We sometimes call this coming Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Every year we read from John 10, where Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd.” Every year, we say prayers and listen to music on the theme of God as a shepherd. And every year, as well, we read Psalm 23, which many people know. It’s one of the most popular and often-quoted parts of the Bible, especially in that old King James Version: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.”

The verse that’s been stuck in my head for the past fourteen months is the one that goes: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4)

We have indeed been walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Think about the image: when you go down into a valley on a spring day and the sun’s warmth is cut off by the hills on either side, when you move from a sunny 60 degrees to a shady 58, you feel the cold. The sun is still there on the outside, but its light and its warmth are blocked by something.

Maybe what’s been casting the shadow of death for you is the loss of a family member or a loved one. Maybe it’s been the loss of relationships with loved ones and family members, whom you haven’t been able to see precisely in order to protect them. Maybe it’s been the loss of school or work or even church community. We have all felt the cold and the isolation of that valley.

Some of us, now, are beginning to come out the other side. Some of us are feeling that spring warmth on our backs as we, fully vaccinated, can go out into the world. Others are still in the darkness, still desperately clicking refresh at 6:30am trying to get an appointment. The most important thing for us to remember right now, though, is that we’re not alone. We are a flock, with one Good Shepherd. That means that we have comfort and solidarity in community. It also means that we still have responsibilities to one another. Some of us, it’s true, are safer than we’ve been in a long time. Others aren’t quite there yet, and we still need to support and protect one another.

So while we’ll be resuming some indoor, in-person worship and some outdoor, in-person worship this Sunday, we’ll also continue with online worship and we’ll continue being one community. Even if we’re separated in space, we’re still one in body and in spirit, and it’s important that we maintain those relationships until we can all be together safely again.

But remember: whether you’re here in the church or outside in the Garden or still sitting at home, you are part of one flock, with one shepherd—not me, but the Lord who is our shepherd, Jesus who is our Good Shepherd—whose rod and staff lead us an guide us along the twisting paths of our lives. So may we all find the comfort of those green pastures and still waters where our shepherd leads us, wherever we are this Good Shepherd Sunday. And I hope and I pray to be together as one flock again soon, out in the sunlight on the other side of that valley.