A Sermon by Rev. Lillie Mae Henley
When you were young, did your parents teach you the little prayer “Now I lay me down to sleep?”
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep,
if I shall die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take,
if I shall live another day,
I pray the Lord to guide my way.
It scared me; I didn’t want to go to bed thinking I would die at six, or seven, or eight. It wasn’t until I was in the fourth grade and my Sunday school teacher asked us to memorize Psalm 23 that I felt the love and comfort of God and not the fear of dying when I would go to sleep. After we said our prayers, after my mother or my father would turn out the lights, I would recite the Psalm to myself, and be comforted by King James’ version of
Psalm 23
1The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
It is one of the most-recognized passages in the Bible. We hear it at nearly all Christian funerals, Protestant and Catholic alike.
Today, I want us to take another look at this often-used Psalm. I want us to see the cry of the poet through the lens of our daily lives—to discover a universal meaning.
Beneath those words, is the pain of everyday life. Each of us is here because of our own personal reasons. Our desire for community, or like-minded souls, or our desire for a sacred space in which to seek God’s presence, are but a few of the many reasons we are here. And another, unspoken reason is the everyday pain of our lives.
Someone said to me recently, “I know I am not the only person who struggles with my job. My boss tries so hard to please the managers above her that she makes it miserable for everyone she manages.”
We hear the everyday pain of uncertainty in these words.
What if sales at my company decline even more?
What if my business doesn’t succeed?
What if my insurance premiums continue to climb?
That everyday pain could be because someone does not know where her brother lives. Or someone works at a job that is far below his education level. It could be that someone’s father is dying.
We hear the everyday pain of the incessant demands on our energy. Getting to work on the crowded metro or congested freeway can overwhelm us at times. Employers let someone go and then expect us to do our job and half—or more—of the vacant position.
We hear the everyday pain of loss when we hear the stories of people, who are homeless because an industry is depressed.
Go to YouTube and search for “everyday pain,” there are amazing videos of live art and several, beautiful songs.
What is your everyday pain?
I know what mine is, it is different for each of us.
There are countless stories of extraordinary pain.
One story I found was about a little boy whose lower part of his body was burned in a schoolhouse fire when he was eight years old. Through the pain and his semi-consciousness the boy heard the doctor tell his mother that he would surely die, which was for the best, since his body was so devastated by the flames. He wanted to live, this boy, he decided he would say “yes to life,” and he recovered. Then the doctor said he would never walk, but the brave boy once again decided he would not stay in a wheelchair the rest of his life, and when his mother took him outside for some fresh air, he threw himself out of the wheelchair, dragged himself across the grass to the fence around the yard, pulled himself up, and with great effort, he dragged his body inch by inch along the fence. He did this every day wearing a path all the way around the yard.
Through the daily massages of his parents and his determined effort the boy learned to walk again. Then he began to run, and in college he made the track team. This brave little boy grew up to be a doctor and an Olympic athlete. [Dr. Glenn Cunningham, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen]
Another story I read was about Patti Wilson, a young girl who suffered from epilepsy. This was before there was as much medical knowledge as there is today. She was determined to help others who suffered from epilepsy and during high school she began to run to raise awareness. Eventually, she sat world records for women’s long distance running and raised millions of dollars for treatment centers.
There is the man who was burned and paralyzed who through his extraordinary pain became an inspirational speaker and multi-millionaire.
There are countless stories of extraordinary pain, where ordinary people become exceptional—except that if you ask each one you will hear them say they only lived through their everyday pain.
What is your everyday pain?
I know what mine is, it is different for each of us.
The Buddhists say that our pain, our suffering comes from attachments. In a few words: we are attached to our possessions and our perfectionism. That about covers it, doesn’t it, possessions and perfectionism—feeding our ego in a culture that demands we feed our ego. I like the dog in Sue’s reading this morning. No attachments there.
Orthodox Christian theology tells us that our suffering is our alienation from God. That humankind sinned in the Garden of Eden and brought pain into our lives. Universalist theology teaches us that we are alienated from each other. And in being alienated from each other, we are alienated from God. We do not love each other enough, and in not loving each other enough, we do not love God enough.
What Psalm 23 tells us is that God has enough love for all of us. God loves us in our everyday pain and through God we can let go of our pain.
By knowing God’s love we can love each other. God loves us more than we can comprehend, and God wants us to experience the green pastures, the serenity of awareness. God wants us to trust. Trust in the wholeness and holiness of contemplation. To walk beside the still waters and know the present moment. To know love, not yesterday’s love, or tomorrow’s promise of love, but the love that is possible in the present moment.
THe Prohet Isaiah tells us God is with us always; do not be dismayed, for God strengthens and helps us. You will keep in perfect peace. You will know peace when you come to God to pray.
We come to know God through prayer and contemplation. Through meditation; we don’t have to set aside 30 minutes or an hour each day. We can experience God’s love while standing in a crowd at the metro stop. We can center ourselves and open up to God Spirit. While eating, one Lama said we can mindfully chew our food and experience the present moment.
To know the present moment is to know God.
To know God is to know love, and to know God’s love we can love each other.
We have to trust though. Trust the words of Psalm 23 and John 10:11-18 (English Standard Version)
11(A) I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd(B) lays down his life for the sheep. 12He who is(C) a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and(D) leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and(E) scatters them. 13He flees because(F) he is a hired hand and(G) cares nothing for the sheep. 14(H) I am the good shepherd.(I) I know my own and(J) my own know me, 15(K) just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and(L) I lay down my life for the sheep. 16And(M) I have other sheep that are not of this fold.(N) I must bring them also, and(O) they will listen to my voice. So there will be(P) one flock,(Q) one shepherd. 17(R) For this reason the Father loves me,(S) because(T) I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18(U) No one takes it from me, but(V) I lay it down(W) of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and(X) I have authority to take it up again.(Y) This charge I have received from my Father."
We have to say “yes” to life, “yes” to the present moment, and when we do, there is no more fear of dying in our sleep, no more fear of everyday pain. There is only God and love and us—all of Us.