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Stirring
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GEORGE HOVANESS DONIGIAN | Read Joshua 24:1-3
Give ear . . . to my teaching.” Chapter 24 begins with a speech from Joshua and closes with his death. A portion of our text forms the beginning of Joshua’s valedictory speech, an address
that offers remembrance and hope. Joshua recalls the history of Israel. Today’s text offers Abraham as the first with whom God made covenant. To remember Abraham means that we remember both Sarah and Abraham and the grand promise made by God to the old couple that they would have offspring.
Before we jump to the history, allow the opening of this narrative to seep into your awareness. Joshua gathers the twelve tribes and brings together the community leaders, those whose vocations reflect knowledge of God. They are the judges, tribal heads, and elders. We assume that they know the fullness of the story, and yet Joshua feels compelled to remind them of their history. Is the reminder necessary because the tyranny of everyday life has so trapped these leaders that they have lost sight of God? Do busy church leaders today also need that reminder? Sometimes we get so caught up in activities that we forget the larger purpose of the bustle. The busyness of church interferes with our connection with God. Listen again to the teachings. Take time to hear through contemplative prayer and meditation, and remember the grace of God’s compassionate love.
The opening of Joshua’s speech reminds us of Abraham and Sarah and the seemingly impossible birth of their son Isaac. To remember Abraham and Sarah calls for our recollection of a time when each of them heard God’s voice through divine messengers (Genesis 18). While Abraham may have responded to God in faith, Sarah laughed at this promise. No matter their response, they paid attention. How today shall we pay attention?
Open us to hear the wonder of your loving voice, gracious God, so that we may grow as followers of Jesus Christ. Amen.
This week’s passages speak of ultimate commitment or of the return of Jesus or they speak in parables that reflect a protagonist who has been delayed in an anticipated appearance. Living so far from the time of the texts makes it difficult to appreciate the urgency with which the issues arose in various communities and the crises they precipitated. Eschatology, however, is not to be thought of merely as a speculative venture in which curious religious people gamble on a time when the world will end. In the Bible, the coming advent of God demands from and warrants for the people of God a distinctive style of life. In Joshua 24, Israel receives an opportunity to de ne itself by identifying its God. First Thessalonians 4 comforts anxious believers who are worried about the fate of their deceased parents. Jesus’ resurrection is not an isolated event, Paul argues, but the beginning of the resurrection of all people. The prospect of Jesus’ return forms the basis for hope.
• Read Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25. When have your ministry activities become so time-consuming that you lost your connection to God? How can you regain that connection?
• Read Psalm 78:1-7. Which of the teachers in your life are you most grateful for? Why?
• Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. How concerned are you with the end of time? What would you say to someone who claimed to know when the “end of the age” would be?
• Read Matthew 25:1-13. What part has fear played in your journey of faith? What does fear have to do with receiving God’s love?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
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