In twenty plus years of ministry I can’t remember a funeral that
did not include the congregation speaking the 23rd psalm in the 1611
version approved by King James. It’s the only passage of scripture I prefer in
the King James Version because there is something about the Lord “maketh me, leadeth
me, restoreth me, yea though I walk… thou preparest for me…” that makes the ancient
language a present comfort in times of sorrow. It may be generational and in
the future any version of the psalm will do (as a good number of young people
who seem to have no dog in this hunt have told me) but I can’t help but think
there are some times that the present life and loss calls for ancient poetry because
the reality of death does not change from one generation to another even as the
hope of the words penned by David evoke the eternal – “Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever”.
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