Audio version HERE.
Finally … at least … we’re here!
We’ve made it; we’ve arrived.
Cross this river … and we’re home!
The Promised Land at last … Finally!
What do children ask on a road-trip? Are we there yet?
Every ten minutes … Are we there yet?
Forty years of wilderness … are we there yet?
Forty years of rock and sand … are we there yet?
Forty years to get ready for the Promised Land …
It took time …
Things like this don’t happen overnight …
Big things move slowly … important things take their time!
And where was Moses?
The Burning Bush man …
The man in Pharaoh’s court, Let my people go!
Where’s Moses now?
This glorious moment …
Ready to cross the river …
Everything Moses dreamed of …
Every prayer …
Sweat, blood and tears …
For this moment – the Promised Land.
Where’s Moses?
Just this side of the River, God takes Moses to the top of the mountain … Mt. Nebo …
And on that mountain, high and clear,
Moses could see Jericho City and the land of hope …
There it is Moses … the Promised Land … what you and I have been working for all these years …
Did God and Moses reminisce?
Remember when I called you at the Burning Bush?
Sure I remember; who could forget?
Like a couple of old friends, about the way it used to be, all the stories … the fiery pillar at night … the cloud during the day … manna in the morning … quail in the evening … water from a rock?
On Mt. Nebo … Moses could see the Promised Land …
Just across the river …
But this moment was the close of a chapter …
The end of a journey …
The last page …
God said to Moses:
This far Moses, and no further.
It’s time to say goodbye.
You’ve carried the torch of hope all these years …
You’ve been faithful and good … you’ve been my leader.
But it’s time to say goodbye,
To let someone else bear the burden and lead the way home.
It’s time to say goodbye Moses.
There, on that that mountain, Moses said goodbye … there on that mountain, within sight of the Promised Land, Moses died …
Moses was 120 years old … his eyes were good and his strength unabated … he was ready for more, but it’s time to say to Goodbye!
Nothing lasts forever!
The text says, He was buried in a valley in Moab … and to this day no one knows the place.
No monument … no shrine … no tourist trap …
Dust to dust … earth to earth …
God knows the place …
And that’s all that counts.
The torch of leadership was passed to Joshua …
Moses said goodbye!
Joshua said good morning.
This day would belong to Joshua …
A new generation …
A new leadership …
A new way for a new day!
The text adds a humorous touch …
The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.
That was that …
It was time for Moses to say goodbye.
They wept for 30 days … the obligatory time of mourning … they dried their tears, and on they moved …
It’s amazing how God replaces us …
Important as we may be importance is but for a season - there’s always a time to say goodbye, to lay our burdens down.
By the way …
Did Moses ever make it into the Promised Land?
Matthew 17:
When Jesus went up the mountain … Peter, James and John with him …
Remember the story?
We cal it the Transfiguration …
Jesus begins to shine … glory revealed … white and bright …
A luminous cloud enfolds them …
And in that cloud, two men …
Elijah the prophet … and? … Moses … talking with Jesus.
Moses made it to the Promised Land.
All in due time …
God is good all the time … and all the time God is good.
Moses said goodbye.
Joshua took charge.
Joshua said to the people: before we go anywhere …
Draw near and hear the words of the LORD!
A gathering … like what we’re doing right now …
The chemistry of the company …
Some things have to be done together …
Strength in numbers …
Side-by-side …
All together in a holy moment …
Draw near, says Joshua.
To hear the words of the LORD your God.
I can’t think of anything more important for us here and now … for Covenant on the Corner …
This is the God Project …
It’s not about Moses … it’s not about Joshua … it’s not about us … it’s not about Covenant … it’s not about the Presbyterian Church … it’s not about our pews, our buildings, our traditions, our memories, our comfort, our hopes and dreams …
That’s a tough message for any of us to hear.
Aren’t we always the center of our little universe?
Doesn’t the sun rise and set on our little plot of land?
Isn’t our take on things the right take on things?
It’s not about us.
That’s a tough message.
But it’s the truth …
And the truth sets us free.
There’s no smaller package in all the world than a man all wrapped up in himself.
God wants to unwrap us.
Unfold the arms …
Open our minds and open our hearts …
To welcome one another …
To help one another …
To devote ourselves to the God Project …
For therein is where we find our true selves …
The God Project …
To love God with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind … and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Draw near, says Joshua, to hear the words of the LORD.
The God Project …
For the Israelites that day, the ark lead the way … the Ark of the Covenant …
We always have to ask ourselves … what or who is leading us?
Elders and Deacons ask this question constantly as they lead others …
Pastors and missionaries ask this question constantly as they teach others …
Who’s leading the leaders?
The other day, I read of a local preacher of some influence declaring to his congregation about Prop 8 – the marriage thing, and the gay thing … and the preacher said, vote for it; it’s the right thing to do, and then added, … I just preach the Bible” … and then paused, as if that settled it, as if that meant anything …
But what does it mean? I just preach the Bible.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry has claimed to preach the Bible … the Inquisitors torturing a young man - they were just preaching the Bible.
The Crusaders killing Jews and Muslims - they were just preaching the Bible.
The Salem Witch Hunters burning a woman at the stake - they were just preaching the Bible.
Andrew Jackson expelling the Cherokee out of the Carolinas and Jefferson Davis leading the Confederates States to keep slaves … they were just preaching the Bible.
Jimmy Jones in Guiana Town - just preaching the Bible.
Crackpots and loony tunes just preaching the Bible.
But so have good and thoughtful people.
Martin Luther King, Jr., in an Alabama jail, preached the Bible …
Mother Teresa, on the streets of Calcutta, preached the Bible …
William Sloan Coffin, Jr., at Riverside Church, preached the Bible.
And they preached welcome and acceptance …
They preached grace and kindness …
Mercy and tenderness …
Their preaching opened doors and made room …
They laid out a big table … and invited everyone …
There’s always room at the Table of our LORD …
There’s always one more chair … a little more food in the refrigerator … we’ll make do, because there’s plenty for everyone.
Preach the Bible?
We have to be careful … sort of like changing lanes on the 405 during rush hour … we don’t rush pell-mell into it … we do it carefully, thoughtfully …
Preaching the Bible isn’t so easy …
Last I week I said to you,
We have to speak from the center of the Bible … not from the edges …
We can find a verse to support every cockeyed idea that comes along … but it’s not about finding a verse or two or three … it’s about Jesus …
Jesus is the center!
Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so …
The rest isn’t so easy …
I preach the Bible … and I’ve done so, with all my heart, for 40 years …
And I believe Prop 8 to be the wrong idea at the wrong time.
I’m going to vote against it.
I hope it’s defeated.
But I’m not going to tell you what to do.
Nor am I going to hide behind any claim that I know the Bible better than you do … or all that I do is “preach the Bible” as if that made my word gold.
It’s all opinion … the preacher railing against homosexuality … and the preacher urging justice for everyone … yes, we all use the Bible … we all read and study it … we all have our favorite verses and our favorite stories … but like building blocks, it has to be put together … and we can put the blue block here, and the red block there … and then stack a few yellow ones on top … and someone else comes along, and puts the yellow blocks there, and then some green ones that we had forgotten, and a few purple ones, too.
We play with the building blocks of Genesis and Exodus, Matthew and Luke …
We rearrange the Bible all the time.
So we have to be careful …
We have to speak from the center of the Bible … not from the edges …
It’s not about finding a verse or two or three … it’s all about Jesus …
Jesus is the center!
Draw near, said Joshua, to hear the words of the LORD.
That’s the God Project …
A people devoted to God …
Paying attention … and praying …
It’s a lot of work dear Christian friends …
Jesus doesn’t ask to sit on down and relax …
He calls us to get up and follow him …
He doesn’t offer an easy chair …
He offers a cross.
Jesus doesn’t call us to a life of leisure, but a life of great love …
Jesus the Center … Jesus, the Ark of the Covenant …
Follow Jesus, and we’ll never be lost …
Follow him, and we’ll cross those rivers and find the Promised Land …
Follow him, and we’ll be able to play our part in the long march to glory …
Draw near and hear the words of the LORD your God.
Amen and Amen!
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