In every congregation that pastors serve there are those that, for a variety of reasons are remembered well. Over the years of my ministry there have been many. At Elwood there was a wonderful lady named Randi. I say that she was wonderful because she was always ready willing and able to help with any variety of tasks that needed to be done around the church and in the community.
Like all of us, Randi had her quirks too. She also had her soapbox issues, the biggest of which was the repeal of the “blue laws.” For those that may not remember or may not be old enough to even know what I am talking about, the “Blue Laws” were a set of laws that prohibited the sale of certain, non-essential, things on Sunday. I, like I know many of you, can remember a time when car dealerships, malls, department stores like Foley’s, Penny’s, Sears, and even Wal-Mart type stores were not open on Sundays. There were even many grocery stores that wouldn’t open their doors on Sundays.
In many ways the “Blue Laws” were very strange. They were designed of course to keep Sunday as a day of rest and give employees a day off. It was family time. But the oddities of the laws led to some businesses opening and others staying closed. You could buy food, even baby formula but you couldn’t buy diapers. That would be clothing and therefore was considered non-essential. You could buy lumber to build something but you couldn’t buy nails to put it together. Because of the obvious ironies of these laws, they were difficult to enforce and as our society became more and more secular, the blue laws were repealed.
Now, back to Randi. On more than one occasion I sat and listened to Randi talk about how terrible it was that the Blue Laws were repealed and all of these places were open on Sunday. I never said much about it one way or the other. So, imagine my surprise as I walked into Wal-Mart one Sunday afternoon and who was walking out, Randi. It was obvious to me that at least at that moment in time, Randi was following the secular leader, even though it went against her better judgment.
I was going to stand here and say to you that all of us have at some point played the children’s game “follow the leader”, but I won’t. Someone will meet me at the door after the service and tell me that they never have. So I will say, that most of us have played the game at least at some point in our lives.
If you remember back to playing the game, everyone gets in a line. The leader, of course, is at the front of the line. As the line begins to move the leader might stretch his or her arms out like airplane wings. At another point in the walk they might start skipping. As the game goes on, everyone is supposed to do what the leader is doing.
At some point during the game, every kid in the group wants to be the leader. It is great fun to see what you can get someone else to do. I also think, at least at times, we all want to be in charge. In the game, the leader is in charge.
It seems to me that, while it is a child’s game, we all play “Follow the Leader” in our lives on a regular basis. The question really becomes, who are we following.
Are we following the whims of a society that seems to be growing more secular by the minute? Are we following peer pressure that tells us how to dress and act and what music to listen too? Are we following the television that is telling us what cars and other products to buy? Are we like Randi, in that our faith has us making claims at one time, statements that at least seem to be made from our hearts and yet on the other had we respond in real life by doing what is convenient?
I preach to myself as much as anyone else. When the lottery first began I would not buy anything from a business that sold lottery tickets. Please understand, I don’t make this statement to say to any of you that you have to agree with me on the lottery. I wouldn’t change most of your minds anyway. That being said, I don’t believe in the lottery and because of that, I boycotted any business that sold lottery tickets. I did it for more than two years. In the end, because of convenience, because of finances (things sometimes were cheaper at places that sold lottery tickets, or other reasons, I ended my personal boycott. I still have never bought a lottery ticket, but I will buy products at places that sell lottery tickets. Who am I following? Who is my leader?
Stanley Hauwerwas and William Willimon open their book, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony, with a reminiscence of how and when they knew that life in American culture had changed. It changed for them, growing up in the small towns in the South, when the movie theater opened on Sunday afternoon and evening. For Hauwerwas and Willimon, the theater’s decision was a symbol that American culture will no longer automatically reinforce Christian religious practices or values. They conclude, "The Fox Theater went head to head with the church over who would provide a world view for the young." That night the Fox Theater won the opening skirmish.
Our lesson this morning is a wonderful story. It is the changing of the guard as it were. Moses was no longer the leader of the Israelites, in fact he was no longer with the Israelites. As they were preparing to enter the Promised Land God gave them a new leader, Joshua. It was important, however, that God show the Israelites who their new leader was. In this story we see God’s power at work.
The Israelites, for some forty years now, had been a wandering nation. Now, with Joshua becoming their leader, they stand before a flood-swollen Jordan River. Could they have found another place, a narrower place to cross the river? Probably, but this was the place where God wanted them to cross. Joshua has twelve priests, one for each tribe take the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was the symbol of God’s presence with the people. It was their understanding at the time that the Ark was the dwelling place of God. These twelve priests, on Joshua’s instructions take the Ark and wade out into the Jordan. As they do, the waters of the Jordan stop flowing and the nation would cross as if walking on dry land. The river didn’t start flowing again until all of the people were safely across and the Ark came out on the other side.
Of course what immediately comes to our minds when we hear this story is the more famous story of Moses and the Israelites having the Egyptian army hot on their tails. Moses parts the Red Sea and Israel walks through the now parted waters. When Pharaoh’s army attempts to give chase Moses lowers his arms, and in the words of a popular song with children and youth of a few years ago, “All of Pharaoh’s army did the dead man’s float.”
Yes, that is where our minds tend to go. I would imagine that the collective minds of the Israelites went to just the same place. Even if they weren’t at the Red Sea to witness the mighty hand of God at work, they had all heard the stories. And, without question, through the mouth and hand of Joshua, they were seeing God’s mighty works take place once again. It would leave a clear understanding in the minds of the Israelites that God had selected Joshua to be their leader.
I do believe that God chooses leaders that we, as Christian people, are to follow. Our lesson this morning clearly demonstrates that idea. Other passages of Scripture lend support to that concept as well. For example, Paul tells us to submit to the ruling authorities because they are in power because of the will of God.
That being said, the biggest reason for the Israelites to follow Joshua I believe was, he was clearly a man of God. And that, God, is one the Israelites should have been following. Remember in 1 Samuel when the people asked for a King? God was their King. They were rejecting God as their leader in favor of a king that they could see. The idea of following God seemed to present Israelites trouble again and again.
I believe that it is safe to say that the same problem plagues us as well. All too many are quick to abandon the principles of their faith because of peer pressure, because of societal pressures, because of personal desires, and so much more. We have trouble following God. Just as the Israelites wandered for forty years in the wilderness, we too wander, though it is a different wilderness. Yet, I believe, just as God was saying to the Israelites in our lesson this morning, stop your wanderings and follow me, he says the same to us. The question for us becomes will we follow and how will we follow?
In the late ‘70’s, Dr. Cynthia Campbell, now president at McCormick Theological Seminary, was then a seminary intern in Little Rock, Arkansas. She became active with a group of women who wanted to start a ministry with women prisoners in the Pulaski County Jail. Most of the prisoners were there awaiting trial sometimes there without bond or unable to make bond for quite a long time. Most of these prisoners were young. Most of them were there for prostitution or shoplifting. Most of them had young children. The leader of our group came up with the idea of doing a craft project with these women every week, helping them make something which they could in turn give to their children when they came for visitors days. Campbell said that this was definitely not her idea of a way to do ministry, not her first choice, but it seemed to work. One day, as she sat with a woman who was much more adept at this craft project than Campbell, the prisoner said to Campbell, I don’t know why you do this. Why do you come down here and sit with us? Campbell mumbled something about Christian witness and ministry. "No, no," she said. "All kind of other church groups come down here. They stand outside the jail and they pray over us. You come in here and work with us. Why do you do that?" Campbell said that she wanted to say that it was their leader’s idea, thinking the group’s human leader. After thinking on this, however, Campbell said that she came to realize that it was their leader, though not their human leader. It was their leader in the most profound sense of who their leader is.
In that same sense, it is our leader. Are we following Him? Does it show in our lives?
In closing this morning I would like to share with you a prayer that I encountered while reading this past week. It comes from Glen Martin’s book Beyond the Rat Race.
Lord Jesus, I have been in control of my life, but I now want your Spirit to be the One who runs my life. I am giving you all of my rights. Please take control of every area of my life. Whenever I am tempted to take back control, please point that out to me and help me have the courage and strength to resist successfully the temptation or desire to take control again of my life.
Show me how to live on top of my circumstances and not under them. Help me keep my eyes on you, Lord Jesus, instead of on my problems. Let me see you, Father, as the One who can and will meet every need of my life. Let me be sufficient in you and not in my own abilities and strengths. Help me to have the right balance between living in your control and exercising diligence as I respond to each facet of my life. Whenever pressures come that have been unbearable or debilitating, show me your perspective--anything I’ve been doing wrong or thinking improperly. Then show me how to correct my faulty actions and thoughts so that I can continue to walk in your Spirit’s control. Thank you that you want to do these things in my life even more than I do. Remind me of that when my faith gets weak.
May we all submit, to let God be our leader, to go where he calls us to go and serve as he calls us to serve.
