There is a part of the Joshua
story in the Hebrew Bible that should be "R-rated" for violence. Some
of it is, truthfully, tough to stomach.
However, there is a moment in
Chapter 24 that haunts me. Joshua's life is coming to an end and he calls the
people of God together. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness they are
now settling in the Promised Land.
The veteran leader starts telling
stories about how the LORD God YHWH has been with them. Good leaders are,
generally, good story tellers. Joshua tells the people how God was with Abram
and Sarai on the journey to Canaan from the Euphrates. He reminds them that God
sent Moses and Aaron to lead them out of Egyptian bondage. Joshua recalls how
God gave the people strength when they faced the entrenched fortress city of
Jericho.
Joshua then asks the people to
choose which God they will follow. This isn't a "both/and" moment.
This is an "either/or" moment. He tells the people to throw away the
familiar gods their ancestors worshiped so they can serve the LORD "with
all faithfulness."
Our tendency is to want to add
the LORD God to a life filled with other loves and allegiances (career, family,
power, control, money, nation, religious tradition). We want to have a god
(little g) who fits in with the other priorities and likes and fears and
addictions we already have. We don't want an upper case God who insists that
life is best when we shape all of life around that God's will and way. Life can
become a kind of "theological fruit of the month club" where we
exchange one god for another based on the date and time and situation. But God
has this irritating habit of insisting on being first. "You shall have no
other gods before me," Exodus 20:3 says.
The reason God insists on that, I
would dare to say, is not because God has ego issues, but because God knows
when we worship a golden calf (or golden family, golden career, golden 401.k,
golden religion, golden empire, etc.) we wreck ourselves and others.
Someone sent us a question and
asked this: "Will our church budget be a 'upper case G God' budget or a
'lower case g god' budget?" I think they are asking if we will be a
community that has a God-sized reach, that is robust and strong and reaching
out and serving and transforming the world, or will we just try to maintain
what we are doing...serving only the people already here?
How that question gets answered
is up to you...it's up to each one of us. Because, you see, how we give to God
will determine what kind of budget we will have, what kind of outreach we will
have, what kinds of people we will reach for God.
The Bloomington Sandwich Company
fills up with college students for Jubilee. That's great...and it will cost
more money as we reach more students. The Wednesday Pantry will be feeding more
people, and that will cost more money. The Emergency Assistance will be key in
the months to come, and that will cost more money. We are offering more growth
opportunities to our leaders, the FCJ experience is moving on, and both will
cost more money. Our Trustees are beginning to look at long deferred
maintenance issues with this historic building, and that will cost more money.
There is a United Methodist ministry to the poor in Nome, Alaska...and I would
love for us to help, but that will cost money. A friend has told me about a
great need for clean water wells in Africa. I may join him on a mission trip in
February. If we start drilling wells in Africa, that will cost more money.
Who are we?
What will we do?
How will we give?
And will our god be a "lower
case g" god or will we throw our hearts and lives and minds (and money)
behind an "upper case G" God?
Somehow all those questions are
tied together.
In Christ and for Christ,
Mark
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