Saturday, March 21st, 2020
By Keith Thompson
Psalm for the Day: Psalm 23:5-6
In this strange time of social distancing, I imagine that many of us are not preparing a table to share meals. At least, we are not doing it in the same ways as before. We are not going out to eat with friends and family. A lot of time is spent alone. And yet, Psalm 23 reminds us that we are not alone. From leading us to water, to being with us in the valleys, and now, in the closing verses of the Psalm, to preparing a table and anointing us with oil: God is with us.
God is with us in our homes, preparing the table for us. When we break bread, whether together or seemingly alone, we do it with God and the community of faith of all times and places. God anoints our heads with oil, even when we are told not to touch others. Our cups overflow with God’s grace and mercy always. Goodness and mercy do follow us, but it is sometimes difficult to feel them supporting us. We may not be gathering with our community of faith in the same ways right now, but verse 6 reminds us that we “shall dwell in the house of the Lord” forever. In these days, it is my prayer that we continue to celebrate the ways God sustains us in all we do and that we share that with our neighbors just as we always have.
As is wont to happen with the Psalms, different tunes pop into my head as I read them. For Psalm 23, it is this arrangement from Herbert Howell’s Requiem that I hear: Watch it here (with our own Daniel Bara conducting the UGA Hodgson Singers in this video!)
