In the Presence of Our Enemies
Easter 2024 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 3 viewsA take on dealing with our enemies from the Psalmist's perspective
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Psalm 23:5 “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies”
BELOVEDS, IT MUST BE A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR IN AMERICA BECAUSE IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH, BELOVEDS, TO BE
PERCEIVED AS SOMEONE’S ENEMY THESE DAYS, EITHER REAL OR IMAGINED......
IT’S IN TIMES LIKE THESE THAT WE TURN TO THE DIVINE ONE FOR OUR TRIED AND TRUE, OUR RESOURCES FOR
STRENGTH IN THE STORMS OF LIFE, COMFORT FOR THE STRESSES AND STRAINS OF SUDDEN CHANGES....
WE NEED ALL OUR SPIRITUAL RESOURCES FOR WHEN THE FLICKERS, FLASHES AND SITUATIONS WHERE FULL BLOWN
HATRED, HURT, HARM AND EVEN DANGER REARS THEIR UGLY HEADS AGAIN....
THROUGH OUR LENTEN JOURNEY PASTOR LEANN CHALLENGED US TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES WE’D RECITED,
PRAYED OR OTHERWISE LIFTED UP THE LORD’S PRAYER.....TO REMEMBER THE MANY TIMES WE’VE EVEN SUNG ALONG TO
IT’S FAMILIAR PHRASES TOO....
I APPRECIATED THE NEW INSIGHTS SHE SHARED, AND MY OWN REFLECTIONS ON THAT FAMILIAR PRAYER THAT HAD SUCH
A LARGE PART IN SHAPING MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY FROM CHILDHOOD ON....
IN MY EPISCOPAL GRADE SCHOOL, A K- THROUGH 8TH GRADE EXPERIENCE KNOWN AS ST. EDMUND’S PAROCHIAL SCHOOL
WE WERE REQUIRED TO LEARN THE LORD’S PRAYER AND THE 23rd PSALM TOO......AND WHEN I FELT TOO OLD FOR “NOW I
LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP, I PRAY THE LORD MY SOUL TO KEEP.....IF I SHOULD DIE BEFORE I WAKE I PRAY MY LORD, MY SOUL
TO TAKE”
THE 23rd PSALM BECAME A FAMILIAR FRIEND AT BEDTIME.....TO REPEAT AND FEEL IT’S COMFORT....
AS A CHRISTIAN MINISTER, IT’S BEEN THIS PSALM THAT’S BEEN THE MOST VERSATILE OF ALL THE PSALMS, BELOVEDS.....
FOLKS USE IT AT FUNERALS, REQUEST IT AND REPEAT IT IN HOSPITALS.......IN TIMES OF WAR AND TIMES OF PEACE ....IN
WORSHIP SERVICES AND OUTSIDE WORSHIP SERVICES TOO....LET’S ALSO ADMIT, IT’S A GREAT PIECE OF LITERATURE TOO,
AMEN?
PSALM 23: 1
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
HOW DO YOU USE THE 23rd PSALM FOR YOUR JOURNEY THESE DAYS WITH OUR CREATOR, REDEEMER AND SUSTAINER?
THE OUTSTANDING UCC THEOLOGIAN, PREACHER AND PROFESSOR, PASTOR JOHN ZEHRING, WHO HAS AUTHORED MORE
THAN 70 BOOKS, WHO’S BEEN PUBLISHED IN MORE THAN 200 MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS AND LIVES IN 2 PLACES
MASSACHUSETTS AND BY THE SEA IN MAINE.....PENNED A VOLUME HE CALLED SIMPLY THE 23rd PSALM: AN EVERYDAY
PSALM
REGARDING VERSE 5, MY PREACHING TEXT FOR THIS MORNING, JOHN ADMITTED A FRIEND ASKED HIM THE SAME KIND OF
QUESTION I THOUGHT MIGHT BE RELEVANT AND USEFUL FOR OUR JOURNEY THIS ELECTION YEAR, FOR OUR JOURNEY
BELOVEDS FROM TIME INTO ETERNITY, FOR OUR JOURNEY TO STRETCH OURSELVES AS BELIEVERS IN GOD AND KINDRED
OF THE RESURRECTED JESUS CHRIST THIS EASTER SEASON.......AT ONCE HER QUESTION SEEMED BOTH SIMPLE AND
CHALLENGING....AT ONCE POINTING TO THIS PARTICULAR SCRIPTURE AND YET ASKING ABOUT THE WHOLE SET OF THE
PSALMS THEMSELVES......SHE ASKED:
HOW DO YOU GET AROUND ALL THE VERSES ABOUT ENEMIES? THE PSALMS ARE RIDDLED WITH REFERENCES TO ENEMIES.
AND BEFORE I GET TO JOHN’S ANSWER, LET ME ADMIT THE INTRIGUE OF THIS QUESTION FOR ME IS THAT I’VE SPENT A
LIFETIME LIVING INTO A STRATEGY OF ONLY FACING MY OWN ENEMIES ON AN AS NEEDED BASIS…HOW ABOUT YOU?
ONE STRATEGY, I CONFESS BEFORE OUR GOD THIS DAY HAS BEEN GETTING AROUND MY ENEMIES BY AVOIDING FOLKS
WHO HAVE NO LOVE FOR ME.....IF THEY HAVE BEEN MY ENEMY, AND I KNEW IT, AVOIDANCE RATHER THAN
CONFRONTATION HAS BEEN ONE STRATEGY THIS PREACHER HAS USED......
JOHN ZEHRING’S RESPONSE TO HIS FRIEND WAS THIS:
THE WORD ENEMIES OR ENEMY APPEARS IN THE PSALMS 90 TIMES - FAR MORE THAN ANY OTHER BOOK OF THE
BIBLE. MY FRIEND, JOHN WROTE, WONDERED IF THE PSALMIST HAD ANY FRIENDS AT ALL.
HE WENT ON, BELOVEDS, TO REMIND THE READER ABOUT JESUS WHO STOOD THE WORLD ON ITS EAR WHEN HE TAUGHT,
“LOVE YOUR ENEMIES AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU.”.......IN THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW 5th
CHAPTER, 44th VERSE....SURELY ANOTHER SERMON FOR PASTOR LEE ANN ON ANOTHER SUNDAY......
ISN’T IT SOMETHING, BELOVEDS, THAT GOD CAN STRETCH US IN NEW WAYS, IN EACH AND EVERY STAGE OF OUR LIVES?
WITH EVEN THE SAME PASSAGE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE?
TODAY, THE CHALLENGE IN THE 5th VERSE OF THE 23rd PSALM IS IN HOW TO HANDLE THE PRESENCE OF OUR ENEMIES....
Psalm 23:5a(NRSV)
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
I CAN’T HELP BUT THINK OF THE OLD GOSPEL SONG LYRICS THAT SAY:
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table
Sit at the welcome table one of these days
One of these days
All God's children gonna sit together
All God's children gonna sit together one of these days
(Hallelujah)
All God's children gonna sit together
All God's children gonna sit together one of these days
One of these days
https://lyricstranslate.com
THE WELCOME TABLE THEN, IS A PLACE WHERE THERE’S A SEAT FOR EVERYBODY.....
FRIENDS AND ENEMIES, THE FOLKS WHO LOVE GRAPE JELLY AND THE FOLKS WHO LOVE STRAWBERRY, THE FOLKS WHO
LOVE DINNER ROLLS AND THE FOLKS WHO PREFER BISCUITS, THE FOLKS WHO LOVE LONG PANTS AND THE FOLKS WHO
LOVE SHORTS INSTEAD........YOU NAME THE POLARITY, BELOVEDS, AND THERE’S STILL A PLACE FOR THEM, FOR THEY, FOR
HIM, FOR HER, FOR SHE, FOR HE, FOR Y’ALL.......
THE GREAT WRITER, OF “A SHEPHERD LOOKS AT PSALM 23 PHILLIP KELLER WROTE:
THE CHRISTIAN WALK CAN BECOME A MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCE -A TABLELAND TRIP- SIMPLY BECAUSE WE ARE IN
THE CARE AND CONTROL OF CHRIST, WHO HAS BEEN OVER ALL THIS TERRITORY BEFORE US AND PREPARED THE
TABLE FOR US IN PLAIN VIEW OF OUR ENEMIES WHO WOULD DEMORALIZE AND DESTROY US IF THEY COULD.
CONSIDER THE 23rd PSALM TODAY, BOTH A COMFORT AND CHALLENGE......
BEFORE SHE WENT HOME TO GLORY, DR MAYA ANGELOU ISSUED A CHALLENGE TO WOMEN WHO WOULD BE WISE THAT IS
APPROPRIATE FOR ALL OF US THIS EASTER SEASON ON THROUGH PENTECOST, BELOVEDS......
A WISE WOMAN WISHES TO BE NO ONE’S ENEMY; A WISE WOMAN REFUSES TO BE ANYONE’S VICTIM
BELOVEDS, I DON’T RECITE THE 23rd PSALM ANYMORE WITHOUT REALIZING HOW MUCH MORE IT HAS TO TEACH ME
ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO SIT IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND EVEN IN THE PRESENCE OF MY ENEMIES.....I’M WATCHING
FOR THE NEW WAYS GOD SHOWS ME TO LIVE MORE OF THE ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTER JOSH RUMPLE PREACHED
ABOUT HERE LAST SUNDAY, ESPECIALLY WHEN HE MENTIONED EXPERIENCING THAT BAVARIAN CREAM DOUGHNUT IN THE
BAVARIAN REGION OF GERMANY....AND WHAT A BLESSING THAT WAS. AMEN?
ON FRIDAY, JUNE 26th 2015, I WITNESSED MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT, PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA DELIVER THE EULOGY OF
CLERGYMAN, REVEREND CLEMENTA PINKNEY......I WATCHED IN AWE AND APPRECIATION AS HE PAUSED TO SING, AMAZING
GRACE BEFORE LIFTING UP THE NAMES OF THE 9 SLAIN SAINTS WHO HAD GONE HOME TO GLORY AT THE CHURCH HE
SERVED, EMANUEL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH......AT THAT CHURCH BIBLE STUDY WHERE PASTOR PINKNEY
SERVED AND DIED, THERE WAS A GRIEF STRICKEN MOTHER WHO DID SOMETHING, THAT TAUGHT US SO MUCH ....THAT
HER STORY CAN’T BE TOLD TOO MANY TIMES FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW......SHE LIVED OUT THE KIND OF LOVE
FOR AN ENEMY, THAT BEGINS IN FORGIVENESS.....AND BEGAN FOR HER, PERHAPS, IN THE PRESENCE OF HER ENEMY......
Felicia Sanders, the mother of one of the nine victims killed by Dylann Roof in a Charleston church, told Roof this morning
at an emotional sentencing hearing, "I forgive you."
"That's the easiest thing I had to do. But you don't want to help somebody who don't want to help themselves," she told
her son's killer, according to ABC affiliate WCIV. "May God have mercy on your soul."
Sanders survived Roof's shooting rampage on June 17, 2015, that killed nine black parishioners who had gathered at the
Charleston, South Carolina, church for Bible study. She was there when her son, Tywanza Sanders, was shot to death.
ON THAT DAY, THAT MOTHER, FELICIA SANDERS SHOWED THE WORLD WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE OUT THIS FAITH OF OURS
EVEN IN THE TIMES WHEN WE ARE CHALLENGED THE MOST, AND BEARING GRIEFS AND PAIN OTHERS MAY NOT EVEN BE
ABLE TO FATHOM.........AND IT WAS EASY FOR ME TO THINK OF THE 23rd PSALM AS EVEN A COMFORT TO HER........
MAY THE 23rd PSALM CONTINUE TO GIVE YOU COMFORT, CHALLENGE AND ULTIMATELY, BELOVEDS, MAY IT GIVE YOU
PEACE......THE PEACE THAT COMES WITH KNOWING THE RESURRECTED JESUS IS YOURS........FOR NOW AND ALWAYS.....
I CLOSE WITH IT’S FINAL STANZA TODAY AS MY HOPE AND PRAYER FOR EACH OF YOU AND YOURS.....
SURELY, MAY GOODNESS AND MERCY FOLLOW YOU ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIVES....
AND MAY YOU AND I, BELOVEDS, DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.....FOREVER....
LET US PRAY......