Keep it real

Do you know Psalm 23? Albeit written 1000 BC, it is still so familiar to many. But do we let the words to flow by us, mutter them at a funeral, and possibly not really engage with them? They were written as a prayer, so why couldn’t we use them as a prayer to God, adding our bits when needed – keep it real.

Jesus is my shepherd

and I honestly feel sorry for him, because I can be quite a stubborn sheep.

I shall not want

Or that’s the way it should work, but yet I always want for more. I’m working on it.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul

Jesus is teaching me how to care. To care for myself, so that I can then care for others. To care for the earth, so I can live in green pastures with still waters and not make a mess of them just because I can. To care for my soul, which is fed by gratitude and joy and kindness. 

He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake

 Unfortunately, he keeps talking too softly for me to hear him, so I keep having to guess what the right paths are, and go on a hunch, and ask for forgiveness when I get it wrong. 

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil 

Well that’s just wishful thinking. I fear all the time. All the things. So much fear. But I am learning how to sit in the darkness, and be open to what I might learn from it, and really the most important bit is that…you are with me.

Your music, your friendship, your wisdom, your words, your kindness, your presence through others – they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies

and yet you tell me that there’s extra room at the table, and it’s actually your table and not mine, so I should scoot over and make room and invite my enemies to eat with me and give them the last piece of homemade bread and extra butter because that’s what you would do. Which is annoying but I know you’re right. It’s about hospitality.

you anoint my head with oil – you protect and love me, you nurture, you guide, you heal me. My cup overflows. 

God, I am grateful. I am so incredibly overwhelmed by goodness – not necessarily material goods – in my life.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long

And when the goodness and mercy are obscured, O God, help me know you’re still there. Always. Forever. Amen.

Psalm 23 : Reimagined by Rebecca Garrett Pace

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So what?

By responding to this psalm written 1000 years before Jesus, and used by the likes of U2, Megadeath, Marillion and Pink Floyd, we can reimagine the words as they apply to us. There’s no fluff, no tarting it up, we can speak back to God in basic terms if we need to, haven’t we been there? Respond to the verses as you find them. Don’t let the treasure within remain hidden. Keep it real.

Even in groups, where we are all Christians, we should try to speak in plain language. Biblical verses are great, but let’s keep them in context. Be in dialogue with God. Keep it real.