been complicit, even enforced and defended inequality and injustice based on gender, race, and class as the way things are supposed to be. People are leaving Christianity because the Church has not been loud enough. We will not be quiet anymore.



We cannot truly pray “I have everything I need” unless our neighbor has everything they need. Check on your transgender and non-binary pals and see how they’re doing. Imagine what it’s like for them to read and hear the news right now. Wear a mask as much as you are able. Your isolated and disabled friends will be heartened to hear it. When you hear the word “woke” remember that it means being aware of the needs of others, even if you don’t understand their journey. And we are the church of “no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here”.



In her you-need-to-read-it book The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee wrote, “…we must challenge ourselves to live our lives in solidarity across color, origin, and class. We must demand changes to the rules in order to disrupt the very notion that those who have more money are worth more in our democracy and our economy. Since this country’s founding, we have not allowed our diversity to be our superpower and the result is that the United States is not more than the sum of its disparate parts. But it could be. And if it were, all of us would prosper. In short, we must emerge from this crisis in our republic with a new birth of freedom. Rooted in the knowledge that we are so much more, when the ‘we’ in we the people is not some of us, but all of us. We are greater than and greater for the sum of us.”



What if this psalm was a community prayer? What if we put ourselves and our life together in solidarity with those who need to know that love is stronger than hate? Who need to know they are not alone.



*God is our shepherd, 

we have everything we need.
You make us lie down in green meadows.
You guide us toward tranquil waters,
You restore our lives.
You lead us on pathways of justice
For that is your way.

Though we journey in the vale of death’s shadow,
We fear no harm
For you are with us.
Your rod and your staff—it is they that console us.

You set out a table before us
In the face of our foes.
You drench our heads with oil,
Our cup overflows.

Let but goodness and kindness pursue us
All the days of our lives.
And we shall dwell in the house of the Holy
For the length of our days.

*(this version Psalm 23 is a combination of Robert Alter's translation and Pamela Greenberg's translation)

Benediction


There are some things
I may not know
There are some places
I cannot go
But I am sure of this one thing
That God is real
For I can feel
God deep in my soul
Yes God is real
Real in my soul
Yes God is real
For God has washed and made me whole
God’s love for me
Is like pure gold
Yes God is real
For I can feel
God deep in my soul