Joshua 4 Crossing Over into a New Future

 

It's 2021, the beginning of a new year. A year ago, we were looking ahead to the year we're now looking back on. A lot of changes that have happened in our lives, our church and our community. Some changes were exciting like marriages and births, others are more neutral changes like being a year older, and then there are the larger difficult changes of COVID, physical distancing, and loss.

2020 revealed a lot about our society and us. It was defined by a virus, an election, and our building renovation. The virus and election created lots of division and even accusations. Social media became a nasty place where people stated out their positions, often in unkind ways, creating more division. 2020 has been a year of fear, those who feared the virus and wore masks, those who feared loss of freedom and became anti-maskers. 2020 created an identity crisis; our identities became defined by our fears and our politics. This is why there was so much anger and fear. Thankfully, the renovation has created excitement, unity and dreams for how we can use the new building to reach our community for Jesus. My prayer is that in 2021 we regain our identity first and always in Jesus and who he’s calling us to be.

For some of us the biggest deepest changes have been in our relationship with Jesus, either learning a deeper trust or maybe the year brought hard questions about who Jesus is and our relationship with him or his church. The year ahead will bring changes, some expected, many of them not, but change itself is not bad. Just look at yourself; if you're exactly the same person today that you were 10, 20, 30 or more years ago, that would show that there's something deeply wrong in your life. If your relationship with your spouse, your parents, your children and friends is exactly the same now as it was even 5 years ago, it shows that you’ve become stagnant in your life. The same goes for our relationship with Jesus. A healthy relationship with Jesus looks like growing in trust as we walk closely with him and each other.

In our story this morning Israel is at the beginning of great change. Change is going to happen in their relationship with God now that they’re actually in the Promised Land because they are going to change. Israel will change from being a nomadic people to becoming farmers, builders, merchants, and business owners with houses and buildings to take care of. Yet sometimes change creates memory loss, especially memory loss when it comes to the credit we give to God. We easily give ourselves way more credit and forget God’s role. Joshua tells us the story of entering the Promised Land to help us remember that it's all about God.

As we watch Israel entering the Promised Land, we're reminded that they haven't accomplished anything yet. They're moving forward in trust without knowing exactly what lies ahead. They know that it won't be easy; they have a huge number of obstacles in the way like city kingdoms like Jericho, greedy Israelites thinking only of themselves, a habit of not trusting God, among others. This is why the Israelites were afraid to enter the Promised Land 40 years earlier. But all that the people know right now, is that it's time to cross the river because God told them it's time. Joshua trusts God and the people trust Joshua.

When you look at where we are as a church, or as individuals, we face obstacles in moving forward. The obstacles range from being content with the way things are right now; not wanting change. Another obstacle is rebuilding deeper community after almost a year of distancing from each other; moving from simply being friendly to becoming a hospitable people who open their lives, homes and hearts to each other, and then there’s the challenge to learn together about who Jesus is, coming together to read the Bible and share who Jesus is with each other.

However, the Holy Spirit’s guiding us. The Holy Spirit’s providing a growing number of opportunities to get more deeply connected into our community here in Lacombe. At some point we need to pick up our robes and step out into the river and make the crossing into the new future, trusting that Jesus is with us even while he leads us. Just like Israel, we will need perseverance and trust and courage. As we move forward into this new year, we will be working on building a strong sense of community among ourselves in order to invite the community to become part of us. Israel was told to take one rock to represent all the people, to represent how they were all different tribes and yet one people. We need to learn to think of 'we' instead of 'me,' no matter how old or young we are.

We don't need to fear what lies ahead because Jesus promised us that he's with us. Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit, helping us look back to see how God has been with us as we move forward into 2021. The Holy Spirit is working to help us grow deeper into a community that reflects Jesus, helping us look forward with confidence and hope. The Holy Spirit’s preparing the way for us just like the ark went ahead of the Israelites into the middle of the Jordan River to stop the flow of water so Israel could cross on dry ground. God’s with the priests in the middle of the Jordan River and he’s with us as we cross into 2021.

God tells the Israelites to build a monument to help them remember what happened, that it's all about God. The monument is built of rocks from the middle of the river. Rocks are plain and simple and yet strong and solid. Large rocks were used as the foundation to build strong buildings on. this is why the writer of the Psalms calls God a rock, solid, strong and dependable. The Apostle Paul refers to Jesus as our cornerstone, the rock Bethel is to be built on. Jesus gives us monuments to remember him: the church itself, the sacraments of the Lord's Supper and baptism, but Jesus has gone even further than that, and has given us the Holy Spirit. It's in the simple places in life where we often find Jesus; he gives us everyday things to remind us that he’s here: bread, wine, water, and now rocks, things we see around us every day and everywhere.

How do you remember important moments in your life? How do you remember those significant moments where Jesus became more real, times when you experienced the closeness of Jesus in special ways that changed how you experience life with all its messiness and chaos? Monuments and rituals remind us we belong to Jesus and are called to carry on his work of making disciples.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to remind ourselves of who we are and why we’re here; committing ourselves to living for Jesus. The goal is to be a people who reach out to others; creating places and groups for people to connect with us and develop friendships; always asking ourselves how can we show Jesus' love and tell others his story. Joshua reminds us, "God has done these things so that all the people of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful." We've been placed here to help others know that Jesus is powerful enough to carry them through any storm in life and give them new lives of hope.

Bethel Church is about becoming who Jesus has created us to be, humble servants who help others know Jesus through serving our community with grace and generosity. It's about blessing the community as we've been blessed. It's about being excited about being followers of Jesus, as excited about following Jesus as Oilers fans are about following Conner McDavid or Flames fans of following Johnny Hockey. Jesus reminds us that we don't do this alone, that he’s with us always through the Holy Spirit; calling us to trust him as he leads us forward.

We'll need courage and trust in Jesus to step forward into a new future. To make the changes that we will be called to make, we’ll need something to remind us that this is something the Holy Spirit is guiding us into. You are asked to take a small rock from the pile up front here after the service to take home and put it somewhere where you will see it regularly. Once we’re back in our building we will place a rock in each mail slot and have others available. Its purpose is to remind you that Jesus is guiding us through this year, leading us to love others, serve our community and share our faith. As Joshua told Israel, "He did this so that all peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God."