Living with the Good Shepherd

In worship this Lent, we will journey slowly and prayerfully through Psalm 23 to discover the heart of Jesus, our Good Shepherd. Line by line, we’ll linger with this beloved psalm – listening for how its ancient poetry speaks into our modern anxieties, longings, and hopes. Along the way, we’ll draw from the wider story of scripture to see how the Shepherd who guided David is revealed fully in Jesus: the One who seeks the lost, settles our fears, restores our souls, walks with us through shadowed valleys, and prepares a table of welcome and abundance. 

Lent invites us to reflect on the big questions of life – our mortality, our need for grace, and whether we are living aligned with the purpose for which God created us. These can feel like heavy themes, but Psalm 23 reminds us that Lent is never hopeless. It is a season to rediscover that we are not alone. The Shepherd is with us – pursuing us with goodness and faithful love, even when we feel scattered, stressed, or unsure of the path ahead. 

Whether you are in a season of green pastures or walking through a darker valley, this series is an invitation to trust more deeply, listen more attentively, and live more courageously with the Shepherd who calls you beloved. We hope you’ll join us for this holy journey together. 

About the Season of Lent: 

Perhaps the season of Lent requires some explanation. Various branches of the Christian family tree have observed this season differently, and some, not at all. Initially, the early church (think, the first couple hundred years of the Christian movement) developed practices during the season before the celebration of Easter that were specifically geared toward two things: preparing converts new to the faith (catechumenates), and preparing people to re-engage in the life of the church community after experiences of sin, penance, and reconciliation. Eventually, this practice spread to forty days (plus six Sundays). However, as time goes on, churches and communities change, especially after the Protestant Reformation. In the mid- to late-20^th Century, the church experienced an ecumenical movement to reclaim and reinterpret ancient worship practices, including the season of Lent. In the United Methodist tradition, Lent, and especially its initial worship service, Ash Wednesday, were first included in the Book of Worship in its 1992 edition.  

During Lent in our time, we have two main foci: 1) recognizing our mortality, sinfulness, and need for divine grace, and 2) cultivating practices through which we experience and partner with the Holy Spirit to receive divine grace. Thus, we begin the season with Ash Wednesday (see more here). Sometimes, people fast or limit themselves from certain things or practices, or add disciplines or practices to their lives during this season. These can be good practices; however, the main goal is not to merely grow a little more holy for holiness’ sake for six weeks. Rather, the main goal is to cultivate enduring practices through which we grow in love with God, are filled with God’s love, and equipped to live as ambassadors of God’s love in our daily lives, all year long.  

Thinking about a Lenten Practice? 

If you’re thinking about add a spiritual practice during the season of Lent, my sermon on February 15 includes an invitation to lenten practices through reflection on our membership covenant practices.  

Here are some great questions for spiritual reflection from Laurence Hull Stookey’s book, Calendar:  

• “What progress am I making in sharing gladly what I have with others, particularly with the stranger and the poor? 

• What attitudes do I convey to those who irritate me? How can awareness of my own need of God's grace enable me to be more gracious to them? 

• How has my sense of interconnectedness in corporate worship grown of late, and how can I move ahead in appreciating the contributions and needs of other members in the congregation to which I belong? 

• Am I as charitable and thoughtful to family members as to others? Or do I "take it out" on my family when life at school or work gets hectic? 

• Can I redistribute my long-range personal budget in order to have more money to give away? 

• When I hear someone being unjustly maligned, do I speak up to correct the record, or am I a silent accomplice? 

• How can I more effectively and consistently support legislation and social programs that help the disadvantaged rather than hurt them? 

• In devotional acts of prayer and reading, am I increasing my attention span and discovering new ways of listening rather than of talking, of giving thanks rather than of complaining? 

• As I uncover and attempt to deal with one level of prejudice in my life, what other levels do I find lurking underneath, and how can I confront them? 

• In addition to intercessory prayer, what habits can I develop that allow me to be more responsive to the sick, the distressed, and the bereaved, particularly when their needs emerge suddenly and require immediate attention? Can I plan spaces into my life to allow for such unanticipated opportunities to minister to others? 

• Am I, by consistent attendance at worship, a witness to others of the worthiness of the God I follow? Or am I, by my sporadic attendance, suggesting that God is worth serving some times, but not others?” 

(Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar, pp 82-83) 

Finally, if fasting is something you feel called to explore during this season, here’s Stookey again:  

“It is in this same context that the ancient practice of fasting is best understood. Fasting is not primarily about giving up something; and certainly it should not result from a notion that our physical needs are unimportant or that the satisfaction of a pleasant meal is to be despised as being too self-indulgent. Fasting can alert us, however, to unacknowledged obsessions we may have about eating that can be tamed or redirected. Fasting can powerfully remind us of our dependence on God and others: Were it not for the One who gives seed to the sower, and for those who plant and harvest, and mill the grain into flour, who bake the bread, and deliver it to the store, we would be permanently hungry out of circumstance, not temporarily hungry out of church. Hunger should also cultivate within us a great understanding for the plight of the underfed and for the anxiety and anger that drive them to social unrest and rebellion. A fast can also be to us a revelation as to how much time we normally use for food purchasing, preparation, consumption, and cleanup; that in turn raises the questions, ‘To what good use can I put the time saved while on the fast?’ and ‘Over the long haul, can I streamline these tasks in order to have more hours available for Christian service?’”  

Resources for Further Study: 

Psalm 23 is a well-known psalm. As such, there are countless books on it, as well as the Psalms in general.  

If you’re a bookworm, the following two books will inform the sermon series:  

• K.J. Ramsey’s The Lord is My Courage and  

  

• Phillip Keller’s A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23.  

• 

  
  

Check out the church library for other related books. C.S. Lewis and Dietrich Bonhoeffer both have excellent, short books on the Psalms.  

If you grow through group study and conversation, Pastor Jo Ellen is leading a group study of Barb Roose’s Finding Jesus in the Psalms.  

Ideas for Spiritual Engagement and Growth: 

Lent is for pray-ers. You might consider joining the church’s email prayer chain, and you can pray Psalm 23 (using any translation you want) repeatedly during this season (try weekly, daily, or three times a day).  

Lent is for movers and shakers. If you like to get your body moving, Holy Fit will be hosting some activities during Lent (watch their Facebook group or the Engagement Sheet and weekly email). And, watch for more information about a new thing: Pickleball lessons and games, the fourth Thursday of the month, starting February 26 at 6pm in the church gym.  

Bible Readings for Sunday Worship (download the Weekly Reading Plan) 

2/18 Ash Wednesday – 7pm (from the Revised Common Lectionary) 

• Isaiah 58:1-12; Psalm 51:1-17; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 

2/22 Sunday 1: Beloved…in the Wilderness 

• Ps 23:1 – “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” 

• Mt 4:1-11; Jn 10:11; Mt 3:13-17 

3/1 Sunday 2: Settling Down from Fear and Striving 

• Ps 23:2 – “He makes me lie down in green pastures” 

• Ezek 34: 1-6, 11-16, 21-24; Jn 10:14-18; Gal 3:26-29; Ps 27:14 

3/8 Sunday 3: Breathing Us to Life 

• Ps 23: 2b-3 – He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake 

• John 13:1-8 (9-17); Rom 6:1-10; Gal 2:19-21 

3/ 15 Sunday 4: For You Are With Me 

• Ps 23:4 – shadow of death…rod and staff…comfort me. 

• 2 Sam 22:1-7, 17-20 

3/22 Sunday 5: Preparing a Table 

• Ps 23: 5 – you prepare a table…cup overflows.  

• Luke 15 

3/29 Palm Sunday: Surely… 

• Ps 23:6 – Surely goodness and love will follow me…forever. 

• Mt 21:1-11 

4/2 Maundy Thursday – 7pm (using the Revised Common Lectionary) 

• Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14; Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-17, 31b-35  

4/3 Good Friday – 7pm (using the Revised Common Lectionary) 

• Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25 or 4:14-16, 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42