Why I'm United Methodist

I have been United Methodist since I was a child and I plan on remaining United Methodist. My experience in the United Methodist Church interacts with scripture and informs my understanding of what it means to be a follower of Christ. I appreciate the connectionalism of the UMC. There's a great metaphor from a book called The Lego Principle that speaks to this: 

"While LEGO bricks are so varied, they all have one purpose: to connect at the top and at the bottom....This is the LEGO principle: Connect first to God and then to one another." (The Lego Principle, page 3) 

I feel like sometimes we focus so much on connecting with God we forget to focus on connecting with others. As I said on Sunday, as a youth and college student I drifted away from attending church on a regular basis. During that time in the wilderness, I never missed an opportunity to go to summer camp at Ceta Canyon Methodist Camp. I struggled with the local church but unbeknownst to me-going to the Ceta Canyon kept me plugged in to my faith as I struggled with my own local church until a mentor invited me back. My struggle is more of a reflection on me than on the church I attended but being able to stay connected through conference camp ultimately helped keep me in the fold. I connected with other youth and other camp counselors and that helped to sustain my faith. I witnessed this as a youth director when busy schedules and excuses got in the way of youth regularly attending Sunday and Wednesday activities but they wouldn't miss a chance to go to summer camp or on a summer mission trip with youth they had met from other churches.

My reason informs me that I don't know or understand everything (as much as I might like to) and that I must witness and live out the gospel in a way that is thoughtful and respectful to everyone. I appreciate the diversity of the United Methodist Church. Not just a diversity of of race, and culture but a diversity of opinions. This diversity and difference allows for discussions with those different than ourselves. These discussions and relationships are how we learn and come to appreciate other people and other points of view. Although we are different "United Methodists as a diverse group of people continue to strive for consensus in understanding the gospel. In our diversity, we are held together by a shared inheritance and a common desire to participate in the creative and redemptive activity of God." (BOD paragraph 105) We don't have to be of one mind but can and should be of one heart and that heart is to lead everyone to follow Christ. We learn and grow when we are in conversation with those who are different than us. The church should be the model we see at the birth of the church in the book of Acts and that church is a church of diverse people.

Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor. And our neighbor is everyone. One of our foundational beliefs as United Methodists is our believe in grace. We are given grace as a gift from God-it is undeserved and unmerited. God gives us grace before we even know God and God loves us so much that God sent Jesus to die for us to atone for our sins. This grace is something we need to extend to everyone. Jesus didn't shut people out and neither should we. Jesus even gathered with his betrayer Judas knowing that Judas was responsible for his death. If we are to be like Jesus then we must show grace to everyone-even those we don't agree with.

Grace & Peace

RevKev

To the Ends of the Earth

Acts 1:4-8 (CEB)

To the Ends of the Earth

4 While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: 5 John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 6 As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?” 7 Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

At the airport as we prepared to leave for Kenya, I told our team that my hope was that I would be able to bless the Kenyan people as much as they would bless me. Well, once again I failed at this goal-maybe. The Kenyan people are such a blessing. They welcomed us wherever we went. They smiled, they waved, they sang, they even danced. I wondered out loud to Steve (who was a team member) how the church in America could grow if we welcomed guests and people that were different than us like the Kenyans welcomed us? What would happen if we treated outsiders the way the Kenyans treated us.

One of the major projects we did while we were in Kenya was to build an AIDS orphan home. Building the home takes some adjustment as they are not built in the typical way we would expect. It’s a 10x20 house with two rooms, one for the males and one for the females.

The AIDS orphan homes are built through a partnership with the Maua Methodist Hospital and are put in the name of the youngest child, whether it's a boy or girl. The hospital even petitioned the government to allow land and homes to be in a females name. To date, over 300 homes have been built through this partnership. We built a home for a 13 year old boy named Tecklus and his grandmother Ruth. He has lost both of his parents. He was overcome with emotion at the house dedication because he was sad that his mother never had a house of her own.

So why is it important to do international missions when there is plenty to do close to home? When Jesus leaves the disciples he says they “will be his disciples in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” To put that in context for our time: Jerusalem (Joshua), Judea (Texas), Samaria (US), and of course the ends of the earth is the ends of the earth. The disciples were given instruction by Jesus himself to be disciples to the entire earth.

I think a major reason that missions outside of our own community is so important is not only about the work of service but also gives us the opportunity to be disciples of spreading Christ’s messages while at the same time experiences a perspective and culture that is different than our own.

For example, these homes cost 3 million Kenyan schillings to build which converts to $3000 US dollars. This amount includes the materials for the house, the pay for the foreman Charles and his team, insurance for the entire family for a year (which costs only $60 a year), two mattresses, two blankets. As I said before, it’s a 10x20 house with two rooms and has concrete floors, and four two windows on each side of the house for airflow. The US dollar goes a long way in Kenya-quite frankly-$3000 can change the lives and fortunes of an entire family in Kenya. And we can always send money, in fact St. John the Apostle gave $6000 (3000 of which was donated by the youth group) so that two homes could be built. We built one last week and another home will be built in the offseason when mission teams don’t visit Kenya by Charles and his team. Had we just sent money we would have missed out on so much more.

Charles continually had to tell me: pole, pole-which means slow down. Had he not told myself and the team to slow down from time to time we would not have been able to get to know the homeowner (who is 13) and others in the small community as well. During this pole, pole times I could be found building structures with the small pieces of wood or playing soccer with the neighborhood children.

 

You probably can’t tell by this picture but their soccer ball was a cloth bag stuffed with other cloth and plastic bags tied together with twine. In fact while playing the kids occasionally had to rewrap the twine. It didn’t matter that the kids didn’t have a soccer ball to play with-they made due with what they had and still had a lot of fun. It’s simply amazing how resourceful the Kenyan people are with their resources. They have Jesus and faith in their lives and continually praise God for what they have (no matter how little that is).

One instance of this praising God was when we were welcomed at the Karurune school where we assisted the hospital with a medical camp. The medical camp involved us giving the 900 plus people there deworming tablets as well as screening them for blood pressure, malnutrition, and checking their eye sight. When we arrived at this school we received a welcome like no other. We were welcomed with a young child singing a poem she had written about being an orphan and being rescued by God through the help of the Clark Early Education Center School which I have visited all three of my trips to Kenya. This school actually celebrated their 10 year anniversary yesterday and this young girl sang at the celebration to sing of her gratitude.

In fact there was a nine year old boy that visited the medical camp who had lost one eye and was couldn’t see well out of his other eye. He was able to get an appointment at the hospital on Monday and due to a $48 donation from the church was able to get screened and receive a specialized pair of glasses. Did I mention the American dollar goes a long way in Kenya?

There were so many moments that struck a chord with me and I’ll be sharing those on my blog over the next couple of weeks-I wasn’t able to do that on the trip due to spotty and often no WiFi but maybe that’s because God was telling me to chill, be in the moment with friends, and wait to share the stories once I got home. But I’d like to end with this.

The day we were finishing the house I was slowly carving my name into a block of scrap wood with my pocket knife. Tecklus looked me straight in the eye, smiled, and quickly ran off into a small house in the community and returned about a minute later with this tree branch that was hot to the touch that had a charcoal tip. It’s really a primitive pencil when you think about it. I quickly wrote my name on the piece of wood and gave it to Tecklus, he in turn gave me this small piece of wood from his house with his name etched on it.

Anytime I look at the small piece of scrap wood that Tecklus gave me, I will be reminded of three things:

1. The resourcefulness of the Kenyan people and

2. The time I got to spend getting to know Tecklus

3. Tecklus saw I was struggling and provided an easier and different solution for a problem.

I can only hope that each of us can reach out and show God’s love to people who might be struggling. To be able to reach out to those who are different than us. That’s what I would have missed out on had I just sent money and not gone “to the ends of the earth.” It’s important for us to serve those in and around Joshua AND throughout the world. When you have the opportunity to travel 1/2 across the world on a mission trip I encourage you to do so. Go so you can see how other cultures live and experience the blessings that other cultures have to help you grow as a disciple.

Grace & Peace
Kevin

Finding the Joy

Lisa told the team this morning that today we shouldn’t worry about anything else but instead to focus on the joy. So today I did that.   

One of the bests parts of the trips to Kenya for me is when we have the opportunity to go to church and worship with the Kenyan people. So I knew that finding joy wouldn’t be difficult but I decided to pay closer attention to it because after all…I am Lisa’s favorite pastor  it was in the middle of a humorous conversation but I contend her comment still counts.

We went to the New Hope Church this morning and sat in on the childrens Sunday School lesson. They begin with singing and the first song had verses with the following lyrics:

I want to clap, clap, clap.

I want to jump, jump, jump.

I want to dance, dance, dance.

Followed by the chorus of: When people see me, they see Jesus.

We attended the youth service which was primarily in Swahili and although we didn’t know the words they were singing in was still powerful because the singing was led by three youth and their hearts were truly into their praise and worship of God. Stanley Gitari introduced the team and was so joyful when sharing about the many blessings the water well, which provides clean water, has brought to that entire community. 

In the afternoon we visited the Sodzso Boys Rescue Center. We heard about the amazing work done there to provide help for the children from the street. My first thought was how young the boys were who there and how sad and tough that was to hear. But my thought quickly shifted to how amazing it was that they were being rescued because of the thoughtfulness, kindness, and generosity of others. And then we got to play football (American soccer) with the boys, which for me was the most joyful part of the day. The boys patiently and expectantly waited for us so we could play with them. While playing I didn’t think once about how dumb it was that didn’t bring a change of clothes so I had to play in a polo, dress slacks, and dress shoes. The laughter and smiles on the faces of the boys and those adults playing was definitely joy filled. They were laughing and smiling even when getting hit in the face of with the ball or running full speed into each other and getting knocked down. 

There is so much negativity that we can choose to focus on when there is SO MUCH MORE that can bring us joy. I admit that I struggle with finding it sometimes because I spend time worrying about what is to come instead of looking at what is right in front of me. God truly wants us to be a joyful people. As the song we heard this morning said: “When people see me they seeing Jesus,” how cool it would be for them to see the joy and love of Jesus in you? We were made for it but we have to get out of our own way and look for the joy. Thanks for the direct and not so subtle reminder, pastor Lisa. I am so grateful for you and your heart.

So those of you reading this-where did you find joy today or where will you find joy tomorrow? I’d love to hear about it in the comments on Facebook-so others can hear about it too!!

Grace & Peace & Joy

Rev Kev

Jesus: The One True Vine

Sermon: The Vine and the Branches
February 20, 2022

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

I am not a gardener, just ask my mother. She learned how to garden from my grandpa…but I simply was not interested in learning. My daughter Courtney took up gardening last year which meant that we had to learn a little bit about it. I still don’t know much but I have learned a few things or being reminded of things that I already knew.

Plants must be watered, pruned, and protected. Much like the plants, in order to live a productive Christian life that is pleasing to God we must be nurtured, pruned, and protected.

Over the last few weeks with have talked about the I AM statements of Jesus: I Am the Bread of Life-John 6:35, I Am the Light of the World-John 8:12, I Am the Gate-John 10:7, I Am the Good Shepherd-John 10:11, I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life-John 14:6.

The last of the I AM statements is I Am the True Vine-John 15:1

Jesus says the first four “I AM” statements to large crowds and the last three were are said to the disciples in the upper room at the last supper just before his crucifixion-including today’s scripture about Jesus being the one true vine. Through the first eight verses of this text Jesus talks about bearing fruit which includes bearing no fruit, not being able to bear fruit by yourself, bearing fruit and becoming disciples, and finally bearing fruit that lasts in verse 16.

There's a great progression in Jesus speaking about the one true vine. The first four verses speak to God being the gardener and Jesus aligning himself with God. We have the opportunity to align ourselves with the mission and ministry of Jesus. In verses 5-6, Jesus speaks about himself being the vine and being the source of fruit. Jesus invites the disciples (and us) to place their trust in Him. He also warns them that they cannot go it alone. On their own, they are cut off from the vine. Jesus is the vine and WE are the branches. Verses 7-8 close with a promise, "Remain in me and God will be glorified by this and YOU bear much fruit and produce much fruit as my disciples."

It's about connection. Here's a practical way to look at connection. Most of us have probably played with legos in our lifetime. LEGOS are varied in size, colors, shapes, and sizes but they are designed to connect at both the top and bottom. God designed us to connect both with God and with one another. The church fulfills its mission as it faithfully makes these connections. (~from The Lego Principle) 

The fruit metaphor is so good that Paul later uses this familiar example of fruit:

The metaphor is so good that Paul later uses this familiar example of fruit:

22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ~Galatians 5:22-23

It’s his final “I Am” statement in his final discourse. This words are meant to give the disciples strength for what lies ahead. He invites them to enter into a deeper relationship with him. Vines have to be tended to in order for the branches to bear fruit. There is no fruit yielded if it doesn’t come from the vine. In John’s mind (and in Paul's) there are branches that do not produce fruit. They fail to live in love and are concerned only with themselves. It is all about them and not the community. 

Thus, Jesus takes the common everyday image of the vine and transforms it into a symbol of community, mission, and love. This community is characterized by interdependence, mutual respect, and the ongoing presence of Christ. The vine and the branches is a reminder of the communal and relational nature of our Christian faith. It’s a challenge for us to do better to continue to grow and produce fruit as a growing community. Jesus is not just saying this last I AM statement to his disciples, he’s saying it to all of us as well.

So let me ask you, in what ways are you connected to the vine? How are you producing fruit? How are you branching out?

Pillars of Faith: Diligence

Here are sermon notes from my last sermon:

Psalm 139:1-6; 14 (NRSV)

1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;  you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

Sometimes I’m not what some would call a smart person. When I found out I was going to be preaching on “diligence” as a pillar of faith, I was pretty sure I knew what it meant, but it’s a big word for me so I had to make sure. Here’s what I found:

Cambridge dictionary: the quality of working carefully and with a lot of effort

Careful and persistent work or effort

Steady, earnest, and energetic effort: devoted and painstaking work and application to accomplish an undertaking

Have you ever thought about how your work ethic is important and applies to scripture? Well think about the prophet Jeremiah when God tells him that before his birth God had called him to be a prophet, for his whole life.

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”    ~Jeremiah 1:5 (NRSV)

God is at work in ourselves and at work in one another. So God knows us before we know ourselves and God knows our every move, every day, so why not do something with that knowledge? As I looked at the Psalm 139 and diligence I boiled to down to being diligent meant being:

1. Constant
2. Attentive
3. Hard Working

First, diligence must be Constant

The core of Psalm 139 assures us that God is with us every moment of every day. God’s omnipresence means that God knows us completely. So God is with us every moment of every day. God knows we are hard-working and when we are being lazy. As some of you know I am not a fan of Dallas sports teams. As far as the NBA goes, I’m a Spurs fan so bear with me. The Spurs recent history has really boiled down to constants. A constant leadership model. Winning five titles and being in the playoffs for 22 years leading up to last year speaks to a leadership model of consistency. They have had the same head coach for 24 years and have also had pillars (see what I did there) in the middle such as David Robinson and Tim Duncan for so many years provided consistency. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. That consistency of leadership. An official Spurs blog is titled Pounding the Rock which in basketball terms means pushing the ball down inside in the paint closer to the basket. But is has a deeper meaning when you read the sign in the Spurs locker room:

When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it…yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.

This statement is referred to as the stonecutter’s creed and it speaks to consistency and continued work when trying to complete a task. Practice after practice, day after day, they work. Getting better every day. The first 100 blows may not yield the outcome they hope for but eventually the work pays off. Having to work hard to complete a task. A stonecutter splitting a rock has to be an arduous task that times time and effort.

Second, diligence means being Attentive

Take a look at the first three verses of Psalm 139: O, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

God is diligent in knowing us. God is so diligent that he knows every detail for every single one of us. God knows every detail, down to the number of hairs on our head. I don’t even know how many hairs I lost in the shower this morning. But God knows the count of every hair on every one of our heads. God knows us so well that he knows our actions and our thoughts. We have the time, the opportunity, and the capacity to do so much with our lives. God knows this. The core of the psalm assures us that God is with us every moment of every day. God’s omnipresence means that God knows us completely. 

Third, diligence involves hard work.

My grandpa (along with my mom) was the person who taught me the value of hard work. I wanted to share a story with you about him. Grandpa and Grandma lived in Aurora, Colorado which is a suburb of Denver.  In the picture, if you get past the colorful shorts, bright orange Broncos shirt, and dog Blecka you can see a garden. Grandpa had a huge backyard and in the very back was this garden that he worked on constantly from the time he retired from the Air Force until he moved to assisted living. And every time we visited we would play baseball in that backyard and lose baseballs in that garden that had tomato plants that reached over our heads. And every time we visited we had to “earn our keep” by helping in that garden. If we wanted to play baseball out there and trounce around and step on vegetable plants and such we had to help with the upkeep of the garden. My grandpa taught me many, many lessons but none was as important and reinforced as much as teaching me the value of hard work. 

These three points lead to God. Think about that. 

1.  God is constant because God is always with us
2.  God pays attention to detail
3.  God gives us the ability to work hard

The power of Psalm 139 is its honesty. The psalm is like a mirror revealing us as we are: “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (v. 14) So if we are fearfully AND wonderfully made what does that mean for us. It means, we are fearfully made because God has created us and not we ourselves. We are fearfully made, and we are wonderfully made: we have unique capacity for so many things: love, relationship, restoration, and redemption. We have to capacity to do so, so much BECAUSE God created us. It is clear that the author of Psalm 139 believes that God knows all about him. God has looked deeply into the psalmist and knows him. God knows the very thoughts of the psalmist: “Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.” (v. 4)

God knows our movements and thoughts intimately. Not only does God surround us but God is involved in our very existence, so why not let God work through us?

So how does diligence apply today?

We as individuals are perhaps less known than at any point in history, especially with COVID over the last fifteen months. We have more online communication than usual, our attention is divided between family, work, recreation, etc. We now have the more meetings via zoom which doesn't allow for much time to talk before or after meetings-hence less personal connection.

As we continue to get back to normal and see COVID on the decline we are going to have to be diligent in our relationships. Because that is where God starts with us, with a relationship. We can restore relationships and build new ones. After all, if God knows us truly in and out then shouldn’t we give our very best. Humans want to belong, to share lives with others, to love and be loved, to feel valued. This psalm shows a sense of belonging: being search and known by God. The speaker in Psalm 139 seems to know he belongs to God. God watches over us from the moment of our being made until we die and God knows us better than we know ourselves. 

So back to work ethic and think about this verse from Proverbs

3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. ~Proverbs 16:3

This is one of my favorite and most straight forward bible verse. Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. To me it means that if we commit our own work and work ethic to the Lord, the plan will take care of itself. Just remember that means our plan is in sync with God's plan.

I was trying to think of an example of how diligence was important. Last week I had a conversation with Julio Casablanca and a friend of his and I wanted to share what we talked about.

So if you can’t tell this is a guitar, or at least the makings of one. A friend of Julio’s gets pieces and parts of old guitars and then takes the time to fixed them and restore them. Julio and I met with his friend Lynn to talk about a connect group centered around the restoring old guitars.

Making these guitars is a process. These are some pictures of the process from start to finish.  As we talked it was such a cool conversation centered around restoring guitars and applying meaningful biblical concepts throughout the entire process of restoration. 

The group will meet this summer to go through the entire process of restoration and as we go to write a curriculum of talking points that can be used when we have this group available for youth in the Handley neighborhood and Trinity community to fellowship with one another and work on the restoration process. The point is that we have to be diligent and that takes consistency, being attentive, and a strong work ethic. Rebuilding guitars or building relationships takes diligence. During the process of building the guitars we will be building relationships with those who are working with us. We will see where the conversations take us but I have a sense we will be able to bring God into the conversation on ideas such as brokenness, making mistakes, working hard, and restoration. I can't wait to see where these conversations lead. (Feel free to contact me at kevin@trinityarl.org if you want more information)

Below is the finished product from the first picture that you saw. Now how long do you think it took for Lynn to restore this guitar from start to finish? Any guesses?

It took him seven months to finish this particular guitar. Well you know how some musicians name their guitars. Well Lynn gave this one a name and I thought it was very fitting. It’s name: Lazarus-because he brought the guitar back from the dead.

As we begin this connect group it will be really cool to see guitars "brought back from the dead" but that's not why we are doing it. We are doing it so we can bring some relationships with others and with God back to where they need to be.

Grace & Peace
Kevin

The Book of Joshua

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, 2 “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 5 No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. 9 I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”   ~Joshua 1:1-9 (NRSV)

(As we continue reading through the bible in 2021, we wrapped up the book of Joshua leading up to Palm Sunday and here are my sermon notes-edited for blog purposes.)

My son Carson had a track meet a couple of weeks ago. And as Will and I were talking he brought up how a relay race being a good metaphor for the Israelites on their journey to the promised land. In a relay race the baton is passed from person to person from the start of the race to the finish. The baton had been passed from generation to generation for God's people. Through generations they had seen the ten plagues (and how they were spared). They had seen Moses part the Red Sea, and they had defeated armies they had no business defeating. They had witnessed miracle after miracle and despite this they doubted God time and time again. They didn't trust in God fully. They made this amazing comeback and on the last leg of the race (reaching the promised land) they looked back toward Egypt and dropped the baton, they tripped at the finish line. They were so close to the promised land but generations didn't make it there. Moses got so close that he saw it but didn't cross the Jordan River into the promised land. This is where we pick up the story.

The book of Joshua begins very definitively with God saying: "Moses my servant is dead." God doesn't waste any time helping Joshua deal with the immediate reality of his new leadership position. Moses is gone and it's Joshua's turn to step up and lead the people into the promised land. Although Joshua has been Moses' assistant he will lead differently that Moses and there is a lasting legacy of Moses. Moses' name is mentioned 57 times in the 24 chapters of Joshua. And remember that Joshua is leading the people into an unknown land, now it may be the promised land, but they are human (which means they doubt) and they are not sure what awaits them when they get there or what life will be like. They have been wandering in the desert for a long time and to top it off they have a new leader leading them into uncharted territory. Put yourself in the position of those people now following Joseph. After wandering for years and having seen an entire generation die off they are finally there...with new leadership. But what they had to do was trust Joshua and more importantly trust in God and follow him into the promised land. He was taking them into uncharted territory.

Joshua is obviously not as well known as Moses but he is qualified. In fact he has quite the resume: 

1. He accompanied Moses up the Holy Mountain where the tablets were received (Exodus 24:13-18)

2. He stood watch at the tent of meeting before the tabernacle was built (Exodus 33:11)

3. He was one of the two spies of the twelve spies who gave a positive report to Moses believing they could take the land with God's help (Number 14:8-9; 26-34)

4. He was God's chosen servant and divinely appointed by God (Deuteronomy 34:9)

And more importantly he believed that God was all powerful, that God keeps promises and that God would always be with him (Joshua 1:5;9). The book of Joshua is a story of the fulfilled promise of God for the people of God. After wandering for the desert for forty years, Israel claimed their inheritance and enjoyed the blessings of the land that God had prepared for them.

Have you ever heard of Lewis and Clark? You probably have. They were the two men commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to find a water passage from the Louisiana purchase territory straight through all to way to the pacific Ocean. There’s a moment when Lewis and Clark and their expedition reach the top of a mountain hoping they would find water passage to the pacific ocean (even though the notes from the expedition noted more mountaintops in the distance as much as three months earlier) One of the historians wrote this:

“He was approaching the continental divide-the spine of the Rocky Mountains. No American citizen had ever been there before. This he believed was the Northwest Passage: the goal of explorers for 300 years. It was expected to be the crowning moment of his life. Instead there were more mountains.” 

As the group went up the Rocky Mountains they held onto hope of their previously held assumptions. Once at the top there is the realization that there is no water passage to the Pacific Ocean, only more mountains. History is defined by this moment. They could turn around and go home or adapt and move forward into the unknown. We could turn around and go back or push forward in uncertain times.

The Israelites had the same choice when Moses died. Their leader of 40 years had just died and they were not yet where they wanted to go. They’d been complaining about and even talked about going back to Egypt into slavery. Their divinely appointed leader of 40 years dead. Moses died at 120 years old and Joshua was a only 59. Now I don’t know if those are their exact ages but just know that Moses was twice as old as the Israelites new leader. At this moment, they had a choice to make: push forward or go back. As Christians we have a choice to make. We can turn around and go back or we can push forward in uncertain times. Lewis and Clark decided to adapt and push on. Joshua and the Israelites decided to push on as well. We need to push forward into an uncertain future.

Which brings me to Jesus and some of the similarities between Joshua and Jesus:

1. Joshua and Jesus come from the same Hebrew root word meaning salvation

2. God commissions Joshua just as God commissions Jesus in Mark's gospel

3. Both of them brought the people of God deliverance from the enemies of God

4. The both led (or lead) the people of God into the promised land

Not to take anything away from Joshua but there is a slight difference between the journeys of Joshua and Jesus:

Joshua crosses the Jordan river and leads God’s people into the Promised Land; Israel had to fight to retake the Promised Land.

Jesus leads us into the promised land, which he has already conquered for us.

So how can we step forward in our commitment level to God? Well how about we look at perhaps the most well known part of the book of Joshua:

3 You shall march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days, 4 with seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and all the people shall charge straight ahead.” 

(Joshua 6:3-5 NRSV)

So they march around the city for six days and then on the seventh day they march around the city seven days and the walls magically came tumbling down because of their marching? The walls came down because of their obedience to God.

So let me ask you this: what walls in your life would come down if you were obedient to God and put your whole faith and trust in God like Joshua did? And later, like Jesus did? There is no way that Joshua could have become the leader of Israel after the death of Moses if he hadn’t put his trust fully in God. There’s no way that Jesus would have rode into Jerusalem in triumphant celebration on that Palm Sunday knowing that he would suffer and die just a few days later if he did not obedient to God’s plan.

You see none of us are capable to lead in these difficult times if we are not trusting in God. There’s too much going on, there’s too much hurt, too much anger, too many issues to deal with in this uncharted territory. We’ve never been here before. But we must be strong and courageous and trust completely in God like Joshua did. If you step forward in faith and trust in God fully, there is nothing that can stop the message of Christ. A message of hope, even in uncertain times. And don't forget, God will be with you wherever you may go.

And I'll end with something my wife pointed out after I preached this sermon that I thought was a cool insight. In the first chapter of Joshua God says "for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." In the last chapter Joshua says "but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." It's a cool way to start and finish the book. So Joshua is assured of the Lord being with him as he begins his leadership and at the end of his life he tells others that he will serve the Lord. It offers a nice wrap up to the book of Joshua.

Grace & Peace,

Kevin

Day 41

I don't know how you are calculating days as to when we started this whole shelter in place/stay at home/quarantine or whatever you want to call it but for me if I had to pick a start date it would be March 15, since that was the Sunday that we didn't have in person worship for the first time. The schools began "at home learning" on March 16th, or at least that is the first day the kids didn't go to their campuses as scheduled. I'm no math major but starting with March 15th, then April 24th would have been day 41. If you start with when we "officially" began to shelter at home then day 41 would have sometime last week.

You may know that 40 is a rather significant number in the bible and occurs time and time again. In the story of Noah it rains for 40 days and 40 nights. The people wandered in the desert for 40 years. In the story of David and Goliath, Goliath taunts the opposing army for 40 days. The devil tempts Jesus for 40 days. Jesus is with the disciples after the resurrection for 40 days. Do you since a pattern here? And in each of these forty day periods there were challenges and tough times for people. Much like there are challenges for us right now, maybe you can relate. What has been challenging for you?

For me and my family there have been challenges, it has not always been smooth sailing all the time. For instance when it was announced the kids would not go back to "in person" school this spring I was so frustrated that I actually got on to Carson rather harshly for chewing his food too loud. I guess I simply had a bad day or the day-to-day "new normal" finally got to me. It's been difficult not being able to see family, friends, and church members and to have many face-to-face conversations. And the entire family is at home which makes it more difficult to get work done. Not to mention my limited mobility the last few days due to my unfortunate biking accident. Those are just some of my frustrations over these 40 days and I'm sure you have some frustrations to speak of as well.

But what about what follows? I began reading a book entitled 41 Will Come and it brings up the idea of the day after the 40th day. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights but on the 41st day the rain subsided.  God's people roamed the desert for 40 years but in the 41st year they entered the promised land. Goliath taunted the Israelites for 40 days but on the 41st day David stepped up to challenge him. Jesus is tempted by the devil for 40 days but on the 41st day Jesus began his public ministry. Jesus is with the disciples for 40 days after the resurrection but on the 41st day Jesus leaves them with the promise of the Holy Spirit.

I don't believe the number 40 is a literal number in all these cases but the significance is not lost on me that the number 40 is important. And what comes after 40 is important as well. There were struggles for the people in those 40 days (and 40 years) in these biblical stories just as there have probably been struggles for you during the 40 days of this pandemic. The good news is that God always sees us through turbulent times. The people struggled and had doubts and that is okay. There's God's promise on the other side of this. I truly believe that.

I believe that this time, although difficult and different, will help us to be more aware and be better at many, many things. I believe we will check on people we care about more often because of this. I believe the ways we have reached out to everyone during this time will continue. I believe that the new, creative, and necessary ways we have done ministry during this time will help us to do ministry better in the future. And maybe most importantly, I believe our relationships with family, friends, loved ones, and our relationship with God will be stronger. So here's to day 41 that will come after these "40 days." In the meantime, make the best of this time to grow in your faith and your personal life!!!

Grace & Peace
Kevin