Through the Valley
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. – Psalm 23:4a (KJV)
In a five-day span in April, I said (or led) the 23rd Psalm four times. Two were when I conducted funerals for beloved church members. A third was with another congregation for a colleague’s memorial service. The fourth was during the “Mass for the Dead” at Santa Fe’s St. Francis Cathedral Basilica the day Pope Francis died.
Each time, I had to stop halfway through verse 4. Walking “through the valley of death” takes on a fresh relevance when you’re making that walk with a family or congregation.
I learned the 23rd Psalm at an early age, perhaps like you. My older brother once told me he remembered our mother praying the psalm with him and my other brother and sister as they knelt by their beds at night. I don’t have that particular memory; by the time I was old enough to kneel, he and the others were old enough to pray on their own. Since I was a squirmy, curious toddler, my mother may have omitted Psalm 23 from our prayer time.
I remember the sense of accomplishment when I’d finally memorized the whole psalm, whether I learned it from my mother or Sunday School. But I don’t remember pausing at verse 4 as a child. Although my father died when I was two, death was an abstraction for my toddler soul. It wasn’t for my nine and eight-year-old brothers; it wasn’t for my six-year-old sister. I have no idea what it must have been like to pray about “the valley of the shadow of death” after your father died.
I can only hope Psalm 23 offered some source of comfort and strength. I still do.
Prayer
Shepherd of all, so many of your children still walk through the valley of shadows and death. May they know you walk with them. May they know your comfort and strength. Amen.
About the AuthorTalitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Mark Parts 1 and 2 of the Listen Up! Bible Study series and Worship for Vital Congregations.