I still remember vividly the day when I wanted to visit the holy abode of the richest God in town. Hence one fine Sunday evening, I went to the assembly of God Church located in the posh locale of park street ( somewhere near, I guess).The day was marked with all my unhallowed intentions to impress a member of the fairer regime who happened to belong to the same beliefs. People have different view points regarding the golden way to a lady's heart. I was in search of a newer one.
With all the unholy intentions, thus, I arrived at the church. Added on to that was my inherent interest in the various civilizations of the worlds ( pun intended - I would keep referring to worlds time and again)
Indeed the church appeared befitted the God it represented. Golden railings to lush , upholstered stairways. God alone knew who funded these dwellings. All I could think of was the barren aisles of the mosque that I frequent sparingly once a week.
As we approached the prayer room, I could hear the sounds of music. Then I entered a hallway, complete with devotees, choir, priest and ... a large screen with the hymns coming on them for people to karaoke along....
This was something that I had never experienced in a mosque and for that matter even in a temple. The entire ambience was jovial and happy and slowly, I was absorbed into it. Little did I know, in a few moments, I was singing the hymns along with the choir.
Somehow I could feel but the shadow of the girl next to me.
A little while later, I was all into the choir singing and enjoying the music to the fullest.
After a little while later the choir stopped and the priest came up for the sermon. I was wondering as to how I would be able to survive the onslaught of wise sayings, something that I am not much into, even coming from the Imams.
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
These were the lines that the priest would be explaining for the next two hours. " what the pain in the a***" was what I could think of. But then the priest utter certain truths, certain gospel truths (pun intended) that I would like to share with all of you.
"Everybody has their own high and low points. Hence we can't just ignore them. Even the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor have their own crests and troughs in life. Hence no one can avoid them too. There is a place near Jerusalem called the Valley of the shadow of death, a deep gorge that remained in twilight for most part of the day. In the metaphorical sense, it represents the low points in our lives.
As the psalm goes, while we are going through such a bad phase we should be as calm as possible ( the walking shows calmness). Further the phase is temporary, this explains the walking part. The Psalm doesn’t ask you to run; neither does it tell one to sit. This signifies the temporary nature of the low period in our life.
When one is in the low of life, be happy because as the better things are sure to come. While in the highs of life, be prepared for the forthcoming low phase.
As the psalm goes, it is during these times that a person is the most vulnerable to bad influences. Hence it advices to be wary of the evils of the world. It asks one to have faith in the lord. As it further says, I would fear no evil; as the lord is there with us with his rod and his shaft.
The rod is used by the shepherds to ward off any wolf attacking the sheep, while the shaft is used to keep the sheep from going away from the path. Hence we pray to the Lord to be kind enough to lead us through the bad times, warding off all the evils laid in our way to harm us and also to guide us to the righteous path. "
-to be continued
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