The Wideness of our Human Story

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Savior of the world Jesus the Christ. Amen.

In our Deuteronomy text for today, we hear of the Israelite people at a crossroads in their journey of faith as a nation and as the chosen ones of God. They are listening to Moses as they recount their history – people chosen by God beginning with Abraham, people who relied upon God and God’s messengers to deliver them from Egypt, people who experienced God in pillars of fire and cloud, and as a people who also oftentimes fell away from trusting God. When God’s plan of deliverance became too obscure or too difficult to bear, the Israelites worshipped other gods. They became angry at Moses and wished to return to Egypt, for surely their life there was better than a life of what felt like aimless wandering.

Moses sets before God’s people choices – choices that are theirs alone to make. As they look toward the Promise Land, the Israelites know their past – a checkered pattern of mountaintops and valleys where they have believed and where they have fallen away. They are struggling with believing that God will be faithful, that God will actually accomplish what they were sent out to do: to cross the Jordan, to claim their homeland. Moses declares to the gathered people that “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.” (vs. 15), and within that dichotomy the people have a choice – will they continue to fall away from God, and cause God’s anger to fall upon them, or will they choose to trust God above all else and trust that life – that arriving to the Promise Land, that living well together in community – is possible? We hear that obeying God’s commandments promises good things – the people will live and become numerous, and God’s blessings will be upon them in their new land. In short, they are following in the lineage of Abraham’s original blessing of land, offspring, and blessing to bless others. However, if they don’t, if the people continue to turn away from God, life in the new land will be short lived and the people will perish.

I can imagine that for some of you these prescriptions by Moses probably sound severe – what does it mean that if we turn from God we perish? I think that what this speech is getting at is that Moses is trying to convey the level of seriousness with which this command comes. Moses wants to help his people see that keeping the law and the commandments as the Israelite people have been given is more than just fulfilling requirements and checking off boxes, but they are instead about the whole person, about one’s whole heart and commitment to the larger community. Keeping God’s commandments and decrees to “choose life” has the ability to be an profoundly grace-filled experience in that at its best the Law helps us to honor one another in our relationships and possessions and honor God with our worship. Deuteronomy encourages the Israelite people to not return to Egypt in a literal and metaphorical sense – as they remember the captivity they endured and the difficulty that they experienced. For as much as the people have complained about wilderness wandering, God has always proved faithful. It is this sense of faithfulness that God is encouraging God’s people to hold on to as they continue their journey to the land they are to be given.

My friends, how often do we find ourselves at a crossroads of faith? I think in our lives they happen often – when relationships disintegrate, when jobs are lost, when our futures come into question, when we experience mourning or pain. As the Church universal, we too are at a crossroads of identity, with the Church of the future looking different than the Church of the past. I think one helpful thing when we find ourselves at a crossroads of faith or a crossroads of identity is to resist the temptation to go back – to go back to Egypt or to go back to a time when things were simpler, or easier. I think that as the Church and as God’s people we can put ourselves in the sandals of the Israelites standing in the plains and ask ourselves similar questions: “What type of people is God calling us to be? How can we trust in God in this moment?” and then wait, trust, and expect that God will show up in mighty ways. Because when we trust, we choose the way of faith, and when we choose the way of faith, we choose the way of life. That no matter where we are now, God will not and cannot leave us – God, because of God’s faithfulness, will always be moving our communities, our ministries, our bodies, and our hearts towards fuller senses of love, mercy, grace, and salvation.

I can imagine the Israelite people, after hearing these words by Moses, felt some sense of fear and trepidation – they have been given a choice, and their decision has implications – either they will flourish or die. After they hear these words of covenant, in the next chapter of Deuteronomy leadership is passed on from Moses to Joshua, as Moses is in advanced years and God has declared that only the next generation will be enter the Promise Land. Making choices about our commitments and the story we want to tell about our faith can be scary, but God promises us and shows us that we will never be left alone. That with our community, with leadership, and with a sense of God’s calling, our lives and our churches can be transformed into the next season of God’s story, as we continue to follow in the belief that the world is transformed through the ministry, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see this transformation happening every time with gather for worship, and particularly today as we welcome Clayton James as the newest member of God’s family into our midst. When we receive communion, and when we celebrate baptism, we are daring to trust in the possibility that God will transform us continually into people that bring new life where we live.

My friends, today I invite us to dream together. Take some time this week to journal about these questions: where is God calling you to trust? What crossroads are you at in your faith? What do you think God is calling us to be? How can we as God’s people and as God’s Church choose the way of life? I think that as we explore these questions, we will be lead into a deeper sense of trust. And while that may be scary or unsettling at times, I promise you that we are together and we will not be going it alone – because a life of faith is one lived in community. A life of faith is one that wrestles with profound questions. A life of faith is one that mirrors the Israelite story. A life of faith is the wideness of our human story – full of worshipping and turning away, full of fear and joy, full of disappointment and awe at what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will continue to do. Thanks be to God for your hearts and ministry, my friends, as we continue to choose life. And most of all, thanks be to God. Amen.