Rev. George Miller
Oct 18, 2026
Joshua 24:1-18
Step by step, God has shown the families
of Israel the way.
Wildly improbable goal by wildly improbable
goal, God has shown them what is
possible when they work together and focus on the Lord.
The heart of God, full of Creation’s love
and parental protection, has been with them step by step, obstacle by obstacle.
God has said to the people “You’ve seen
what I’ve done for you, what it’s like for me to carry you upon my wings. I want nothing more than to show you the way
and to love-on you, forever.”
God says all this with no threats, no
coercion.
We witnessed this last week when the
people were at Sinai. Now it is about
40-60 years later; most of the people who left Egypt and received the 10
Commandments are long gone. The group
Joshua is talking to now is the next generation.
They may not have been there to see the
Red Sea Part. They may have only
heard about God feeding them with Bread From Heaven.
But they’ve heard the stories. They’ve seen their parents live the legacy;
they’ve heard the conversations of their aunts and uncles, and they sat around
the same campfire as their cousins.
The people who make up today’s reading are
the legacy of the many steps and wildly improbable goals that their parents
participated in, from slavery to freedom, wilderness to green pastures.
This is why Joshua, the successor of
Moses, stands before the congregation: to remind them of who they are and all
God has done.
Joshua reminds the families of Isreal how
God was with them before their immigration from the Euphrates.
God was there with their families at the
Red Sea. God was with them when other
nations threatened their welfare.
Joshua reminds the group that God is right
here, right now; with them in their land of opportunities, their vineyards,
their farms, and their commerce.
Now, just like Moses decades before,
Joshua gives the people yet another chance to walk with God, to choose if they
will follow the ways of life or the ways of chaos.
Joshua makes it clear what he and his
family will decide. He says “No matter
what others choose, my household will always strive to serve God.”
The people gathered, no longer in a
dessert, but in a lush land filled with plenty, take it upon themselves, and
collectively say: “We know who God is; we know what God has done. We will serve the Lord.”
Together, the families and Joshua make a
covenant with God.
But what is a covenant? We know what a promise is. We know what a deal is. We know what it means to sign a contract. But covenant?
What is that? Carolyn Pressler in her commentary on
“Joshua, Judges, and Ruth” (2002; pages 116-117) shares her understanding.
She grew up in a small Midwestern church
that marked each new year with a Covenant service grounded in “deep and ancient
roots.”
She said, “In language both grand and
familiar, we recited the sweeping story of God’s mighty acts of deliverance and
pledged unconditional loyalty in grateful response.”
Carolyn remembers the seriousness and
seeming impossibility of the covenantal oath that “ promised complete,
unreserved obedience.”
Complete, unreserved obedience. Sounds intense; totally improbable.
As Carolyn explains, “Covenant” was at the
center of the way Isreal understood their relationship with God. Their identity was rooted in this
Covenant.
Ther understanding of who they are, what
they believe, how they are to live each day, from first waking breath to the
first sound of snoring, is connected to and built upon this simple sounding
idea-
that they will worship God and God only,
exclusively.
So what makes this a Covenant and not a
contract or a promise?
It’s that the families of Israel make this
decision “free and deliberate” (p. 120).
Joshua gives the people a choice with no threats, no demands, no shotguns.
The choice is simple- you can worship the
gods of the world that others give their energy to, or you can worship the
Lord.
The choice is simple- with no forcing of
hand, you can choose to worship the popular gods that the cool kids are
following, or you can choose to worship the God of your grandparents and
their grandparents.
It could have been an easy choice- “Let’s
be like all the others.” But instead the
people think of God’s grace, God’s presence in their lives, and they choose
God.
They establish a commitment with God not
because they must, but because they may, not because it’s what everyone
else is doing, but because for them it makes them the most real, the most
complete.
Covenant is entering into an agreement not
because you must, but because it is what you feel called to do. In many ways it makes it so much more special
than a promise or a contract.
A Covenant is more a binding of the hearts
and a reimagining of the future.
During Communion, as we break the Bread
and drink the wine, I find myself lost in Jesus’ words in First Corinthians
11:25- “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
I think of what “new covenant” means. Does it mean the old ways no longer matter;
does it mean that God got it wrong the first time?
No…this idea of a new covenant in Christ’s
blood can be a way of expressing embodiment, that the new covenant we receive
through Christ is one in which we don’t just believe, but we “be.”
Just as St. Lucas has been the “hands and
feet of Christ” since 1880, this idea of new covenant is made know by who we
are both in public and private, who we are in the pews and the grocery aisles,
who we are in the Fellowship Hall and in the restaurants.
Jesus came to us to remind us of the
Covenant and to show us how to embody the Covenant.
Not just in how we worship or how we pray,
but how we respond to someone in pain, and to someone in need. How do we respond when there is no peace? What do we do when we see no justice?
Jesus showed us how to put God first and
exist in such a way that God is always present and acting.
Thousands of years ago, the people of
Isreal found themselves free of Egypt’s bondage and wilderness sands. They found themselves in a place of milk and
honey, green pastures and calm waters.
When given the chance to choose the ways
of the world or a true relationship with God, they chose God.
Every day we also get to make that choice,
becoming part of the Covenant not because we must but because we may; not
because we were coerced but because we are free.
Step by step, wildly improbable goal by
wildly improbable goal, God is ready every day to love upon us, Jesus is ready
to show us the way, and the Holly Spirit is there to lift us up on eagles’
wings.
With no threats, no coercion.
Simply accepting the heart of God, full of
Creation’s love and parental protection.
God, through Christ, is ready to be in
relationship and love upon us forever. Amen and amen.
