Prayer: Lord, Our Shepherd. We praise you for your everlasting goodness and mercy. May we lean into your guidance through dark valleys and green pastures. Thank you for always abiding with us, and may we find peace and comfort in your presence now and forever. Amen.
Reading: Psalm 23 (Click to read text) Stop and GROW: After reading the text, discuss/ponder the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Book of Faith questions, which are part of Camp Mount Luther's GROW Time with campers. QUESTION 1: What scares, confuses, challenges, or doesn’t make sense to me in this text? QUESTION 2: What delights me in this text or is my favorite part of the story? QUESTION 3: What stories or memories does this text stir in me? QUESTION 4: What is God up to in this text? Reflection: I read this well-known Psalm through different lenses today…I read it through the lens of the Easter season and the pandemic. I hope as you read this, you are encouraged to abide in the promises artfully woven into this Psalm. The opening phrase, “the Lord is MY shepherd” is a declaration of surrender. The writer declares that they want their life to follow the Lord’s will. To walk with the Lord, our shepherd, is such a blessing because we find out in verse 3 that the Lord will guide us along the right paths! Following Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus ascends to the Father so that the advocate (the Holy spirit) can be with us to guide us. As we walk with and abide in the presence of our Lord, our Savior, and our advocate, we can find comfort and peace even in the darkest days (verse 4). Our Lord is our host, and as I have experienced when welcomed in many other homes, hosts provide lovingly for our needs and bless us with abundance beyond our needs (verse 5). And finally, we will experience goodness and mercy as we dwell in the house of the Lord forever (verse 6). Not only when we pass on to join our Lord in our heavenly home, but also now- forever is now! To dwell means to abide in. Abide in the Lord’s presence, guidance, provisions, and abundance, now and always! To abide in has taken on a greater meaning for me lately. I joined an ELCA Young Adults small group called “Abide,” and we have been discussing how we can Abide in God’s presence, and how God abides with us in our grief and in creation. This group assembled across time zones to connect young adults during the pandemic, and it has been a huge blessing. I want to encourage you to abide in the Lord, however that may look for you. --Anne Harshbarger
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