Faith in a Time of Pandemic – God’s Care for Us

XLVIII
GOD’S CARE FOR US
The Lord is my shepherd…(Psalm 23:1)

or the week ahead, we will be reflecting on Psalm 23. I invite you to read it daily as an anchor for your spiritual life in this time of pandemic.

These days I know a bit about shepherding. Each weekday our two grands, nine and seven, come over for homeschooling and companionship while their parents are working at home. I know we have all heard the phrase about “herding cats.” But I think that there is also an art of “herding children.” Finding the right blend of structure and freedom, order and spontaneity, task and stream of consciousness. Perhaps t
he same is true of “herding sheep.”

When the Psalmist speaks of God as shepherd, he is not diminishing us. He’s not saying we are “sheep” who will follow just anyone. God doesn’t want us to be sheep, led by any charismatic authority figure, seeking our vote or adulation. God doesn’t want us to give up thinking when we go to church or think about only spiritual things and forget about daily life. Like a good parent – or shepherd of souls –

God wants us to be creative and active, and to use our expanding freedom wisely. Like a good parent, God creates a pasture or playground within which we can freely grow, experiment, and learn. And, then, embody the values we’ve received in our own unique ways.

When the Psalmist says “the Lord [or God] is my shepherd,” I believe this points to the confidence that we have – the trust we have – in God’s care. Good parenting and grandparenting provides a safe field of dreams, a container, for us to express ourselves without fear or anxiety. For us to feel safe and then to explore.

These days, we need a loving shepherd. We don’t feel safe as we recognize that this pandemic will go on for the foreseeable future and will be a threat to many of us until we find a vaccine and/or cure. We don’t need the prevarications and false hopes of public figures. We need the sense that God cares, God tells us the truth, and that God has the big issues of life and death settled.

We don’t know who wrote Psalm 23. Traditionally, Psalm 23 was attributed to David, the warrior king, who unified Israel as a nation. David lived a tough and hardscrabble life and often found himself in trouble, both from external foes and his own moral missteps. Still, he took solace – and found strength – in knowing God’s care and that whether he lived or died, he was in God’s hands.

Psalm 23 proclaims we are in God’s hands, whether we escape or get sick, live or die during this time of pandemic. That’s a big promise – and requires big trust – but when we realize we are in God’s hands, we can be boldly prudent, loving the best we can while sheltering in place, and reaching out knowing that God is with us in the darkest night.
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Shepherd of Souls, be with us in this troubled time. Let us trust the big issues to you as we use our freedom and creativity to be agents of healing and hope for ourselves, our loved ones, and the planet. Safe in your care, let us be bold as your companions in responding to pain and injustice. Amen.