Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 2And Joshua said to all the people, 4“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
15Now if you are unwilling to
serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve,
whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the
gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.” 16Then the
people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord
to serve other gods; 17for it is the Lord our
God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the
house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us
along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed;
18and the Lord drove out before us all the
peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
Sometimes
I am a bit jealous of those who lived in ancient times. Now, I’m not jealous about the having to
wander for forty years through the desert, or the lack of indoor plumbing, or
air conditioning, or cars… or a host of other things. But I am a bit jealous
that they got to see God’s miracle’s that we only get to read about. I imagine it would be a lot easier for them
to believe, since they had food suddenly appear form nowhere, and God defeated
their much larger and stronger enemies, and cured them of snake’s venom with a
brass snake. Their whole lives have been
centered on God’s activity in their lives, and in this moment before Joshua
they pledge themselves to God’s service.
They acknowledge all that God has done for them and say that they will
live in harmony with God’s will and serve God out of thanksgiving for all that
God has done for them.
And are not we called to act in the
same way? After all, God has done so
much for us in our lives. He has given
us the gift of Baptism, in which we are claimed as children of God and we are
filled with the Holy Spirit and through which each of us is united as one large
family. God gives us communion, where
Christ is truly present, and we are filled with Christ each week as we gather
here and we are reminded of the sacrifice that God has made for us.. God created this whole world around us, for
us to enjoy, and God created each and every one of us for each other as well,
out of love for us. And God died upon
that cross in order to save us all from ourselves, from our consistent choice
to embrace Sin, instead of the Gospel, by our gossiping, our divisiveness, and
our love and trust of money and our country over God. Even though we continually turn our backs on
God, God remains faithful and loving, and cares for us, even after we die.
Each day we are granted a
miracle. Each day, when God decides to
love us, sinners that we are, we are granted a miracle. Each time that we are reminded of our
Baptisms, we are reminded of a miracle.
Each time we come up and eat the bread and the wine, we are
participating in a miracle. We don’t
have to live in ancient times in order to see God’s activity, for we see it
every single day of our lives, in the love of our family and our friends, in
the growth of each tree and flower, we see God’s activity and miracles.
So when we are confronted with these
miracles, with the love and affection from God, with the gifts that God has
given us, including but not limited to Eternal life, how can we do anything
other than praise God? When we are given
so much for free and see the almighty power of God, how can we help but do
anything except Praise Him and want to Serve Him?
One consistent theme that I hear
throughout a wide variety of congregations is that people wonder if God is
testing them, if God is seeing if they are good enough, as if God makes us jump
through hoops in order to be loved or cared about. However, I think its’ not that God tests us,
that God puts us through the ringer to find out how well we will do, but
instead God gives us opportunities.
Opportunities to grow and to thrive, or opportunities to spread the good
news of God.
Sometimes, they may look like a test
to our eyes though, or they may look like a set back. For instance, when one starts the process to
go into seminary and become a pastor, they first have to go through what is
called Candidacy. This is done by each
synod and one has to go through a psychological exam, write essays, and
interview with an individual pastor as well as with a committee made up of the
Bishop, pastors, and laity. It is not
exactly the most calming way to begin things.
Now when I first applied, I breezed through the psych exam, somehow, and
I did well on my essay, and with individual interview. Now, I am from Pittsburgh, and Southwest PA
and West Virginia work together on candidacy, so I had to drive down to
Morgantown. On the way there, about 15
minutes from my parents house, my car broke down. I should have just went home. But no, instead I called my family, they
brought me another car, and I made it down there, just in time to start my
interview. And I strutted right on in
there. Now does anyone here now what the
name “Sean” means? It means “Gift from
God” and I walked into that room fully believing that my name rang true, that I
was THE Gift from God to the Church, and that no matter what, I would get
through that interview, I would be on my way to seminary, and I was fine,
because I was God’s gift. Well guess
what? That committee, they saw my ego
and they saw my entitlement issues, and they told me something that I never
believed that I would ever hear from them.
“No.” I was crushed. I was going to have to wait another year to
apply again and go through the process again.
I went into the sanctuary of the church I was in and I wept, and the
assistant to the bishop and another pastor came over and comforted me, but in
that moment I felt tested and that I had failed. But the reality was that God had given me an
opportunity to grow. Over the next year
I worked with a spiritual director to get my relationship with God in line and
understand that I am not God’s sole gift to the world, nor am I entitled to
anything, but that even though I falsely set myself as higher than others, I am
still loved by God. The next year I came
back a new man, with a broken ego and a contrite heart, and I was ready to
serve. And I thank God every day for
that committee that had the strength and the understanding to say no to
me. Even though it was not what I
wanted, it was what I needed.
It is not always through such hard
times though that God gives us opportunities.
I remember just a few years ago at seminary I was feeling really down on
myself. I had been pining over the wrong
women for quite some time and I had finally become resolved that I would not
date anyone at all for the remainder of the school year. I was going to focus on myself and my
studies, so that I could be the best pastor possible. The day that I decided was the same day as
the Luther Bowl, which is the day that seminaries from all over the country,
including the Lutheran Seminaries in Chicago, Columbus, and Columbia SC, come
to Gettysburg for a flag football tournament.
Now I can’t tell you about any of the games that happened that day, but
I can tell you that I met a girl that night.
A really amazing, quirky, cute girl who was there rooting for Southern
Seminary and who shared some mutual friends with me. And something told me to just relax, don’t
try too much, and to just get to know that girl. When she left early from the bonfire that
night I was very sad, but the first thing I did when I got back to my room was
get onto facebook and find her and friend her.
That December she visited Gettysburg again and we began dating. A little over a year after that, I was on my
knee proposing to her at Little Round Top and on July 15th of last
year she became my wife. I had thought
that I was done with women for quite a while, that I needed to buckle down into
books in order to learn and to be the best pastor I could be. But you know what? While books and classes are vitally
important, pastors also need to be compassionate and loving and they need
support in their lives, and Amy has helped me to be more patient, to show greater
compassion and love, and has been the rock that I have needed. And right now I’m sure she is very
embarrassed, but God has given us a great opportunity to grow together and to
rejoice in the gifts that He has given us.
And I’m sure that God has given each
of you opportunities as well in your lives to grow and to serve Him. Would anyone like to share one?.....
(Members
talked about their spouses and fathers)
You
see? In our lives God has given us a
great many things. God has blessed each
of our lives in ways that are beyond the imagination. Just like those ancient Israelites, we are
shown the amazing mercy and power and compassion of our God and how God has
changed our lives and gives us identity and purpose and we are asked the
question, “Whom shall you serve?” “Will
you serve God, or will you serve others gods such as Fame, wealth, self and
country?” Well? Who will you serve?
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