May 11, 2014 – “Six Feet” from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.
A sermon preached at John Knox Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on May 11, 2014.
It’s “Good Shepherd Sunday.”
Three weeks after Easter Day is always Good Shepherd Sunday.
It doesn’t take long, flipping through the Bible,
to understand why this theme gets a whole Sunday.
The Bible is filled with sheep and shepherds—
–REAL sheep, and REAL shepherds,
but also the important METAPHOR of how God calls and cares for us.
Maybe that’s why the 23rd Psalm is our most popular Psalm.
It has been set to music,
inspired work on canvas
burnished on our memory.
It’s recited at funerals, at bedsides,
at commencements and confirmations.
But what surprises—is the range of impact this Psalm has.
The 23rd Psalm is NOT popular just among the pew-sitters,
to be found only in dusty old hymnals
or in the next generation of Christian song writers.
The 23rd Psalm is equally popular among the popular—
–in songs you might actually hear blaring from iPods. [1] [Read more…]
