Earth Day, the Death of Pope Francis, and our Prayers for Wholeness

Good morning. It’s a gift to share Earth Day with our friends from the Parochial School across the street. Ladies thank you for sharing with us wisdom from your Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh traditions. I thought that I might also share an interfaith grounding from the scriptures which Jews, Christians, and Muslims call Holy—Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it….”

However, Monday morning April 21st the Holy Father, Pope Francis died; so it seems as though Psalm 23 might be a more appropriate place to begin—especially for our Roman Catholic friends.

May this Psalm be a blessing.

Also, there’s something to know…Jesus was not a shepherd. According to scripture his occupation before becoming a Rabbi—teacher—was as was his stepfather Joseph, a carpenter. 

Shepherds have appeared in other places in scripture—keeping watch o’er their flocks by night for example. Or more prominently shepherd was the occupation of future King David—who legend says, and all credible evidence refutes; was the author of the Psalms—especially 23. “The Lord is my Shepherd...”

Shepherds are a standard reference point in the ancient world when scripture was written.  Rumi, the Persian Sufi mystic said, “Be a lamp, a lifeboat, or a ladder. Walk out of your house like a shepherd. Help someone’s soul to heal.”

 And though we are a long way from the Biblical era or the near East, where shepherds make sense; we are through this funeral Psalm—the Lord is my Shepherd—close to the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The more we talk about things, the more deeply ingrained they are. Preachers know this…it’s why we share scripture. It’s why we tell stories, sometimes the same one again and again…

If you get to know me, you’ll know I have told the same story every year for the past 15 years…it’s about the first time I talked to the woman who would become my wife and the mother of my son and daughter. 

I remember April 26th, 2010 like it was yesterday. 

On an unseasonably warm evening I was sitting on a bench in Tompkins Square park in Manhattan;  a saxophonist; who I now know by name because he died of covid—Giuseppe Logan—played background music. We talked on the phone until my battery died. I took the subway back to Harlem to my apartment—the back of a dentist’s office.  Vanessa and I talked until daylight—8 hours. We did  that 7 days in a row. I have never been so grateful to be that exhausted. 

Here’s a deeper thing; I tell this story because it, like today’s Psalm it orients me to life and God. This is what Shepherd means in scripture. It means that God is with us and never leaves.

But here’s the danger; we can misname the Psalm; the Shepherd; and God. We can get so wrapped up in details—which Park was it?—putting a pageant together with Children dressed as shepherds we forget why we say the scripture. 

Let me say it another way.  

The musician Johnny Cash, when asked what his vision of heaven was, replied: “This morning. With her. Having coffee.”  I feel the same. 

I’ve found extraordinary happiness in small things...

I have sometimes naively tried to turn these moments into object lessons or principles to be applied when there’s friction for something I have or have not done. 

For example, ONE TIME Vanessa said she preferred spinach Spankopita from Whole Foods over flowers—so, every time I am tempted to buy her flowers, I go to frozen food section of the grocery store instead. 

To me this makes sense!

...I still have a lot to learn. 

Recently, I told Vanessa that I haven’t been sleeping well. I wake up at  2 or 3am. I start reading the news on my phone and can’t go back to sleep until 6am; half an hour later it’s time to get up for the day. Which means more often than not, I’m exhausted—which I am not grateful to be. 

“That’s because you don’t pray and meditate before you sleep.” Says Vanessa. 

“I can assure you I do!”

“You can’t pray from desperation, anxiety, or anger. You need to pray from a place of gratitude.”

This is the flowers or Spankopita (or perhaps the Shepherd) principle...apparently it’s not really about flowers, puff pastry, (or sheep). 

Did I tell you Jesus is not actually a shepherd. He was a Rabbi—a teacher. 

The Rabbi taught a life of faith is about gratitude, sacrifice, and love.  In the same way that a gift should be what a person wants; and given because the giver wants to offer it—prayers should not be said from obligation or like a magic spell—either hoping or expecting an outcome.  Prayers, like other gestures of love, should be offered from a place of sincerity.  This is not something that can be faked. 

Johnny Cash’s family released a statement in the wake of the 2017 Charlottesville Virginia march. A Neo nazi was photographed wearing his image. 

“Johnny Cash was a man whose heart beat with the rhythm of love and social justice. He championed the rights of Native Americans, protested the war in Vietnam, was a voice for the poor, the struggling and the disenfranchised, and an advocate for the rights of prisoners.”

It is for us to remember that the image of good Shepherd is one who advocated for the imprisoned; the hungry; and the mourning...it’s an image we can call upon in times of trouble. Psalm 23, “the Lord is my Shepherd...” is for those mourning the death of loved ones...

And it’s for people, like me; and perhaps you, celebrating small things. 

Day by day my wife helps me be more grateful for small things like coffee; and when I turn it into heaven, she reminds me, “it’s just hot water and beans.” 

Jesus teaches us that Heaven appears when we are present; present with the marginalized and maligned; present with a sincere appreciation for what is. For this reason we are close to heaven when pay attention. We are close to God when it’s a relationship and conversation not a cosmic demand...