The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
- Amos 5:21-24
The Sermon title is Make Your Choice
Early Thoughts: Life is a series of choices. Who we will serve, how we show who we serve is almost never a 'one and done' choice. Rather it is something we have to do over and over again as new circumstances arise.
The people have crossed the Jordan. They have (for the most part) accomplished the conquest of the Promised Land. The land has been parceled out amongst 11 tribes and specific cities given to the Levites. Now, just before his death Joshua, the one who has led the people since the death of Moses, gathers them all together. He reminds them what God has done for this people, going as far back as Abraham. Then he challenges them. Choose!
It seems that Joshua knows that the people might forget. He knows that they might be led astray. They might start to worship in old ways, before they met the God who led them out of slavery. They might be enticed to worship in the same way as the people whose land they have now conquered/stolen. So they have to choose. Who will they serve? Will they have the strength, patience, and perseverance to live in to that choice?
The people wholeheartedly make a choice for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who brought them out of slavery and led them to the Promised Land. As one reads through the rest of Hebrew Scripture it becomes obvious that this wholehearted choice made in Joshua 24 is tested over and over again -- and not everybody passes the test.
Which brings us to the role of the Prophets. In our minds we often think of the prophets of Hebrew Scripture as people who foretell the future. While this is partially true I find it more accurate to say that the prophets are (most often) people called to tell the truth about the present and then comment how that truth will shape the future. And then the people who hear the words of the prophets have to make a choice. Will they change to live more in line with God's Way or will they continue as they have been going?
3000+ years after Joshua (it is commonly thought that David's reign was around 1000 BCE and Joshua was some years -- maybe a few hundred, certainly several decades -- before that) we still have to answer his challenge. Who will we serve? We still have to respond to the call of Amos to remember what is truly important.
This week we pause to remember those who died in battlefields across the world. We do that as the world continues to experience the reality of warfare in places like Ukraine and Israel/Palestine/Lebanon. As those who gather in the name of the Prince of Peace our choice has to include the question of how we advocate and work for true lasting peace (which flows from justice) both around the globe and in our own neighbourhoods. We live in a nation where politics is an increasingly divisive game (on both sides) so how does our choice to serve God and live in God's Way change our approach to the political world?
Life is a series of choices. Following The Way of Jesus is a series of little choices, and some big ones, as we deal with life as it actually is rather than as it could be (or as we would like it to be).
How will you choose?
--Gord
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