The psalm that we have today as our lectionary reading is one of the most well-known and shared verses found in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. It has been the inspiration for a number of hymns and worship songs, including one rendition that became the theme to the popular BBC TV comedy series ‘The Vicar of Dibley’. Psalm 23 is perhaps most commonly encountered in funeral services, providing hope and comfort to those who have lost loved ones. Yet its application is perhaps most relevant to our lives of faith as an encouragement to trust in God as we journey with him.

Psalm 23 speaks to those who are going through challenging and troubled times but it is also a passage that speaks to our daily experience of faith. The psalm is essentially one of trust; trusting that God is guiding us through life and leading us on, along difficult paths, to the place that he calls us to be. In the psalm God is a shepherd and a host who lays a table and anoints us, denoting our loved and cared for status. God is the one who leads us and is the one who welcomes us into his divine presence and encourages us to trust in him.

The entire basis of the trust that we place in God is built on the promises that he has made to us. A promise that God is always with us and a promise that we should not be afraid. Despite being surrounded by enemies and constant threats of danger, the psalmist knows that they can rely on the God who never leaves and never abandons his flock.

In the New Testament Jesus identifies himself as the ‘Good Shepherd’ who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10; 11). Jesus therefore is the fulfilment of God’s promise that he will be amongst us and also that his presence with us will guide and save us. Jesus sacrifice on the cross, and his raising at Easter, is the demonstration that God will journey with us through everything: Life and death, bringing us through the other side into eternal life.

This Sunday is commonly known as ‘Mothering Sunday’ and is historically the time when people would return to their ‘mother’ church in which they were baptised. More recently, it has become a day where mothers and those who mother are celebrated.
On this day it is often pointed out that ‘mothering’ role that God takes on in the Bible.  For example when God is described as being like a mother bear who defends her cubs (Hosea 13:8) or as an eagle above her nest (Deuteronomy  32:11-12), as one who births us (Deuteronomy 32:18), and as a comforting and nursing mother (Isaiah 49:15 & Isaiah 49:15). In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of the God who is a mother hen who seeks to gather in her chicks (Matthew 23:37 and Luke 13:34). The Shepherd also acts like a parent as they guide, feed and lead their flock to the pastures, caring for them every step of the way.

In a change of time and uncertainty Psalm 23 reminds us that we are never alone in what we are facing. We have God as our divine parent and Jesus as a shepherd, guiding us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Even when we do not know where we are going we know that we are accompanied, cared for, and protected by God as we follow Jesus. Not only this, but recognised as precious by the one who has made us and given us life. It is the knowledge of that extravagant love, in which we are made members of God’s household, that helps us as we journey.

So this Sunday we give thanks for all those who have guided and mothered us in our lives. Yet most of all we give thanks to God, who in Christ and the Holy Spirit, is always present for us.