Year A, Proper 27, November 9, 2008

If you have been here awhile, you have heard me tell stories about my son, Ash, but you haven’t heard many references to my daughter, Whitney.  I think this is because when he was growing up, Ash was a very busy little boy. He was always into something.  The word trouble comes to mind.  But, Whitney was a very serious child.  She was focused and extremely, excessively well-behaved. I remember the neighborhood kids saying, “Let’s get on your roof and be pirates,” and Whit said, “I think we should stay on the ground and play paleontologists.”  With an attitude like that, you’re not going to end up in many sermons.  However, today there is an incident from her life that relates directly to our Old Testament reading from Joshua.

When Whitney was nine, she brought home a class project.  She carried in a white Corelle dinner plate with instructions to design a family motto, a family crest and symbols that represented her family’s values and interests and talents that were important to her.  Whitney dutifully, diligently set about the task, sketching, considering, choosing complimentary colors and significant images.  At some point, she came to me and said, “I just can’t determine the correct family motto.”  About that time, Ash came running through the kitchen, heard her comment and yelled, “Hollars don’t lie!”  “There you go,” I said.  “Yes, but that doesn’t sound lofty or inspiring.”  “Well, maybe if you put it in Latin, I suggested.  “Aaaah, that will be perfect, I’ll look up the translation.” 

In the end, the plate was taken back to school and put into an oven, so the carefully considered design became permanently fused.  At the end of the grading period, Whit brought it home and shared the meaning of each of its symbols.   At the top was the motto, “Semper Veritas,” always truthful! In the center was a cross, because we were a churched family.  I noticed there were flowers around the cross, rather than a crown of thorns.  She wouldn’t get the nuance at age nine, but what that said was that we are resurrection people, believing in hope and new life. 

In one corner of the plate was a passport, because the family liked to travel.  In another area were musical notes because God had given her a good voice and she liked to sing.  There was a red rose which I didn’t understand.  She said it was for the War of the Roses, some English history she was reading.  It was a larger symbol of learning and curiosity, certainly a quality valued in our home.  The last drawing was a stack of canned vegetables.  This was not a reference to my cooking ability.  She said it was for the food drive.  Whit was a Girl Scout, and service to others was important to her and our family, she said.  She had done a good job.  That plate did represent the things our family prized.  For many years, it was displayed proudly and, while we may not have referred to it explicitly, its symbols influenced our life together.  When we gathered to make decisions, outcomes were determined by its images.  Do we buy a larger house or keep the smaller one and have money to travel?  Do we buy each other lots of Christmas presents or do we do less and take several angels off the angel tree? 

Can I have a sleepover Saturday?  Yes, but at 9:10, we’re pulling out of the driveway for church.  They can come with us or their parents can pick them up before.  That’s the deal.  What was said to be valued on that plate, got lived out in daily life.  The proclamation and the living matched up.  This synchronization is exactly what Joshua puts before his people in this morning’s passage.  “Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.”  Joshua addressed them, “Now, revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness or if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, then choose this day whom you will serve.  Choose, make your decision. Select your values, those things most important to you, those places where you’ll put your heart, your energy and your treasure.  Pick what will take precedent in your life and what will shape your destiny.  Think, decide, be clear!   Make your own decisions, “but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” 

There it is.  Joshua and his family have their motto.  They’ve made their claim and put it on their plate.  “As for me and my family, we stand with the LORD.” Joshua and his kin have clarity and purpose.  They have direction and can go forward with confidence.  As crisis and dilemmas arise, they have a center, a true north, a guiding star to keep them on course.  We will steer towards God and that will be our answer, our way out of trouble and uncertainty, our way home to what we value.  Joshua’s sure and steadfast proclamation is quite appealing.  It’s simple.  It’s clear.  It’s both lofty and inspiring.  And, so the people say, us too!  Us, too!  We’ll serve the LORD!   We’ll stand with God!  That will be our family motto.  We’ll put that on our crest. 

But, Joshua said to the people, you cannot just say you will serve the LORD and then live your life putting other gods and other pulls and influences first.  What you say and how you act must be the same.  And the people swore and promised.  Standing with God made good sense to them.  They were ready for this decision and for God’s direction.  They were comforted and clear.  We understand their reaction.  Say those words to yourself.  “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD!”  Doesn’t the statement feel powerful and righteous?  Don’t the words sound chock full of certainty and promise?  The good news is that this family motto inspires calm and confidence.  The bad news is that it can turn to judgment and smugness.  Often Joshua’s call to decision and his personal proclamation has been taken up by ultra-religious folk who say, I don’t know about the rest of you, but me and mine stand with God and standing with God looks like this and this and this.  If you don’t agree and if you don’t do this and this and this, then you are not serving the LORD and we, me and mine, don’t want any part of you.  Most of us have met these folk and, while we wish them well, we don’t want to spend a lot of time around them.  Because, they aren’t fun and they aren’t encouraging, and they don’t help draw us closer to God.  They don’t mean to be, but they can come off as scary, narrow and aggressive. 

But, even if Joshua’s statement of faith and intent doesn’t drive us to extreme judgment, it can lead us to a place of spiritual superiority.  I remember sitting on a bleacher, watching one of my kids playing something when the mother of a teammate said, we don’t make our kids go to church anymore.  They’re doing well in school and they aren’t on drugs and you have to pick your battles these days.  I thought, really, seriously, this is the criteria for excellence?  Expecting your child to do the required reading for high school and to say “no” to ingesting unregulated chemicals that interfere with brain function that you’ve purchased from a questionable stranger?  This is the standard for success?  And we’ll reward this stellar accomplishment by staying away from church?  I didn’t say to the woman, “You’re an idiot and a godless heathen to boot!”  I didn’t say anything like that, but for a moment, I did make real internal judgment.  Thank the Lord, I recovered and reclaimed my faith and said instead, “Well, we really love our church.  We always leave feeling empowered and supported.  The people there care about us and we care about them and by their words and example, they help us decide which battles to wage and which ones to put down.  For us, church is a gift. I wish that for everyone.”  The woman replied, “Oh, don’t get me wrong, we’re Christians, we just don’t go to church. Instead, we spend ‘family time’ on Sunday morning.”

Mmmm.  Her response was a modern day version of what Joshua was holding up to the Israelites.  Making proclamation means nothing if the actions don’t follow.  One cannot serve God with passing words.  Joshua might have told the woman, you are not serving the LORD.  You are serving family.  That’s a good thing.  It’s a fine thing, but be clear what you’re about.  Be precise and intentional.  What we set as our motto, what we claim as our most central loyalty has consequences and long term effects.  What we put on our plate and how we live those values out shapes our life and character.  And the proof is all around us.  I see evidence in my own family.  That busy little boy who fidgeted in the pew, turns 24 this week, and every year, he gives up one week of his precious vacation to help lead a mission trip of teenage youth.  He’ll work overtime to take off to crucifer for funerals.  And that very, very serious little girl now goes out dancing every Saturday night until 1 or 2, but, come Sunday morning, she’s all about the prayers.

Now dear friends, what my family put on their plate did not, I repeat, did not make us perfect!  What Joshua declared for his household did not make them perfect.  But, what we claim for ourselves matters, and starting with “serving the Lord” and “standing with God” is a very good beginning.  So, the class assignment for us this week is to go home and have the discussion.  Reflect, converse, make note. What is your family motto?  What goes into your household crest?  What is at the center of your plate?  Do you lives point directly back to the values you claim?

For this thoughtful conversation and good discernment, we say, let it be so.

Amen.