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When Joshua had the people of Israel create a monument of the twelve stones taken from the River Jordan, he said it was to be a reminder. It was a reminder of how the waters had parted to welcome them into the Promised Land. But he also adds that it is a reminder of how God parted the waters of the Red Sea forty years before, the miracle that brought the Hebrews into freedom. Their journey had begun with a parting of the waters and their journey had ended in the same way.

Our little monument is the same kind of reminder. What do we want to tell our children in times to come about our wilderness wanderings? Let me suggest three things.

First, the stones remind us that God was with us. God said, "I will be with you" and it was so. Let us repeat that together: And it was so! God said, "I will be with you in your anxiety over this tremendous challenge." And it was so! God said, "I will be with you in your grief in saying good-bye to your old building with all its memories." And it was so! God said, "I will be with you as you adjust to a new time of worship in an unfamiliar sanctuary." And it was so! God said, "I will be with you in the totally unforeseen sorrows of September 11^th." And it was so! God said, "I will be with you when everything has become so different." And it was so! God said, "I will be with you when you think this is never going to end!" And it was so! God was there to remind us that nothing can separate us from God’s love. God was there to remind us that all the things we think necessary to assure God’s presence mean nothing to God. God simply said, "You shall be my people, and I shall be your God." And it was so!

Second, God overcame obstacles in the wilderness. God breaks down barriers. God parts the waters. At a tangible level God overcomes rock in the courtyard and water in the elevator shaft. Who said that God can’t use sledge hammers and sump pumps to accomplish the will of God? God overcomes neighborhood suspicions and anxieties. God overcomes the emotional barriers of fear and doubt. When we said, "Where will the money come from?" God showed us our capacity for generosity. When we said, "How can we grieve the loss of one so beloved as Joey, and still do this project?" God helped us. Over and over again, when we said, "We can’t do it!" God said, "Yes you can! Yes you can!" Again and again and again. And God overcame the obstacles we sometimes threw at each other. Sometimes we battled impatience and short tempers and misunderstandings. But God overcame all that. God may have rolled her eyes at our antics from time to time, but God’s gaze was steadfast and forgiving and compassionate.

Third, God fed us in the wilderness. God fed us with worship and music. God fed us with hope and courage. God fed us and led us to care for one another. God fed us with a perfect love that casts out fear. God helped us nourish and grow a youth program and a seniors program, in the wilderness. And God fed us with wonderful people along the way – people whom we would never met, but for this journey. You just heard from Steve. There will be more appreciation on June 9^th. We remember our patient friends at Marvin Memorial (sometimes I think we nearly overwhelmed them with our level of energy and need for space). God fed us by putting the right person before us at just the right time – again and again and again.

So the stones remind us that in the wilderness God was with us, God overcome obstacles for us, and God nourished us. All this by God’s grace. All this by God’s grace. But the stones also remind us that, though we have completed this journey, God will continue to be with us in what is to come; God can still overcome obstacles: God can continue to nourish us into the future – if we have faith. Let us not leave our faith on the far side of the waters, back there in the wilderness. We will need that same faith now, more than ever.

Now we have come home to a new home this "Welcome Home Sunday." But we also know, full well, that when one journey ends another journey is sure to start soon. Yes, we yearn to rest. We long to catch our breath. And it’s all right. We need to breathe. We need to let go and celebrate. We need to play. We maybe even need a musical. Now that we are home we long for things to get back to normal. But even as we say that, we know that it just won’t be. Life has never been finding a resting place and settling in. Life is one journey after another. One journey ends and another begins. Tell me your life hasn’t been like that. The waters part and we are home. The waters part and we are on our way again. And it is on the journey that we meet God; just as it was on the road leading from the sorrow of Jerusalem to the hope of Emmaus, that those two disciples encountered the Risen Christ.

And it is on the journey that we experience our faith in its most profound way. I was struck in reading the two scriptures this morning by what simple and elemental things they contain. In Joshua there are the rocks and the water. As I said earlier, in a way the rocks and the water symbolize the obstacles, the barriers we faced. But if we turn to the Pentecost scripture from the Book of Acts, we find the Holy Spirit’s presence in the wind whipping through the windowless Upper Room and the Holy Spirit’s presence in the fire, the tongues of flame dancing on the disciples’ heads. It reminds me of the fire, air, earth, and water of classical Greece. But in God’s world the fire and wind of the Spirit always overcome the rock and water of earthly obstacles. God’s Word is like a hammer that smashes the rock. God’s Spirit moves over the face of the deep and subdues the watery chaos. Hasn’t this journey now ended kindled the power of the Spirit in you? How wonderful that today is Pentecost. Haven’t you been surprised and amazed by all that has happened?

Last weekend I played with my twenty-month old grandson in my daughter’s garden in Northampton, Massachusetts. In the cool morning air, we danced about in glee together. He rolled in the wet grass. He charged to a lilac bush and smelled the blossoms. He crawled along the flagstone path and studied the ants. He tipped over the birdbath and watched the water spill out. He threw his arms around a crabapple tree and kissed it. Kissed a tree! And all the time he laughed. His world is filled with wonder. Isn’t that how you feel, really, about this last year and a half? Isn’t that how you feel about this wonderful building? Don’t you just want to kiss it? Isn’t that how you feel when you think about all God has done for us? Isn’t that how you feel when you think about all God has helped us to do? Isn’t that how you feel when you think about all God has helped us to discover in ourselves? All of it? I am left with wonder. I am left with amazement. I am filled with appreciation. I am in awe. I want to dance. God has been good to us. God has been very good to us. Let us never forget it. Let us praise God and give thanks. AMEN.
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