[1]
It’s a straightforward enough truth. Joshua doesn’t make it up; Moses tells them the same thing before they enter the land. You better remember your purpose, your mission, your commitment – ‘cause truth be told, you’ve committed to serve a certain somebody.
It’s a truth that may sound simple, says Joshua, but it ain’t necessarily so. You are gonna have to serve somebody, and there are plenty of choices out there – plenty of other gods you might worship by choice or default. You could serve “the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt. You could serve the gods of the Amorites – the gods of the culture in whose land you’re living.” But if you, like me and my household, choose to serve the Lord, you’re gonna have to put all that away. You’re gonna have to live counter-culturally – like resident aliens – everywhere you go. You can be “in” this place, but you can’t be “of” it.
That got me thinking this week: I wonder what gods our ancestors served? As the great-granddaughter of depression-era farmers, I’m pretty sure my ancestors served gods of agriculture, security and wealth-preservation. As a daughter of the feminist revolution, some of my ancestors served gods of independence and self-sufficiency. As a daughter and granddaughter of engineers, my ancestors served gods of reason and knowledge. I wonder what ancestral gods are part of your history.
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
“Choose this day,” Joshua says.
I wonder, too, what gods dwell here in the culture in whose land we’re living? In my experience, I’ve come face-to-face with the gods of “I don’t have time for that” and “not my problem.” I confess I’m far too familiar with the god of “what can I do” when I face rampant injustice, oppression, poverty, racism, and indifference. I wonder what cultural gods you’ve encountered in this land in which we’re living.
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
“Choose this day,” says Joshua.
To his community, Joshua declares his choice: covenantal life with “the God who has given both the land and the commandments of Sinai.”[2] We hear his declaration echoed in our gospel passage today in Simon Peter’s response to Jesus: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” Like the Israelites in the promised land and the disciples of Jesus, we, too, must choose who we will serve, whose we will be, what “passions and loyalties” will govern our daily lives.[3]
To be clear, many of us have chosen. In our baptismal covenant, at our confirmations, whenever we renew these commitments, we’ve chosen to serve the Lord. Perhaps we’ve chosen thusly in recognition that, as Bp. Doyle of the Diocese of Texas has said, “The God to whom we are yoked in love is a God who freed us … to be a blessing to the whole of creation … [to be] a different kind of people … people who serve God by being and enacting a different kind of society.”[4]
And yet, if we’re honest, even those of us who have chosen to serve the Lord need to hear Joshua’s call today. Because we fall short of being a blessing to the whole of creation, don’t we? And, too often, we aren’t truly a different kind of people. The gods of our ancestors and the gods of the land in which we’re living are alive and well, and we are still tempted to serve them.
This weekend, we celebrate the choice we’ve made to live in covenant with, and the steps we have taken and continue to take toward serving, the Lord. In Roper Hall this morning, each of our ministry groups has a display, information, gifts to entice you. Join us. Peruse. Study. And listen. What ancestral and cultural gods may have distracted you from serving the Lord as fully as you’ve covenanted to do? What might you need to put away in order to step into deeper service in this place? Serving God might mean teaching children’s formation. Oh, I know many of us have “been there and done that”, but we may need to be there and do that again. Serving the Lord might mean assisting with youth group or writing letters with peace post. If you’re new around here, serving God might mean joining The Way, our process toward baptism, confirmation, and membership at Transfiguration.
Doing so will require us to put down some things – some other gods in our lives. Serving the Lord requires, says Walter Brueggemann, a “commitment that will impinge upon every dimension of” our lives. It’s is an “all or nothing” [5] proposition which requires us regularly to examine our commitments, our calendars, our checkbooks – all of it.
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
Today in Roper Hall, you’ll find a variety of ways you might choose to serve the Lord. Today, sisters and brothers, we’re going to do something a little different. I’m going to charge you, as Joshua charged the Israelites. When we do this in the church, we ask people to stand up. SO would you stand with me, please.
I charge you thusly:
“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. 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; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Amen.
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[1] Bob Dylan, “Gotta Serve Somebody”, lyrics modified for the sermon by Mtr. R.
[2] Walter Brueggemann, “Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25: Making the God Decision”, available online at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-brueggemann/joshua-2413a-1425_b_1070263.html.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Andy Doyle, “Hitchhiking the Word, Proper 16B/Ordinary 21B/Pentecost 14 August 26, 2018.” This blog can be accessed online at http://hitchhikingthebible.blogspot.com/search?q=proper+16b.
[5] Walter Brueggemann, “Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25: Making the God Decision”, available online at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-brueggemann/joshua-2413a-1425_b_1070263.html.