He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff that give me courage.
As we approach the end of this First Year of Covid-19, anxiously expecting a second year, we beg the Lord to lead us through this dark valley and deliver us from the plague, even as we honor those who have died.
I often read the Ninety-first Psalm in my ministry as chaplain. As we hear this psalm we feel a "cloud of witnesses" surrounding us; they have begged God since time immemorial for deliverance:
He will rescue you from the fowler’s snare, from the destroying plague, He will shelter you with his pinions and under his wings you may take refuge; his faithfulness is a protecting shield. You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that roams in darkness, nor the plague that ravages at noon. Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, near you it shall not come.
The psalm especially reminds us of Jesus's encouraging word to the little girl's father, "Do not be afraid; just have faith."
The disciple of Jesus naturally shudders at the prospect of death, even as he did in the Garden of Gethsemane. If some of us no longer fear our own death, having witnessed it in battle, or frequent accidents in a dangerous profession, of through the loss of loved ones, we nonetheless fear the loss of relatives and friends. We grieve whenever we must give someone into God's trustworthy hands.
But the shudder, the spasm of fear, passes even as it passed through Jesus in the dark hours following his Last Supper. We rise with him to face the enemy, whether it be an epidemic or a terminal illness. We might invoke the martyrs who were privileged to die as Our Savior died.
In every case, we wrap ourselves in fearlessness like a knight's suit of armor, a soldier's Kevlar, or a nurse's PPE. In that moment we pass through the "dark valley" and take up our responsibilities with surprising grace and freedom.
Remembering how Jesus believed and trusted the Father who sent him, and the Spirit who led him, to Jerusalem, we surrender first our loved ones and then ourselves to the same Father of Jesus. A Cloud of Witnesses engulfs us as we do so, and we have no fear.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.