Comments for Jim Other sermons.                 

When the Hebrew people entered the Promised Land, their dreams had come true. Their wandering in the wilderness was over. They entered a land flowing with milk and honey. God’s promise had been kept. Their faith had been rewarded. At the close of the Book of Joshua we read that Joshua, Moses’ successor, has gathered the tribes of Israel together in one place, Shechem. They have come to mark the official end of their journey. And it is here that two things happen. First, the sacred story is told: the story of how God delivered the Hebrews from bondage in Egypt, brought them through the waters of the Red Sea, gave them the law, and brought them through the wilderness to this place. And secondly, their covenant with God is renewed. God’s covenant with the people took place when they camped at Mt. Sinai, a covenant that stated they would be God’s people, walking always in God’s ways. The sacred story and the covenant were what made the Hebrews unique. Oh yes, they now had a beautiful land, the land of their dreams. But it wasn’t really about the Promised Land. The Promised Land was the setting, the container, the gift. What mattered was the story and the covenant.

So at this ceremony at Shechem Joshua told the story once more, the story of the amazing acts of God, and together they renewed their covenant. This morning we are participating in a very special celebration. This is not a dedication, or rededication of a building. And while it feels like we have come to the Promised Land in so many ways, while we are relieved to have ended a long journey, it’s not really about this building. It is about hearing our sacred story and renewing our covenant. The sacred story we hear through the scriptures, the old, old story, continues for us through the events of the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and of the early Christian church. And the covenant that we will shortly renew is the covenant of Christ Congregational Church, United Church of Christ.

We have heard a portion of this sacred story in the scriptures this morning. In the Book of Acts we hear of the earliest Christian community. They were the Jesus people. They didn’t know they were a new religion. They considered themselves devout Jews. All they knew was that the Spirit of God had come to them, they lived together sharing what they had, and they loved one another with a fervor and sincerity that the world couldn’t miss. And they were attractive. Their church growth strategy was to love God and each other, and that was so contagious that they grew and grew. No building. No air conditioning. No elevator. No off-street parking. No Internet. Yes, I like all those things. I’ve become attached to them. But the church is people who love God and each other, and that love overflows and fills the world. And the sacred story at the close of John’s Gospel tells us how to do this. Jesus utters these sweet, sweet words. "Do you love me?" he asks Peter, even as he asks us. And if we answer "yes" as Peter did, then Jesus says to us, "Feed my lambs…Tend my sheep… Feed my sheep." We are a congregation of sheep and little lambs. Look around at our little lambs. And if we love God, we will feed and tend one another. But we are not to stop there. For Jesus also says, "Other sheep have I, not of this fold." Our love and our responsibility extend beyond this place. That’s what our sacred story says.

And what of our covenant, the covenant we are about to renew? I like the Christ Congregational Church Covenant very much. It is clear, simple and direct. It stresses not agreement about doctrine, but walking together on a journey a faith. We read it often in worship. But a covenant renewal ceremony is about reading it carefully and taking it seriously. If you read Joshua 23 and 24 closely you should notice something unsettling. In calling the tribes arrayed before him to covenant renewal, Joshua ends his sermon with these familiar words:

And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

And the people respond, "Sounds good to us! We also will serve the Lord, for he is our God. Yes. Good ceremony! Can we party now?" And in answer to this Joshua flies into a rage. "You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God." He goes on to say in so many words, "Listen to what you are saying. Don’t take this covenant lightly." Shockingly, he says, "If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good."

How do we account for this angry response? Joshua had discerned that the people were already starting to forget the meaning of the sacred story and the covenant, giving only lip service to their faith. They had begun to take credit for the gift, and forget the giver. They think, "Sure God has brought us out of the wilderness with mighty deeds. Sure we are in covenant with the Lord. But now that we have this wonderful land, this land flowing with milk and honey, we don’t need God quite so much anymore." But Joshua rather brutally reminds them that what God has given, God can just as easily take away. He tells them that when they renew their covenant their words ought not to be idle. Those words have power. Joshua says, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him." And they said, "We are witnesses." You are on record in God’s book.

I hope that each of us will think seriously about the words of our covenant and the Litany of Renewal. And this covenant is not simply an internal conversation among ourselves. While this is about our covenant with one another, it is also about our covenant with God, our covenant with the United Church of Christ, a church that has blessed us extravagantly over these many years, and it is about our covenant with our community and our world.

And this truly is a day of celebration. Nobody celebrates with quite the gusto of Christ Congregational Church. We have much to be thankful for. God is good! Amen.

Return to CCC Home Page