"CHOOSE THIS DAY"
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
A Sermon by the Revs. Odette and Jim Lockwood-Stewart
 

This is an interesting time to be alive.  I know, it seems like everybody always says that ... but this is one of the times it‚s really true.  It‚s exciting.  It‚s even thrilling ... It‚s also pretty scary.

The 2008 election ...  We have seen images of celebrations around the world ... we‚ve seen young people and first-time voters in record numbers heralding a new day in American politics ... we‚ve seen pictures of and words from descendents, and even children, of slaves in utter amazement and inexpressible joy at having lived to see the day that a person of color was elected President of the United States.  We‚ve seen grace and delight in first-family elect Barack and Michelle and Malia and Sasha Obama ... different pictures than we‚ve ever seen before.  

Even John McCain acknowledged in defeat the historic power of this election.  Even President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice took note of the significance of this moment in and for America and even the world.  Tears rolling down the cheeks of Jesse Jackson as he stood in the crowds at Grant Park in Chicago on election night bore witness to the improbable wonder of this election particularly for those whose lives have been spent in the struggles for justice and equality for all peoples.

There, President-elect Obama spoke not with triumphant exultation but with a sense of gravitas ... the personal grief of his grandmother‚s death just a day before ... reflection on the challenges that lie ahead ... and yet gratitude, and satisfaction, and a deep sense of the historic nature of the moment.

But for all of its wonder ... this election was a profoundly political accomplishment as well ... words that keep recurring about Barack Obama‚s campaign right along with "change" and "hope" are "discipline" and "organization" and "fund-raising."  Expansive vision and skillful pragmatism are a powerful combination ... and they seem to have come together in nearly unprecedented ways in this campaign.

This election day was not without its deep pain as well.  In California ... as well as in Arizona and Florida ... voters chose to further institutionalize discrimination in prohibitions against same-gender marriages ... and bans on unmarried couples‚ adopting children in some states were clearly targeting gay adoptions.  In these matters, it seems "Change we can believe in" lost out to "change we won't accept." Hope that breathed life into a presidential election fell prey to fear fueled by a virulent strain of fundamental and homophobic Christianity.  We have so much more work to do!

Election day was a day of personal choices, historic decisions, ascendant hopes, and persistent pains.  It was yet another day when hopes and fears collided, and the results were mixed. This truly is an exciting time to be alive.  It is both thrilling and scary.

This morning's scripture reading from the Book of Joshua told about another time of choice ... another time of fear ... and hope ... and challenge.  In the Hebrew Scriptures ... the first five books make up the Torah ... Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  Those are the law ... the primary source of the story of God‚s Covenant with God‚s people.  The great stories of creation, promise, and deliverance are in the Torah.  Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Esau, Moses and Pharaoh.  Torah tells of the mighty acts of God. The Torah holds a central place in Jewish self-understanding, faith, and practice.

Joshua is the first book after the Torah.  Joshua is about "So what happens next?" In his commentary on the Book of Joshua, Professor Max Apple writes, "(Joshua is) the book that chronicles the history of the Hebrews after the promise of Abraham is made real.  For not even God rescues the Hebrews from history.  And in Joshua, they begin their struggles as a united nation, a nation in the realm of history rather than mythology." (Congregation, p. 65)  

"A nation in the realm of history rather than mythology."  It's a great description of the times into which we now must move.  The Obama political campaign had words and phrases and images that were almost mythological ..."Change You Can Believe In" ... "Yes We Can." These are words of inspiration ... and power ... and above all, hope.

And now comes history ... now comes reality ... now comes a still-plunging stock market, still shrinking job markets, still waging wars, and the ever-present second-guessing that began with the new president-elect's first announced decision, the selection of Congressman Rahm Emmanuel as his White House Chief of Staff.

In the story of Joshua ... as the Hebrew people in exile faced the challenges of their future, Joshua put it to them ... "Choose ... this day ... whom you will serve."  He said, "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

Much as been made in this election of the parallels with the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.  It was in his first Inaugural Address, delivered March 4, 1933 ... that FDR delivered the famous words, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."  Two sentences after he spoke those words, FDR offered this description of what he called the "difficulties" the nation faced.  "Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone." (it seems pretty clear why people with an historical sense are seeing parallels!)

I mean, it seems there's always enough reason to fear ... if fear is where you choose to live.  But there's also always enough reason to hope, if hope is what you insist upon.

We choose this day, every day whom we will serve ... whether we will be tyrannized by our fears ... defined by our lesser loyalties, our provincial views, our smaller selves ... or whether we will dare to claim and work for the best and brightest future not just for our selves, but for all of God's children, all of creation.

Odette asked Diane Rush-Woods and Judy Kriege to sing a song which they sang last week at the retirement celebration for Jerry West after his more than 30 years of service to the city of Oakland.  The song was written by Bob Dylan more than 40 years ago.  It speaks of imprisonment that may have been literal ... or it may have been of the spirit.  It begins,
"They say everythin‚ can be replaced,
Yet every distance is not near,
So I remember every face,
Of every one who put me here."

The song‚s repeated refrain is a declaration of hope and a persistent resolve to live into a bright future,
"I see my light come shinin‚
 From the west unto the east.  
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released."

(Diane and Judy sing)

The United Methodist Book of Worship includes a prayer for leaders written by and for the church in the Philippines.  It is not only for those chosen to lead, but for those who choose them ... and who call them to account.  I end with this prayer,

O God, as you anointed leaders and called prophets of old, lead us to recognize our true representatives and authentic leaders: men and women who love your people and can walk with them, who feel their pain and share their joys, who dream their dreams and strive to accompany them to their common goal.  In your fire, with your Spirit, embolden and commission us to transform our political system, to serve your people, and to bring real glory to your name.  Amen.