Thomas J Parlette
“Our Keeper”
Psalm 121
3/1/26
I graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 1986. I majored in Psychology – but I started college as a political science major. I thought I might go to law school after college, but then I took a class where one of the assignments was to go to the library and actually read some laws and write briefs about them. Well, that was enough for me. I figured out pretty quickly that the law was not my calling. I went right over to the Administration building and switched my major to Psychology.
But I had already taken some courses that counted toward a political science degree, and I was still interested in the topic, especially speech writing and political ads – so I made that my minor instead.
I remember in one of the classes I took, we watched various political ads – the ones that were effective and the ones that didn’t work so well. I remember one in particular, and I bet you do too. It was one of the most effective politics ads ever produced.
It was a notorious TV spot called “Daisy” that ran in 1964 during the race between President Lyndon B Johnson and Barry Goldwater. Johnson and assumed the Presidency after John F Kennedy’s assassination, and this was his re-election campaign. Goldwater was a staunch conservative who favored a tough, militaristic approach to the Soviet Union – the nation that represented the “evil empire” for many Americans in those cold war days.
Just one minute in length, “Daisy” depicted an innocent school girl slowly plucking petals from a daisy. She counts them off, 1-10 as they fall to the ground. When she removes the last petal, a voiceover begins a rocket countdown, from 10 down to 0. The camera slowly zooms in on the girl’s eye, until all is darkness. As the announcer reaches “zero”, a sinister glowing mushroom cloud appears with the sound of a massive explosion.
As the cloud grows, the sound of LBJ’s distinctive Texas drawl is heard – “These are the stakes, in which all of God’s children can live, or go into darkness. We must either love each other, or we must die.”
Then another voice is heard – “Vote for President Johnson on Nov. 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.”
That’s it. The “Daisy” commercial never mentioned Goldwater by name, we never see LBJ’s face. But the message was unmistakeable:
“America, President Johnson is your keeper. A vote for Goldwater could be a vote for nuclear war.” And it worked. President Johnson was re-elected in 1964 – some experts say “Daisy” swung the election. (1)
Our reading from the Psalms this morning is Psalm 121 – a popular pick for funeral services. This psalm speaks of God as our keeper, as our protector. This short Psalm uses some form of the word to keep six times in just eight verses. Different translations use slightly different words. For instance, the New Jerusalem Bible uses “guarding” and describes God as our “guardian”- as does the Message. The New International Version uses the language of “watching over” as well as “keeping.” The King James Version uses the words “keep” and also “preserve.” (2) This Psalm celebrates the Lord as our Keeper, but also our Guadian and Protector, the One who watches over us, shields us, shelters us and preserves us.
Psalm 121 is part of a group of Psalms that scholars refer to as “Songs of Ascent,” or “Pilgrim Songs”, as Eugene Peterson calls them in The Message. Psalm 120 – 134 all share this designation.
These Psalms were songs that pilgrims to Jerusalem would sing or chant while they walked up to the Holy City. Incidentally, you always walk “Up” to Jerusalem because the Holy City sits on a hill. Likewise, when you leave the city, you come down from Jerusalem.
Psalm 121 may have been a call and response song – much like we do our Call to Worship each week. Or, some scholars have suggested that it may have been chanted as the people walked, led by a cantor. Notice that the first few verses are arranged much like a catechism, in a question and answer format:
- The cantor begins, “Where does my help come from?”
- The people respond – “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
- “He who keeps you will not slumber…”
- “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”
- Then perhaps the Cantor finishes up from there…
- “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon at night.” You get the idea.
The central question of Psalm 121 is “Where does my help come from?” It’s a question we still ask today. We ask it as a country. We ask it as a community. We ask it as a church.
We have so many challenges. We have so many problems. Things look so hopeless. Where is our help coming from?
The central response to this question is – The Lord. Our help comes from the Lord.
It’s tempting to turn towards other solutions – solutions we feel more comfortable with, methods and strategies that we know from other areas of our lives.
But ultimately, our answers as a faith community lie elsewhere. We turn our eyes to the Lord – that’s where our help comes from.
Richard Rohr has written that “Those who demand certitude out of life will insist on it even if it doesn’t fit the facts. Logic has nothing to do with it. “Don’t bother me with the truth – I’ve already come to my conclusion!” If you need certitude, you will surround yourself with conclusions.”
“The very mind-set of faith stands in stark contrast to this mind-set… If you think you have a right to certitude, then show me where the gospel ever promised or offered you that. If God wanted us to have evidence, rational proof, perfect clarity, hard data and statistics – the incarnation of Jesus would have been delayed till the invention of audio recorders and video cameras.”
“Rational certitude is exactly what the Scriptures do not offer us. They offer us something better and an entirely different way of knowing: an intimate relationship, a dark journey, a path where we must discover for ourselves that grace, love, mercy and forgiveness are absolutely necessary for survival in an uncertain world. You only need enough clarity and ground to know how to live without certitude! Yes, we really are saved by faith! People who live this way never stop growing, are not easily defeated, and frankly, are more fun to live with.” (3)
Saved by faith – we Presbyterians know that term well. It means that we walk thew sometimes dark paths we face, not always knowing exactly what lies ahead – but always confident that the Lord is our keeper. The Lord is our shield, our guardian and our protector.
There is a Kenyan scholar named Loreen Maseno-Ouma who can best be described as a “theological anthropologist.” In her 2014 study called “How Abanyole African Widows Understand Christ,” she examines the lived reality of present-day widows in East African society, and how this shapes their understanding of Jesus as their savior.
Womanhood in Abanyole culture means that you live under the protection of a male guardian. Without that, you are viewed as less-than, and are open to ridicule, mistreatment and abuse. A woman without a guardian, or a keeper, very vulnerable.
Maseno-Ouma describes how Jesus becomes a saving reality for these women. Jesus becomes a kind of omnipresent custodian for them, the loving male who will claim them and never abandon them. Many widows report taking great comfort is knowing that Jesus is with them.
Maseno-Ouma summarizes the experience of Jesus in these widows lives with two interesting examples. The first is that in the lives of these widows, Jesus is present to them as breath itself. She writes, “Jesus is so close to them, by them, with them, energizing them, breathing in them…”
The second example is Jesus as skin. The widows felt that their husband’s death left them exposed and uncovered, with nothing to defend them. They see Jesus like skin – covering them, protecting them, shielding them from what the world would throw their way – literally acting as their keeper. (4)
So let us come to the table this morning remembering that our help comes from the Lord. The Lord is our keeper. The Lord will keep our life. The Lord will keep our going out and our coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
And for that, may God be praised. Amen.
1. “Daisy” on YouTube.
2. James H. Evans Jr. “Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 2, Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p 56.
3. Richard Rohr, “Welcome darkness and mystery,” daily meditation for July 19th, 2017. Cac.org.
4. Michael Fitzpatrick, “Theology by Widows,” Journey with Jesus for August 14th, 2022.
