Shopping with the Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not shop

at Costco.

 

There are a lot of great pieces of scripture

for stewardship season.  The meditation booklet in your pledge packet contains a few treasures.  You probably have your personal favorites. I certainly have mine.

 

The 23rd Psalm is a newer addition to my

stewardship repertoire.  Of course I’ve known it nearly all my life. I suspect it is one of those texts that we know deep in our beings, even from before we’re born, and we carry it with us wherever we go.  These words of the psalmist were among the last on
my grandmother’s lips as she lay dying. I hope I’ll have the presence of mind and soul to follow her lead when it’s my time.

 

It’s a classic funeral text, for sure, but

lately I’ve been thinking about the 23rd Psalm less for what it says about dying and more for what it says about living.  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. What a relief, not just for eternity but for right now! I can already feel my breaths lengthening
and deepening, my spirit lightening, my vision clearing.

 

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tells us to consider

the lilies of the field.  After the lilies, I might consider the credit cards in my wallet. Do I need them all?  Must I maximize the points and miles and cash back rewards so darn efficiently? And I might consider the shelves in my pantry.  Do I need the super
jumbo multipacks of God-knows-what? I got them at Costco! They were such a good deal!

 

And I might consider my annual pledge to

Trinity.  Can I stretch and grow, so that our parish can stretch and grow?  What about the mortgage, and school tuition, and retirement savings, and student debt, and everything else?  

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

  

A pledge is the promise of a gift.  The promise

to give to God in response to God’s promise to us of the greatest gift we could ever receive.  

 

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall pledge my

gifts with gladness and hope, in gratitude and faith.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

 

Amen.