Have you got security worries? Were you reassured by the government’s National Security Strategy unveiled last month? If you missed it you can download it as a 64 page .pdf file from www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/reports/national_security_strategy.
Is it a relief to you that a "national register of risks" is going to be made available to the public? I must admit that when I first came across this stuff I kept checking the date because I found the BBC’s flying penguins on the morning of April 1st rather more credible, but this was March 19th.
But then the next day I got even more of a jolt at work as I sat at the back of a meeting where we were told that we had to create a register of risks in our organisation. I waited, and listened carefully and kept my mouth shut, and pretty soon realised that pretty well everyone was taking this quite seriously. So I made a memo to myself right there – don’t mock people’s security concerns. What does not bother me at all may be a real worry to someone else and it’s really risky to assume otherwise.
So pausing only to note that if you google security on your computer you get 759 million hits in 0.07 seconds, so there must be plenty of people caring about it, I shall not mock, I shall ponder rather, where does our security come from? Where indeed? What got me started on this was looking at the psalm set for today in the church lectionary. I do usually do this, and more often than not, the psalm seems to have little to do with the rest of the readings, which is probably why we generally ignore it, but today’s psalm is psalm 23 which goes really nicely with the good shepherd reading we’ve just heard. It is also echoed at the end of the epistle reading from Peter, where the essentially practical advice given is rounded off by reference to this same guardian shepherd image. But there’s more to it than that – why is Psalm 23 so popular and widely adapted? It could be just because it is short, I suppose, but I’d venture to suggest it’s more because it chimes so well with the whole new testament sentiment. Its central image is not as with many psalms, a powerful, vengeful or mighty one, but a caring one. It speaks of security which comes from being loved and cared for. But maybe it is not quite that way round that we need to say it – it speaks of love and care themselves providing security.
It is important which way round you say it. Many psalms speak of a God who is worthy and powerful, and who guards: Psalm 71 “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.” Is it really such a different sentiment? Well, yes it is, or it can be if we go on to believe that security can come only from strength and sufficient force – if we mistake it for that fortress mentality that can occur at so many levels:
The individual fortress, the Englishman’s home, if you like; the gated community; the vested interest, the corporate strategy; the nation state, protecting its borders. I hope you get the picture without me being too provocative. All these things are maybe justifiable in their way, but they all carry overtones of protecting what one has and excluding the others, whoever they may be.
So I really wouldn’t take the whole shepherd image as saying there’s a shepherd with a bunch of sheep who’s going to put a wall round them and defend them at all costs to the exclusion of all others. Rather it is saying that the love and care of the shepherd enables those who follow him to do so without fear. Sheep may safely graze, as Bach would have it.
And it’s here that the third reading from Acts makes its appearance and reinforces the point – all the nice imagery and comforting words in the world are not worth much if nothing comes from them. The love and care that Jesus represented to them enabled these folk to follow with confidence. That reading spoke of early Christians living out their security in practical ways. Now I know those early churches do always sound a bit keen, and it was a different world of course, but that’s for us to work on – what does our security in Christ do for us, and what does it enable us to do?
And in a way, that’s all I want to say. Much worldly security is an illusion, what God shows us through Jesus is the love which can take away fear and guide us to live our lives following him.
As best we can. I actually chose Psalm 71 for my example verse earlier not completely at random, because it has another verse which set my mind wandering: Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. I’m not for a moment suggesting that there are any here whose strength is failing, but it is just another case where I’m struck by the honesty of thinking behind much bible writing. This is a person who is not afraid to expose his fears. As we get older, we still think, we still wonder and reflect – arguably we have more time for reflection on how life has turned out and how our priorities and beliefs have stood the tests they’ve been put to. And of course we still have our fears and doubts. And I guess that’s what the psalmist was thinking – I’m still here, I’m no less me. I may not be the force I was, he goes on to say then continues
I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
Strange language, for sure, but there’s a heartfelt prayer there is there not? – God help me keep the faith in whatever way I can.
Actually we are very lucky – we live in a generally very safe and secure part of the world and we shouldn’t take it for granted. It doesn’t mean that we are any less loved and cared for by God, in whom our ultimate hope of security rests.