Church of the Ascension, Norfolk, VA
November 9, 2008, Proper 27A (RCL)
Leslie C. Ferguson
Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78: 1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
Thank you David for inviting me to come and preach and catch up with the folks here at Ascension, it has been a wonderful weekend with our Norfolk family. Kathy and I feel blessed to have been greeted so lovingly this weekend and it’s been wonderful to worship at Ascension after all these months. It’s hard to believe just how long it’s been since Kathy and I have regularly worshiped here and yet we’ve been welcomed like it was yesterday. It is nice to come home, and this place really is home to us. It’s nice to share communion with all of you who have experienced the hope in the assurance of God’s grace as they’ve crossed its doorstep and sat in its pews. This is a hopeful place that is a beacon in a time that may not be considered all that hopeful.
But, for now, let’s return to the lessons for today. In our Hebrew Scripture text today we hear Joshua say:
“Now 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…” The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.”
Joshua 24:15, 24
We hear Joshua’s question ring out by implication throughout today’s readings and we hear the practical response of the people of Israel to his question. We hear Joshua’s question and Israel’s response as Matthew recounts Jesus’ parable about the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins. We hear the 5 wise virgins chose to serve God by being prepared for the bridegroom’s return. We hear its contrasting story when we hear the comments about the 5 foolish virgins who chose to serve their own god. To me, it would have been nice to hear that all 10 virgins chose wisely and chose to serve the Lord but alas that wasn’t the case. But it annoyed me that there is no way to understand exactly why the 5 foolish virgins chose to serve the wrong god or even what their wrong god looked like - all we know is they ended up being excluded from the heavenly banquet because they chose poorly.
And yet, Joshua still rings out, “Choose this day, whom you will serve…”
In welcome contrast we hear Paul tell us that many in Thessalonica chose, and continued to choose wisely. He told the Christians in that strife-filled city that they had assurance of eternal life because they chose God and that even when things were difficult to start with, they could believe that they made the right choice in the long run and that any of their current strife and persecution was of little import when compared with the blessing of God’s calling them home. Many in their time would rejoice that they made the right decision, even in the face of overwhelming odds. That’s great news for the steadfastly faithful in Christ.
Even in the Hebrew Scripture we hear a story of good choices amidst tales of woe in the Psalms. We hear that Israel ultimately made the right choice and served God - YAHWEH albeit after they were nearly decimated in the exile. After the Israelite’s see the error of their ways, they re-establish the covenant relationship with God, and remember God’s faithfulness even in spite of their unfaith. Good news for the Jews and a great story of faith and wisdom.
Yet, we are still haunted again by Joshua, “Choose this day, whom you will serve…”
But there’s that passage from Joshua that troubled me and one that we may be tempted to ignore because it doesn’t resonate with our image of life with God. I’m unsettled by the exchange: why did the writer of Joshua choose to repeat the question three times? Why did Joshua doubt Israel’s fidelity and ability to choose the right path? In any case, you’d figure it would only take Joshua asking the question once to cement the community’s fate. Once should have been sufficient - especially since he had somehow received God’s insight before posing the question. What point is Joshua driving home to the Israelites? What point might Joshua be trying to drive home to us more than 2,500 years later?
I am struck that even though Israel appears to be sure of themselves their responses seem to exhibit a little bit more self-doubt each time. I know that I make my response more emphatic when I’m less sure of the response I’m giving. And it is readily apparent that Israel is getting more and more emphatic with each response to Joshua - so much so that they add details he never asked for.
As I was reflecting on today’s readings, my impression of Israel’s response hit close to home with me. I kept trying to avoid a nagging feeling that resonated in the Joshua passage. Like Israel, I was struggling with some internal questions about all kinds of disassociated things; questions about what I was doing at school, that I wasn’t measuring up to my self-imposed standard for performance, that I may have made the wrong choice in going to Seminary and that I would wake up and realize that it was all a dream and I was left with nothing…
In my life I hear a slightly different question coming from Joshua besides: “who do you choose to serve?” I admit that I hear Joshua’s question quite frequently, yet I believe I hear it amplified by:
Do you choose to serve the heavenly assurance that frees you from fear? Or do you choose to serve personal doubt that binds you?
And that is what I think Joshua is asking us today. That is the god Joshua is querying us about. Whom will you serve? Joshua is pointing out that we have a choice of which god/God we will serve. On the other hand, I see these options are easy to choose from: we can choose to serve the god that binds us, the god of fear and doubt or we can choose to serve the God of heaven who assures us of our life.
But in my experience it’s not that easy - my human nature doesn’t let me see simple answers to who the god or God in my life is. I sense that when we think we are prepared for an assault of self-doubt and personal questioning, somehow an internal attack from any number of unhelpful voices that are spawned by the devil pops up when we least expect them. But I know that while it is something other than God our Savior that derails us; yet we still adamantly choose to respond, “…you are my God.”
And yet a third time we hear these words “Choose this day, whom you will serve…” ring out in our life.
So how do we decide who to serve and once we make that decision to stay the course? We decide who to serve by listening to the voice of joy inside and around us and not the voice of doubt. As Paul reminds us, it is only in faithful obedience with encouragement from faithful believers, friends, spiritual directors, mentors, and parish families that we can truly answer that we will serve the Lord. We stay the course by being in relationship with a community that founds itself on love and prayer.
Another way is to respond to God, in spite of our self-doubt. As we hear the prophet respond to God by saying, “Here I am, send me.” The reality that I’m coming to understand is a response is the only thing we can give. We must respond to God positively, regardless of our doubt, each time that we are asked to choose. When all is said and done, we must listen to those who are with us. We must listen to those who challenge us to clear our mind and fight our self-doubt. We must listen to that prophetic voice that speaks to us that will drown out that nasty voice of doubt.
We need to be assured that our life is normal when we live the cycle of doubt: We listen to the call, respond to the call, stumble with regularity, fall down often, get up, and do it all over again because we understand that the goal is to be admitted to the banquet with the Lord, lamp burning brightly, the door shuttered tightly against the voice of doubt and living forever with God.
And it all starts with our response to the questions: Who do you choose to serve today? Do you choose to serve the things that bind you? Or do you choose to serve the God that sets you free to live?
I choose to serve the Lord! Here I am, send me!
Amen!
November 9, 2008, Proper 27A (RCL)
Leslie C. Ferguson
Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78: 1-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13
Thank you David for inviting me to come and preach and catch up with the folks here at Ascension, it has been a wonderful weekend with our Norfolk family. Kathy and I feel blessed to have been greeted so lovingly this weekend and it’s been wonderful to worship at Ascension after all these months. It’s hard to believe just how long it’s been since Kathy and I have regularly worshiped here and yet we’ve been welcomed like it was yesterday. It is nice to come home, and this place really is home to us. It’s nice to share communion with all of you who have experienced the hope in the assurance of God’s grace as they’ve crossed its doorstep and sat in its pews. This is a hopeful place that is a beacon in a time that may not be considered all that hopeful.
But, for now, let’s return to the lessons for today. In our Hebrew Scripture text today we hear Joshua say:
“Now 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…” The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.”
Joshua 24:15, 24
We hear Joshua’s question ring out by implication throughout today’s readings and we hear the practical response of the people of Israel to his question. We hear Joshua’s question and Israel’s response as Matthew recounts Jesus’ parable about the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins. We hear the 5 wise virgins chose to serve God by being prepared for the bridegroom’s return. We hear its contrasting story when we hear the comments about the 5 foolish virgins who chose to serve their own god. To me, it would have been nice to hear that all 10 virgins chose wisely and chose to serve the Lord but alas that wasn’t the case. But it annoyed me that there is no way to understand exactly why the 5 foolish virgins chose to serve the wrong god or even what their wrong god looked like - all we know is they ended up being excluded from the heavenly banquet because they chose poorly.
And yet, Joshua still rings out, “Choose this day, whom you will serve…”
In welcome contrast we hear Paul tell us that many in Thessalonica chose, and continued to choose wisely. He told the Christians in that strife-filled city that they had assurance of eternal life because they chose God and that even when things were difficult to start with, they could believe that they made the right choice in the long run and that any of their current strife and persecution was of little import when compared with the blessing of God’s calling them home. Many in their time would rejoice that they made the right decision, even in the face of overwhelming odds. That’s great news for the steadfastly faithful in Christ.
Even in the Hebrew Scripture we hear a story of good choices amidst tales of woe in the Psalms. We hear that Israel ultimately made the right choice and served God - YAHWEH albeit after they were nearly decimated in the exile. After the Israelite’s see the error of their ways, they re-establish the covenant relationship with God, and remember God’s faithfulness even in spite of their unfaith. Good news for the Jews and a great story of faith and wisdom.
Yet, we are still haunted again by Joshua, “Choose this day, whom you will serve…”
But there’s that passage from Joshua that troubled me and one that we may be tempted to ignore because it doesn’t resonate with our image of life with God. I’m unsettled by the exchange: why did the writer of Joshua choose to repeat the question three times? Why did Joshua doubt Israel’s fidelity and ability to choose the right path? In any case, you’d figure it would only take Joshua asking the question once to cement the community’s fate. Once should have been sufficient - especially since he had somehow received God’s insight before posing the question. What point is Joshua driving home to the Israelites? What point might Joshua be trying to drive home to us more than 2,500 years later?
I am struck that even though Israel appears to be sure of themselves their responses seem to exhibit a little bit more self-doubt each time. I know that I make my response more emphatic when I’m less sure of the response I’m giving. And it is readily apparent that Israel is getting more and more emphatic with each response to Joshua - so much so that they add details he never asked for.
As I was reflecting on today’s readings, my impression of Israel’s response hit close to home with me. I kept trying to avoid a nagging feeling that resonated in the Joshua passage. Like Israel, I was struggling with some internal questions about all kinds of disassociated things; questions about what I was doing at school, that I wasn’t measuring up to my self-imposed standard for performance, that I may have made the wrong choice in going to Seminary and that I would wake up and realize that it was all a dream and I was left with nothing…
In my life I hear a slightly different question coming from Joshua besides: “who do you choose to serve?” I admit that I hear Joshua’s question quite frequently, yet I believe I hear it amplified by:
Do you choose to serve the heavenly assurance that frees you from fear? Or do you choose to serve personal doubt that binds you?
And that is what I think Joshua is asking us today. That is the god Joshua is querying us about. Whom will you serve? Joshua is pointing out that we have a choice of which god/God we will serve. On the other hand, I see these options are easy to choose from: we can choose to serve the god that binds us, the god of fear and doubt or we can choose to serve the God of heaven who assures us of our life.
But in my experience it’s not that easy - my human nature doesn’t let me see simple answers to who the god or God in my life is. I sense that when we think we are prepared for an assault of self-doubt and personal questioning, somehow an internal attack from any number of unhelpful voices that are spawned by the devil pops up when we least expect them. But I know that while it is something other than God our Savior that derails us; yet we still adamantly choose to respond, “…you are my God.”
And yet a third time we hear these words “Choose this day, whom you will serve…” ring out in our life.
So how do we decide who to serve and once we make that decision to stay the course? We decide who to serve by listening to the voice of joy inside and around us and not the voice of doubt. As Paul reminds us, it is only in faithful obedience with encouragement from faithful believers, friends, spiritual directors, mentors, and parish families that we can truly answer that we will serve the Lord. We stay the course by being in relationship with a community that founds itself on love and prayer.
Another way is to respond to God, in spite of our self-doubt. As we hear the prophet respond to God by saying, “Here I am, send me.” The reality that I’m coming to understand is a response is the only thing we can give. We must respond to God positively, regardless of our doubt, each time that we are asked to choose. When all is said and done, we must listen to those who are with us. We must listen to those who challenge us to clear our mind and fight our self-doubt. We must listen to that prophetic voice that speaks to us that will drown out that nasty voice of doubt.
We need to be assured that our life is normal when we live the cycle of doubt: We listen to the call, respond to the call, stumble with regularity, fall down often, get up, and do it all over again because we understand that the goal is to be admitted to the banquet with the Lord, lamp burning brightly, the door shuttered tightly against the voice of doubt and living forever with God.
And it all starts with our response to the questions: Who do you choose to serve today? Do you choose to serve the things that bind you? Or do you choose to serve the God that sets you free to live?
I choose to serve the Lord! Here I am, send me!
Amen!
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