The Roundabout Way 8-2016 Ex: 13: 17-22; Ephesians 3: 14-21
Geography lesson - get out our Biblical GPS and do a Mapquest! Plan route from point A to point B: most direct, quickest, on foot - hug Mediterranean Sea. Expend less energy, know where going along shoreline, greener/more oases, build boats!
However, route taken - roundabout way all over Sinai Peninsula - barren wasteland, sand & dunes, mountains - longer, more arduous, taxed resources of food and water, how find the way? Crazy idea!
WHY? (People asked this down through centuries. Biblical writers writing after the fact, in retrospect, centuries, trying to interpret events thru the lens of their faith perspective) God thought: Philistines in the way of the shortest route - if people have to face this fierce and mighty enemy right away, will turn right around and never get to where I want them to go.
Biblical message in this story:
1. We believe that God was behind this venture from the beginning.
2. We believe God had a purpose (a strategy) for our forefathers and foremothers .
3. We believe God had their well being at heart (altho at the time they often didn't know it or trust it) .
4. We believe God was with them every moment of every day and even through the night - 24/7. The symbolism of the pillar of fire by night, pillar of cloud by day
5. There was significance to the timing: HOW LONG did their journey take? 40 years (40 as a numeric symbol - Noah & flood (40 days & nights); Jesus in wilderness (40 days and nights) - 40= time of preparation and transformation, a span of time when a person or people is being shaped for a God-led transition in their life. A time when they were empowered and equipped for the mission they would be undertaking.
40 years - also happens to be the span of a generation. Significant! The generation of those who had known only slavery had passed on and a new generation of their children and grandchildren who had only known freedom were ready to settle the Promised Land and build a free and independent nation. Time to live into a new identity, a new reality, than what they had known.
SO WHAT HAPPENED during those 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that prepared them for what came next? What were their formative experiences that equipped them for the next chapter in their lives? (in whole books of Exodus, Deuteronomy)
1) time to assess resources in face of challenges & make attitude adjustments
real challenges of shortages of food, water - so dire and desperate, even thought of going back to Egypt (selective remembering of the past enslavement - at least had food and water); complained and whined to Moses, to God - God provided manna/quail, springs in the desert for water. Shifted from shortages/what they lacked, to how God had provided and blessed them in many and miraculous ways.
2) time to let new leadership emerge
Got way too dependent on Moses - navigator, pastor, spiritual guide, people manager - Jethro (father-in-law, Moses neglecting wife/daughter and his children/grandchildren); you're going to wear yourself out shouldering this burden of leadership on your own. Choose some people with skills for leadership who can work in partnership with you; divide people up into smaller groups they can be responsible for; share the burden of responsibility, expand the collective wisdom, help the people learn how to care for each other rather than relying on you all the time! It worked. Also helped the people make the eventual transition to new leadership from Moses to Joshua, when Moses knew he wouldn't live to see the people settled into the new land and needed to hand primary leadership over to Joshua.
3) time to figure out their identity and values - what stood for, what meant to be faithful to God and to one another - mission statement
Mt. Sinai/Mt. Horeb 10 commandments - Distillation of 10 commitments so central to life and faith as to believe they were written by the very finger of God. Shaped the people of God.
founding document - "mission statement" about what they stood for, what they aimed for, what it meant to them to be the people of God that set them apart from others, on down through the centuries
4) time to do some soul-searching - what getting in the way of worshipping and trusting God?
remember story of golden calf? - Moses on the mountain for a very long time - people let their fears and anxiety get the better of them. Fashioned an idol - glittery, easier to worship, tangible, they could control, didn't demand much of them.
Got led astray. Learned that to be faithful meant trusting God and God's leadership even when difficult, when pushed at their comfort zones, when meant waiting and listening for direction instead and going ahead with their own solutions and quick fixes. Throughout 40 years, multiple experiences of being tempted to put something other than God at the center of their lives, having to do some real soul-searching and then practice letting go of what stood in the way of their relationship of faith to God. What does God want of us rather than what do we want?
how turn from letting fear and anxiety drive us to trusting God?
shift from what do we want => what does God want?
who's voice will we listen to?
5) time to practice looking for signs of God's presence -> discernment;
pillar of fire by night and pillar of cloud by day with them 24/7, in ways that would lead them if they would only trust How quickly they could forget or ignore or take for granted - story of the people of God from the beginning - God keeps putting before signs of presence and power if we but remember and look. These are our anchor points, our reassurances, what gives us direction and hope and courage.
WHAT does this HAVE TO DO WITH US? Purpose of sermon - to find your story in the Biblical story In the UCC, we look upon time of transition for a congregation between pastorates as a journey. Not just a holding pattern, do-nothing time or to tread water or just get thru, nor a time to necessarily get thru as quickly as possible - but a valuable, formative time for a congregation to do some deep soul-searching about these kinds of matters. Let go of past and what's holding you back to be free and open to the future, make necessary shifts in perspective and attitude so you can be ready to begin a new chapter in your life as a congregation.
Time of transition like what you are going through as a congregation can offer:
a time when as a congregation you can assess resources and focus not on shortages/what don't have, but on what you do have, blessings you have received and enjoyed and want to share
a time when you can reorganize, let new leadership emerge, recognize gifts in the congregation that may have been latent and hidden, be empowered to do more or find different ways as the people of God than how done in past with last pastor. Let go of past to be open to future. Ask what do you need from pastoral leadership (not do your bidding as much as how can pastor equip you and help empower your gifts for leadership and ministry)
a time when you can clarify what you stands fo ras a church, your sense of mission, values and commitments, relationship to God and with each other. This will govern what choices and decisions you will make
a time when as a congregation you can do some deep soul-searching about what gets in the way of faithfulness to God. Put fears and anxieties into perspective, Shift from what do we want (a shift from personal preferences) to a collective understanding of what does God wants us to be and do
a time to recognize ways in which God is with you, empowering and giving direction in little and big ways to help you face an unknown and uncertain future
There are shorter, easier ways to do this, to make the transition. But these other ways often short-circuit the value of this transitional time to ask these kinds of questions of ourselves and about our church, wrestle with choices and decisions, prepare ourselves for the next chapter in our life as a congregation, to choose wisely and well the kind of person we need next to lead us on.
Churches these days are in a whole new culture than what most of us grew up in. Unnerving. The very survival of the church seems at stake at times. But we can look for the signs in which God has not abandoned us, but is right there with us, day and night, night and day, helping to direct and lead the way into perhaps a different reality, a different "place", than the one we've been used to.
So what may look to others as wandering in the wilderness, a crazy way to go, where we risk getting lost and wondering where in the world is God leading us, may prove in the end to be formative to the life and history of this church.
Thanks be to God.