Series: The 23 rd Way Getting Closer to God Part IV: Death Valley Days C. Gray Norsworthy Johns Creek Presbyterian Church March 15, 2015 1-3 GOD, my shepherd! I don t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. 4 Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I m not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd s crook makes me feel secure. 5 You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. 6 Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I m back home in the house of GOD for the rest of my life. -- Psalm 23, from The Message We are about halfway through our in-depth look at the 23 rd Psalm. Today we are focusing on the verse that says in the King James Version, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For you are with me. But I have chosen The Message translation of these verses because I like the wording: Even when the way goes through Death Valley... In hearing those words, I could not help but think of the TV show I grew up watching as a kid called Death Valley Days. How many of you remember it? It was hosted by a variety of folks including Ronald Reagan, who told stories of the old west that took place in and around Death Valley. I found a short video clip from an episode called No Gun Behind His Badge in which Ronald Reagan was not the host, but actually starred as a stranger who has just arrived in town. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kaalblxyqs) Maybe after that clip we should have a sermon called, The Lord is My Sheriff. Wouldn t it be nice to have someone like that to step in whenever we faced challenges in life that caused us to feel afraid? Maybe someone about whom we could say, I m not afraid when you walk by my side. (Ps. 23,4b, The Message) 1
All of us can probably think of times in our lives when we felt like we were going through a valley. Maybe we are going through one right now. Simply being alive means that, from time to time, we will all face our own Death Valley Days. So, where is God in all of that? When we make our way through the valleys of life, will those experiences make us feel farther away from God wondering where God is, or is there a way in which the valleys of life can draw us closer to God? That is what we want to talk about this morning. If you have ever walked through a literal valley, you know what that terrain can be like. When I visited Israel the first time, we actually took a walk through Wadi Qelt. Wadi is another word for valley. Wadi Qelt began just outside of Jerusalem and wove its way through the hills down to the city of Jericho. The path we took may have been the same road the man in the story of the Good Samaritan took when he was robbed and left for dead. As we walked through that valley road that led between massive boulders, we could see how this would be the perfect place for someone to hide and attack those walking that way. From time to time I thought about how we were out in the middle of nowhere, and I looked forward to making it through that valley and arriving at our destination in Jericho. Another time our family went up to Glacier National Park and we rented a minivan to drive up to what is called the Going to the Sun Road. It is an amazing road that clings to the side of a mountain ridge as it makes its way up this valley to the top of the mountain. But the road is literally hanging off the side of a mountain, and if you went over the rather low stone wall, you would fall hundreds of feet down into the rocky valley below. I had to really concentrate to keep myself looking over to my right where there was nothing but air. We know what it is like to go through the literal valleys in life. But in this Psalm, this Hebrew poem written so long ago, the words take on a symbolic value. Valleys represent not only those places where we are afraid of being harmed; they also represent those times in life that seem threatening to us. It may be some kind of loss the loss of a job, our health, or a close friend. It may be the experience of depression when there seems to be little light as we try to make our way through life. But, the Psalmist talks about Death Valley or the valley of the shadow of death. For each one of us, death may be the last valley we all face. When we think about death, particularly as Christians, we may find ourselves somewhat confused as to what we mean. On the one hand, we believe that because of our faith in Christ, God will one day resurrect us after we die and leave this life. It is what we celebrate at Easter and what we proclaim every time we have a service here when someone dies. Scripture even talks about the end of death. And yet we all face death. How is there an end to death? How do we reconcile the two? Tom Long has written about the end of death. Long makes a distinction between what he calls death with a small d and Death with a capital D. Long reminds us that Small-d death is simply the recognition that human beings are mortal. (From Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral: 38) We do not have infinite time on this earth. Sometimes this kind of 2
death is even a welcome end to our suffering or the suffering of a loved one. Yet, even the awareness of small-d death can also cause us to be afraid. But Long also writes, Capital-D Death is a different reality from small-d death. It never comes to us as welcomed and represents all the destructive forces in our world everything that seeks to undo the good that God wills. That is what Paul calls the last enemy. (1 Corinthians 15:26) But, Jesus death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection on that first Easter morning put an end to the ultimate power of Capital-D Death. And because Jesus goes through this death on a cross, we can have hope, that after we have gone through small-d death, God will resurrect us to a new life in the presence of God. So the last word from God is not death, but new life and resurrection. Ultimately that is the final word when it comes to death, and it can be seen even in this Psalm from the Old Testament. It tells us that even when we face death, we don't have to be afraid because God is walking right there beside us to see us through. Notice that the Psalm says we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We walk, we do not run though many of us would probably like to get through death as fast as possible. But maybe facing death and walking through it purposefully is our last great opportunity to learn something God wants us to know. Also, notice we do not stop or get stuck in the valley we walk and we will make it through to the other side. While each one of us will face death at the end of our lives, sometimes the valley we go through is walking beside someone else at the end of their lives. We may find that because we have gone through that kind of valley, we will have a unique perspective that may help another person go through the same thing. As a pastor, I often see how someone who has gone through the valley of something like losing their own spouse or family member can help another person facing the same kind of valley. I believe that is where we can become the embodiment of God's presence in the lives of others. How does God walk beside us as we pass through the valleys of our lives? Sometimes it is through that special person in our lives who walks beside us and helps us make it through. Our CanCare ministry is built on this very model. CanCare volunteers are individuals who have faced their own battle with cancer. Many who have survived such an experience feel the need to want to help someone else maybe as a way of expressing their gratitude for making it through. CanCare training equips them to use their experience as a way to walk through the valley of cancer with someone else. And as they say in the CanCare training, nothing gives more hope than someone who can look at the person facing cancer and say, I had the same kind of cancer you have and I made it through. Because you have faced a valley experience in your life, you may be the very person God needs to help someone else walk through the valley they are facing. If you think that may be the case and you want to do something about it, I encourage you to talk with Neal about being involved in either our CanCare or our Stephen Ministries. Maybe you can think of one of the valleys in your life you have made it through by God s grace. I want to encourage you not to forget those valleys. Remember those valleys. My tendency in life is to forget the valleys I have made it through, and instead concentrate on the 3
next valley I have to face. The problem with that as you can imagine, is that we are often in fear of what may come next. When we face the valleys of life, they can sometimes have a negative effect. An extreme example of that would be something like Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event and can cause all sorts of negative symptoms. It is very real and those of us facing it need to use all the good help we can get to find healing and wholeness. And yet, there are sometimes when we go through such events, and rather than having a negative effect, they seem to have a positive effect and provide a certain amount of confidence, and maybe even courage because we have made it through. Maybe we are able to frame those events as valleys through which God sustained us. Instead of it resulting in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, through God s grace it becomes a Post Traumatic Trust in God s Order. Because we have made it through, we have a deeper calm and peace that can help us face the next valley in life. Maybe we can actually learn something from that valley experience. It was Ruth Bell Graham who said, Mountaintops are for breadth of view and inspiration, but fruit grows in the valleys. Valleys are often where the real growth takes place. Earlier in this service we baptized little Will. Some of you may be wondering why I chose these particular verses from the 23 rd Psalm on the day we celebrated a baptism. All this talk about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, when there are other verses that talk about things like still waters? Couldn t we have focused on some of those? What does death have to do with baptism anyway? Well, maybe more than we realize. I am not sure if you pay close attention to the words we say prior to baptism, but if you do, you may remember that we say something about dying to sin and being raised to a new life in Christ. Why do we talk about dying when we baptize someone -- especially a child? Well, one person speaks about in this way: Baptism is considered a happy moment. Congregations are amused and intrigued by the various responses of babies. But there is little sense that the child is undergoing a profound initiation, a process of cleansing from sin, of entering into the death and resurrection of Christ, and of being received into a new community or family of faith. (Stookey, Holy Baptism, page 14) Sometimes in all the joy of celebrating this new baby, we forget that baptism is a sign of dying to sin and being raised to a new life in Christ. Our baptism at whatever age, reminds us that even though we will all walk through the valley of theshadow of death, we will make it through. The final word is new life and resurrection. The same God who will resurrect us will also be right beside us every step of our lives, even through the darkest valleys. We will not be alone. We began this morning talking about Death Valley Days. We even looked at that clip from the TV series about the old west. That video clip made me think about the song I learned to play as a kid on my very first guitar. It consisted of three little cowboy chords (that s what we called them) and the song was Red River Valley. You may remember the words: From this valley they say you are going. We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile, For they say you are taking the sunshine 4
That has brightened our pathway a while. It is a sweet, kind of sad song. However, when I think of that song, I always think of something that happened to me when I visited not the Old West, but the Middle East and the town of Nazareth on my first trip to the Holy Land. In Nazareth, the city in which Jesus grew up, there is a large Roman Catholic Church which is fairly modern, but very beautiful. We went inside that large domed church. In the middle of the sanctuary there is a wide opening that allows you to look down to the floor below. Down below there is a smaller chapel in front of the remains of the house where, according to tradition, the angel spoke to Mary and told her she would conceive a child who would be the savior of the world. Our group gathered around the railing to watch because on the lower level, there was a worship service in which they were celebrating the mass and remembering the death of Christ. It was very moving for me to watch -- at least until they started to sing. I could not make out the words, but the tune sounded very familiar to me. In fact, it sounded exactly like Red River Valley. And for some reason, I found it funny that we should be in Nazareth at this most holy site and they re singing what sounds like Red River Valley. And I started to get the giggles. In fact, I started laughing so hard that I could not stop. I did not want to make a scene so I backed off and stood against the wall behind me, but I was laughing so hard I was crying. You know what that is like. Someone in our group looked over at me, and at first I think she assumed I was so moved by the worship service that I was crying. But then as she looked closer, she realized I was laughing, and then she got a rather puzzled look on her face. Now I was laughing because something struck me as odd. Maybe you are a little embarrassed that your pastor would do such a thing. But this week I began to think about the juxtaposition of the mass which is focused on death the death of Jesus -- and my spontaneous laughter. And I thought that maybe that was not so crazy after all. Today we have talked about facing the valley of the shadow of death, yet we hold on to the promise that not only are we not alone but that death is not the final word. The final act is not about tears and mourning. The final act is resurrection and maybe even laughter. The death that we were so afraid of is, in the end, nothing more than a shadow like something we fear when we are a child and later find out it is nothing. And our tears and fears turn to smiles and even laughter. Pat Terry, the songwriter, sang here a few weeks ago. His most recent album is called Laugh for a Million Years. The title comes from a song on the album he wrote when his good friend, songwriter Mark Heard, died at a young age, and Pat was asked to sing at the service. Pat s song reminds us that while we don't comprehend it all now -- one day we will, and that will be a time of great joy in the very presence of God. Pat puts it this way, but one day we ll all understand and we ll laugh for a million years! So, when we face life s valleys, and even Death Valley -- remember that one day we will make it through and it will be good. Maybe we will even laugh for a million years. In the strong name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 5