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Sermon: The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (A) - 30th October 2011
St Alban's Anglican Church Epping 7, 8 and 10 am
Readings: Joshua 3:7-17 Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37 1 Thessalonians 3:5-13 Matthew 23:1-12
The reading from Joshua is reminiscent of the miracle of the crossing the Red Sea. It is Joshua leads the people across the Jordan River. The more important theme in this and the other readings involves the nature and practice of spiritual leadership. Joshua has received Moses’ mantle of leadership, and now he must actively guide his people to the “promised land”. He must earn the authority that he’s received from others; living, dead and divine.
Leadership is a spiritual task, grounded in the ability of leaders to be inspirational, visionary and effective. In this passage, Joshua passes on all counts. Nations and congregations need persons who can also be “movement” leaders rather than merely institutional custodians. God’s own movements in our lives call us to move ahead toward uncharted horizons in our personal and community lives.
Joshua’s power is not accidental; it emerges from the interplay of God’s commission and Joshua’s faithful and imaginative leadership. When others see the task ahead as impossible, Joshua sees the people as sufficient for any challenge that lies ahead. Joshua knows that the people never travel alone, but are accompanied by the God of adventure and possibility. The people must work hard and face obstacles, but they must also trust their abilities and God’s presence in crossing into a new land.
Joshua recognizes that he cannot guide the people’s journey unless they catch the vision as well. Accordingly, he invites them to see what he sees, and in the process, God’s vision inspires the whole community to accomplish more than it could have previously imagined.
After a long period in the desert, the people finally cross the Jordan River. Led the by Ark of the Covenant, the people safely cross the river. The Ark represents God’s call forward to new lands and new adventures. The presence of the Ark reminds the people that God who delivered them from captivity would lead them to prosperity.
What are the objects and ideas that lead you on? As you look at your life, what object symbolizes God’s presence and nurtures your sense divine possibility? Are there any art works that inspire you to embark on the adventures God is imagining for you? The God who is present in all things inspires our use of finite things that represent the infinite for us. The art works in this church for example are not worshipful of themselves but lead us into something greater, a closer relationship to God and God’s plan for our lives. Such objects point to the God who is beyond all names and shapes, in whom we live, move, and have our being.
Joshua’s leadership is inspired by his commitment to practicing the presence of God in his role as leader. Attentive to God’s visionary stirrings in his life, Joshua is a person who inspires trust among the people. His leadership is inspired by God’s nearness, reflected in his invitation to the people to “draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God”. Tuning our hearts to God’s presence through prayer, contemplation and worship enables us to experience God’s possibilities amid our visions. God does not speak just one word to us; God speaks many words, appropriate to our constantly changing time and place.
The reading from Thessalonians asserts that leadership is a matter of character. Paul and his companions describe their conduct as “pure, upright and blameless”. More than that, their leadership is positive. Rather than berating the congregation, Paul and his companions are encouraging and calling them to live a life “worthy of God”.
What does it mean to be “worthy of God, who calls us into God’s kingdom and glory”? This is not salvation by the way we conduct of life. Rather, it is our response to God’s graceful call to wholeness and justice. God is ceaselessly working in our lives, calling us to be God’s companions in healing the world. Our response to God’s call shows our “worthiness”: the gift of our lives and our ethical commitments to God and our fellow creatures. We do not have to earn God’s love, but we are called to become like the God we follow. If how we live our lives makes a difference to God, what kind of world do you want to give God? Do you want to give God a world of beauty or a world of ugliness?
The key to character or spiritual formation is found in rejoicing, being gentle toward all, praying constantly about all things, and to be thankful in all things. Rather than living by fear or anxiety, we are to embrace God’s spacious present and open future by focusing on “whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable”. We are transformed when we “think on these things,” grounding our lives in all that God is doing and will do in our lives.
The issue of spiritual character is centre stage in the Gospel reading. Jesus challenges the character of certain religious leaders of his time: “do whatever they [these religious leaders] teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.”
Leadership is a matter of integrity in which our inner life and external behaviour are congruent. Healthy theology involves the interplay of vision and practice, of right belief and right action. Character matters, whether in political, administrative, or spiritual leadership. Words and actions must be congruent.
Jesus calls his followers to humble leadership. Christian leadership involves sacrifice and service. Spiritual leadership seeks the well being of others, first and foremost, as a reflection of the leader’s solidarity with his or her community. Such leadership recognizes that divine grace and inspiration are everywhere within the world and in the congregation. The leader leads by recognizing and awakening a sense of divine intimacy and possibility in others. Leadership is not about titles; father, mother, teacher, instructor, bishop, rector or prime minister.
Ultimately, leadership is grounded in God’s ever-present grace. Psalm 107 ties all three passages together: “O give thanks to the Lord; for God is good; for God’s steadfast love endures forever”. As leaders, we share the grace we have received, sharing it in our own unique ways and in our own little corner of the world. Trusting God’s bountiful care for us we discover the whole world opens up for us. We can expect great things from ourselves and great things from God, who calls us to cross our own Jordan Rivers and traverse our own promised lands, lands that no one has ever traversed before. There maybe maps made by others but your journey is unique to you and mine to me.
This sermon based upon material written by B Epperly http://processandfaith.org/