Current Sermons
Archived Sermons
"Do You Hear What I Hear?"
January 15, 2006
An Incomplete Feast
December 25, 2005
The
Third Gift
December 24, 2005
Nothing will be impossible with God
December 18, 2005
Redeeming Holiday Cheer
December 11, 2005
Comfort, comfort my people …
December 4, 2005
Advent begins in the dark…
November 27, 2005
Thanksgiving Day
November 24, 2005
It's All About Respect
November 20, 2005
The world is a better place because ...
November 13, 2005
Holy Baptism and Festal Eucharist
November 6, 2005
Promise and Presence
October 30, 2005
This is Only A Test
October 23, 2005
Made in the Image
of God
October 16, 2005
Finding Our Way
October 9, 2005
Our Lives Are
Based On A True Story
October 2, 2005
It
Is God Working
In You
September 23, 2005
Whatever Happened to our Security?
September 11, 2005
Put on the Armor of Light
September 4, 2005
Giftedness and Identity
August 21, 2005
What about Respect?
August 14, 2005
Dean Lane's Final Sermon
July 31, 2005
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Sermon
Promise and Presence
Joshua 3:7-17
The Venerable Richard I. Cluett
Pentecost 24/Proper 26
October 30, 2005
There is a story about a little boy who came home from Sunday School, and his mom asked him what he had learned that day. He responded, “The Israelis were trying to cross the river, but the Palestinians stopped them. Then the Israelis ordered in an air strike. It worked, and the Israelis were able to cross over to the other side.” His mother, of course, was horrified and exclaimed, “Is that what you learned in Sunday School?!” Well, not really,” the little boy confessed. “But you wouldn’t believe the story our teacher told us either.”
In the reading from the Book of Joshua we hear of the Iraelites crossing the Jordan River as God’s Promise is fulfilled when they enter into the Promised Land. The land happens to be occupied by the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and the Jebusites. Today the remnant of these people call themselves by the name of their land; Palestinians. It is possible to see how far back goes the dispute over the land called both Israel and Palestine.
But here we are focused on the Israelites as they – after 40 years, one whole generation – cease their wandering in the wilderness and cross over into God’s promise. What I want to focus on here is the fidelity of God, the faithfulness of God, the truth that no matter what they did or how far they strayed, God’s promise obtained. God did not wander, God did not forget, God did not abandon, God did not disown, God did not renege. God was faithful.
It would be helpful here to remember how hard it must have been for God faithfulness to hold steady. All fall we have been hearing about this story of God’s chosen people: sold into slavery, delivered from the hand of Pharaoh, making an exodus into the desert, complaining about the food, whining about the water, worshipping a golden image, and more. In the beginning God’s promise had been “Once you were no people, now you are God’s people.” And still God was faithful.
Do you remember the part of the story recorded in the 13th and 14th chapter of the Book of Numbers. When Israel had been not very long in the wilderness and whenthey reached the banks of the Jordan River, on the edge of the land of promise, God told Moses to “send spies up into the Negev to spy out the land of Canaan.”
Moses chose twelve, to “see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak” — to go up, to go in, to look around and to be bold.
Returning, after the biblically requisite 40 days, the spies reported to Moses, Aaron and the leaders of the people the good news that the land was wonderful. The bad news, they said, was that the land was filled with fearsome people who would kill them. Compared to them, Israel felt like grasshoppers. Therefore, they felt Israel ought not attempt to enter the land of promise.
Moses and Aaron and two of the spies (Joshua and Caleb) replied that God had promised to go before them; God had promised to go behind them; and God had promised to go with them. Therefore, they must be faithful, too, and go into the land promised by God. But the fear and the report of the majority of the spies prevailed. It was the decision, then, of the leadership and the people not to go. And Israel decided not to go into the Promised Land.
Even though they had turned their back on the promise, even though, Israel would not trust the promise, God remained faithful, stayed with them, and eventually led a new generation of Israel across the Jordan into the promise.
The people questioned it, Aaron doubted it, and even Moses needed assurance of it. But the presence of the Lord with his people was essential for their liberation from the powers of Egypt which kept them captive. It was essential for their survival in the wilderness and now it is essential for their taking hold of God’s promise to them. Just as Moses was reminded, it was not a matter of whether he knew the Lord, but that the Lord knew him; so, too, with the people what ultimately matters is not their faithfulness to the Lord but God’s faithful presence with them.
So it was for the people Israel. So it is for you and me. God is faithful. God goes before us; God goes behind us; and God goes with us – wherever we wander, no matter how far we roam. God is faithful. God is present with us. As the saying goes, “God is our present help.”
As God’s promise revealed in Jesus Christ is true, so it is also true that God’s promise is for each one of us, personally. It is worthy of some contemplation time to ponder what God’s particular promise is for you/me – personally, particularly, uniquely.
And how do we know of God’s presence – behind, before, and with us? Lord, how do we know where we are going? And how do we know the way?
Tom Ehrich several weeks ago offered a wonderful meditation on “Presence.” He wrote: “It's easy to share victory, it's fun to share joy, it's energizing to share crisis, but push comes to shove when the going is tough and the road stretching ahead is rocky.
“What one needs then is presence. A partner who stays beside you even when you fail at work, a parent who stays up with you when a romance collapses, a friend who shows up with coffee, toolbox or handkerchief when your world falls apart, a pastor who enters into your brokenness.
“This presence needs to endure. Not just ten minutes and goodbye, but hours, days, even years of being there. Long periods of listening … Long periods of silence… Long periods of self-denial -- as one's schedule and needs are set aside. Long periods of holding out one's hands to catch another's tears.”
When Israel crossed over the Jordan, there was no ending of hardship, no ending of difficulties, no ending of disappointments, no ending of pain. What there was was the knowledge that God is faithful and that God will be there in all those things, through all those things. Before. Behind. Within. Our God is a present help.
Often that presence is mediated by, brought by a person who comes to be with us in whatever circumstance of life we find ourselves.
Ehrich concluded, “Without loving presence, we cannot proceed. The way is too difficult. When presence is given, we can brave any wilderness, even one we bring upon ourselves.”
I want you to know that Nativity is forming a team of Pastoral Visitors to begin in Advent visiting with the 45-50 parishoners who are homebound, confined to nursing homes or other living facilities. To be present with them and to remind them of God’s continuing care and presence with them, as well as the care of the parish community. They will be commissioned at the 10:30 service on December 4th. If you feel called to this special Ministry of Presence, please speak to one of the clergy or to Laura Drum.
I will conclude my time with this testimony from the 139th Psalm.
1 Lord, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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