Here are some things that you think are true, that you’ve absorbed as true, that you may have been taught which, simply are not true...
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Like you, I care deeply about Christmas. We want everything to go “just right.” How early should the tree go up? How about the lights outside? At what point do we cross the line and become just a little too “Clark Griswold?” When the tree goes up (my job), we have to get the lights just right (Tracy’s job) and get the ornaments exactly where they belong (Emma and Sarah’s domain). Lately, we haven’t even put up a tree at home because we have one in the courtyard and two at church (my jobs) to enjoy every day. Of course, now I worry and ask my family tentatively, “Is that okay?”
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Here’s a crazy thought: since June 21st, every day has grown shorter. There’s been less and less light. The nights have grown longer and longer. We hardly notice it at first. It’s summer! The days are long and fun. Now, though, it’s dusky at 4:15. It’s dark by 5:00. The darkness seems for all the world like it is winning.
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In the Church Ladies group this week, we asked two questions. First, how has your faith changed? As a child, our whole enterprise in life was learning. We absorbed experiences and interactions. We tried to figure out what was happening. We came up with early theories. Then, when we had new experiences. We revised our theories, over and over again. It didn’t matter whether we were trying to learn how to read or we were trying to figure out how friendship works or we were figuring out our place in our family. Our working theories might have been wildly wrong. However, we were young enough to be adaptable. When we found out our beliefs were wrong, we changed what we believed.
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I’ve always loved a good road trip. For most of my life, my favorite place in the world has been 550 miles away. No matter how restrained you are about stopping, that’s a solid 10 or 11 hours of driving and watching the world go by. If you’re traveling solo, you can listen to a lot of music or listen to a whole Audible book or just review your entire life. If you have someone riding with you, it’s enough time to solidify a new friendship or to renew your connection with the people who “ride” with you through your life every day. When you’re on a road trip, you’re free!
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In our text for this morning, Jesus arrives at Jericho which probably means next to nothing for most of us. Maybe, you remember the song from Sunday School? (“Joshua fought the battle of Jericho…and the walls came a tumbling down.”) In the story, the walls do “come a tumbling down,” but there is more to the story. Let’s review…
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Jesus didn’t come to start a church. Jesus didn’t come to give us something to think about. Jesus came to change lives. Jesus came to change how we treat each other. Jesus came to change how we experience the presence of God.
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Here’s a question: who was the first person to break the Ten Commandments? Think carefully for a minute. Have you got it? The first person to break the Ten Commandments was…Moses! He came down from the mountain top, saw the people worshiping a golden calf and what did he do? He literally smashed those tablets to smithereens. (Don’t worry, though, he went back and got another copy…seriously! Its’ in the book.) It’s not news that people have been breaking the Ten Commandments ever since.
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So, at whiplash speed, we’ve jumped all the way forward to Paul, this morning. You remember him—intense, smart as a whip, used to be the head of the “in” crowd, now he’s the head of the “out” crowd. The man has suffered for his faith, from the moment God knocked him down on the road to Damascus and turned his life around to proving himself to anyone and everyone to spending plenty of time in jail. Undoubtedly, he could tell tale after tale about how bad things had been and how poorly he’d been treated. And yet, what he wants to talk most about are grace and gifts and God, not grievances.
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“Who is this Balaam guy and why should I give a hoot? And while we’re talking here, what’s up with the talking donkey?”
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A few years ago, one of our trustees led us through what was called a S.W.O.T. exercise. The acronym stood for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The instrument wasn’t specifically developed for churches. However, it made for a lively discussion. What are the forces that are shaping our identity as a church—external and internal—and what might we need to face as we move forward?
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The old adage is that we should be careful what we wish for.
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