The Lord is my shepherd... The psalm for this Sunday is the 23rd psalm. Perhaps the most familiar of all the psalms. It is often turned to for comfort and assurance when our world and our lives have been turned upside down. We pray it. We sing it. And my hope is that we also begin to live into the promises God offers us in this treasure of scripture. As a way of reflecting on this psalm I offer you a paraphrase written by Isaac Watts in 1719. (We will sing this as our offertory on Sunday.) My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah is His Name;
In pastures fresh He makes me feed,
Beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
When I forsake His ways,
And leads me, for His mercy's sake,
In paths of truth and grace.
When I walk through the shades of death
Thy presence is my stay;
One word of Thy supporting breath
Drives all my fears away.
Thy hand, in sight of all my foes,
Doth still my table spread;
My cup with blessings overflows,
Thine oil anoints my head.
The sure provisions of my God
Attend me all my days;
O may Thy house be my abode,
And all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come;
No more a stranger, nor a guest,
But like a child at home. Blessings, Matthew+
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP p. 225) | 
