February 12, 2006
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Every Voice and Sing: In this opening passage in the book that bears his name, God speaks to Joshua, calls Joshua, encourages Joshua at a time of transition. Joshua has been commissioned by God not only as the first lieutenant to Moses, but now following the death of Moses, Joshua has been commissioned again, this time to lead the people of the desert, across the raging Jordan River into the land pledged to them by God. I believe that God is speaking to us, calling us, encouraging us at a time of transition, to move as a people out of the wilderness, into a time of realized promise. We are all concerned about this present moment and about what lies ahead for us. We do not know about the future, but we do know this: God is good (all the time!) and all the time, (God is good). Transition times, times of rapid change such as these, times when the old ways no longer suffice may be times when we come to understand both our own ability to persevere and our ability to get in touch with the power of God operating in us. God may be all we have to rely on right now, because we cannot do all that we must do all by ourselves. So while we do not know exactly what the future holds, we know who holds the future, and we can be confident that the who will take good care of the what. Many of you have told me, and I feel it too, that there is a divine churning going on in us. God is moving in us, the spiritual discernment the congregation will do together is part of the personal discernment happening within us. God is calling something up in us – maybe it’s more trust, more faith, more boldness, more honest and direct speech – we don’t quite know. But as we listen to God, let’s claim this time and like Joshua, let’s stay open to God’s call in our lives. The reality is we have to move from where we are, and those of us who are here now will be the leaders. The leaders of the past have left us. We have seen it in our nation over the past few months as women who shaped much of the American landscape in the last fifty years have come to their earthly life’s end. Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Betty Friedan are dead. Among the Disciples of Christ, Bill Hannah, Kenneth Teagarden, John Compton are dead. But their lessons live on, and they taught me what it means to live with faith, conviction, character, and compassion. We can learn from them what it means to have the torch passed to us, so that we can take up in our own way the work God has for us to do. Many of us recall that in his inauguration speech, John Kennedy marked the generational shift that his presidency represented. “The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage, and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, to which we are committed today…” (Inaugural Address President John F. Kennedy. Washington, DC January 20, 1961). So it was in 1961, so it was for Joshua, and so it is for us. “Moses my servant is dead” (Joshua 1.2). Listen as God says, “the baton is now yours. Take it and cross the Jordan. In order to go faithfully , they would have to leave behind some things. I am quite sure they had collected a lot of stuff over the years. You can relate, think of the things you have in your closets and basements. We are a nation of collectors and gatherers. We have so much that we rent storage facilities and buy things to put our stuff in at the Container Store. In order to claim the promise of the land before them they have to let go of some things. That is especially true for Joshua. Joshua had to help the people let go of fatigue. They must have been tired of the journey, tired of the sameness, tired of the complacency that grows over a long journey. We understand because we have been battling our own fatigue for a while. Joshua had to help the people let go of their sense of failure, the journey from the sea of Reeds, or the Red Sea, to the Jordan should have taken a few weeks. Instead it took them forty years. They stand on the bank of the Jordan with their first leaders buried in the desert. They must have felt as if they had failed to follow directions, to follow their leaders, to follow God, except they had not. Through all of their difficulties, they kept moving. They kept their eye on the prize and though they complained and rebelled a time or two, they prayed and worked, and trusted God more (God is good…and all the time…). There is one more thing Joshua had to help the people let go of, and he had to do it for himself before he could help the people do it. Joshua had to let go of fear. The dictionary describes fear as a “feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger…it is a reason for dread.” Picture Joshua, he knows the wilderness, he was chosen by Moses to succeed him, God has spoken to him, told him that it is time for him and the people to cross the Jordan, promised him that as God was with Moses, so God will be with him (1.5). Look at Joshua, the desert wind blowing, starring at pictures in his mind, knowing that once they cross the Jordan, danger will still lurk. I believe that Joshua is like we are sometimes – he is sweaty palmed, dry mouthed, heart pounding scared to death. He knows it, and we know it because we have been there, and some of us still are sweaty palmed, dry mouthed, heart pounding scared. And God knew it. So God speaks to Joshua again, and we hear a word to us as God speaks. “I will not fail you or forsake you” (5b). “Be strong and courageous” (v. 6). “Only be strong and very courageous” (v. 7). “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed” (v. 9). Every call to courage has a word of instruction and a promise attached. “Joshua, get the people where they need to be.” “Joshua, keep the faith and the law. Remember the book and scriptures you learned. Remember the words given to Moses and passed on to you. Claim the promise as your own, ‘the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.’” Listen, God is yet speaking these same words to us. We are the Joshua Generation, called to move in the spirit of those who have gone before, called to lead the ones who will come after us. Your church board is committed to moving this church forward and we will rely on God to help us discover the best ways to do so. We will keep faith with Jesus Christ who had given us the same promise we have from God, he will be with us to the end of the age (Matthew 28.20), and that means even now. We will be starting a week from this Wednesday, February 22, a series of weekly conversations, even as we become more and more aware of what God is calling us toward; we will begin with a discussion of the homework assignment Mary Anne Glover gave us on February 1. We will talk about what we’ve learned from Numbers 11-25. We will listen to God’s call to be as strong and courageous as we can be and we will trust God to give us courage and strength when we cannot find enough of it ourselves. Joshua was at a defining moment and so are we. God has called us in this moment, and we can learn a few things from Joshua. In this defining moment, we have to be ready to move from where we are to where we need to be. The people could not stay where they were, through the wilderness, on the banks of the Jordan. It was time for them to go on over. The time had come for them to not only talk about doing something, the time had come to do it. It is time for us to move too. But now it’s time to get up and take one more step toward the land God has promised us. As we go, we can be as Joshua was, he was a man of faith, and every time God called to him, he said “Yes”. God is preparing us for our defining moment, and our answer needs to be yes, we will trust God, yes we will stay here and do all that we can to make this a place of fruitful ministry. Do we have the option to say “no”? Of course we do, but let’s think of all the reasons to say yes. Joshua will lead the people across the Jordan. The river was at the flood stage but as soon as their feet hit the water, it parted. They had to get in the water before seeing God move. Faith is about getting our feet wet and then seeing how God will move. “Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (1.9). When we think of what God is calling us to do, it can get a little scary. That is why God tells Joshua and tells us, that this is not the time to be terrified. There is another definition of fear that says fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. It may look like we are at the end of our rope, that there is nothing for us on the other side, that we have done all that we can do. But it is not so. We love this church too much to give up on it, and God loves us too much to give up on us. We have before us a Big Audacious Goal. We are about nothing less than the renewal of Broad Street Christian Church. Joshua and the Israelites should have been afraid because the barriers were bigger than they were, but they did not have to be afraid because the barriers were not, and ours are not bigger than God (I am grateful to my colleague Bill McConnell at First Christian Church in Harrison, Ohio for insights into Joshua’s defining moments). It will take the prayerful work of all of us to cross from this uncertain wilderness into the land God has prepared for us. The good news is that we do not have to do it alone, and we do not go without some provisions. We have our conviction that this church is truly a church for all people who want to be in relationship with us and with Jesus Christ. We have our values of relationships, doing justice, and knowing God. We have this big, beautiful building, and we have marvelous people who love this place, but who love our people more. We have our deep desire that this church live on not because it is diverse, though that is a glorious gift God has given to us – but because what we live is the reality that Jesus loves us in every possible way that people are embodied and empowered. We have here among our provisions the legacy of Moses and Joshua, and our spiritual ancestors – those who cleared paths and kept the faith and who taught us not to get too weary or too settled where we are. Those spiritual provisions help us to persevere and they help us connect to the power of God. We have the legacy of Paul who compares faith to a great athletic festival, the Isthmian Games, held every two years in Corinth, sort of a regional Olympics, to remind his readers about the value of perseverance and power. Then the winner of each race was be rewarded with a victory wreath made form withered celery (Interpretation series. I Corinthians. Richard B. Hays. Louisville. John Knox Press, 1997. p.155-156). He wants them to know that in the discipline of faith, a discipline that makes perseverance and power possible, we wait for a crown not of old vegetables, but for one made imperishable by God. Paul is ready to give himself body and soul to the cause of Christ. He and Joshua, you and I are called by God to hang on, overcome our fear, and claim the promise that God will be with us as we go. A few days ago, I heard Maya Angelou sing the words to an old spiritual. “I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I will not turn back. I will go, I shall go, to see what the end’s gonna be”. As God was with Moses and Joshua, with Paul and all the faithful up to this very moment, so God will be with us until the story’s end. God has promised, and the promises of God can be trusted, absolutely. Thanks be to God. Amen. Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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