The Israelites remembered that Moses had spoken for God and they saw Joshua as the one anointed to continue as intercessor and leader. In Canaan the people were supposed to live in a theocracy, governed directly by God. The assumption was that if a people know God and have God's law written in their hearts then that knowledge would surely enable them to sort out the affairs of daily living. But when the dust of battle settled in Canaan there must have been other voices, other possibilities and other gods that had sifted into the mix. Joshua saw that the people were standing at a crossroads. The mission of the Israelites had changed - they were no longer on a quest to claim the promised land- they had been giving a place, now they had to dwell in it. The mission had changed and now the message was getting a little muddled. The initial clarity of vision about God was becoming clouded and a confused variety of allegiances had developed.

There was an implicit understanding in Joshua's presentation that people will serve something. Joshua spoke to make people aware that they were making choices by what they did or did not do. Now that the quest for land was ended and the clear imperatives of battle were over people were beginning to drift. Some people must have remembered the Gods of Egypt and the land beyond the river. Now that they were settled, they could fall back into the ways of the past, if they so chose.

The images of the gods of the Amorites and Canannites were close at hand. God may have led the Israelites from Egypt with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night but pillars of stones and holy groves attesting to the presence of other gods were salted throughout the land of Canaan. And some people must have indeed been distracted by the questions raised by the standing stones of other Gods because Joshua had to call an assembly and draw the Israelites back to basics. "Who will you serve," Joshua asked. The Gods of the past? The temptations of the present? Or the God of the covenant, who called your ancestors, brought you out of slavery, gave you this good land and calls you his people? "Incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel," Joshua said.

Times were changing but God was the bedrock underneath the shifting sands. Moses had not lived to cross the river to a place of settlement. Now Joshua stood in the Promised Land but shoulder to shoulder in a jumble of other gods who whispered to the people drawing them in diverse directions and threatening to scatter their hearts. "Choose," Joshua said - not a direction in which to move but a relationship in which to dwell. The journey changed from actual movement to metaphor. Into what heartland would the Israelites go?

"As for me and my household," Joshua said,"we will choose the Lord". In doing so he modeled a commitment to the spiritual journey, moving forward with God even while standing still. One response to uncertainty is to recommit oneself to the relationship one is already in.

Does everyone choose to continue the journey when confusion creeps in and certainty recedes? No. In the face of difficult teaching, cultural drift or challenging questions people can become so uncomfortable that they leave. This falling away is implied in the Book of Joshua. It is explicit in the Gospel according to John.

Even Jesus faced the falling away of disciples when his teaching was so different from people's understanding and experience that the good news he sought to give them seemed tinged with blasphemy. Jesus said that he was the bread come down from heaven that offered eternal life. Jesus told a people who held that God was transcendent not resident in standing rocks or holy trees that he, Jesus, was a unique and living sign of God's presence and action. Many could not wrap their heads around this teaching which seemed a radical departure from their inheritance of faith from Moses and Joshua and those who came after them. The teaching was hard. So many left.

Then Jesus turned to the twelve and gave them a chance to choose. Peter spoke, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." This, in a nutshell, is how I feel in our days of confusion and the clarion calls of diverse voices that cannot agree.

"As for me and my household we will serve the Lord." The essential question before which all other questions must bow is "Who will you serve."

We are like the tribes of Israel- confusion, distraction and a host of choices creep into our lives. But under these shifting sands is the bedrock demand, "choose who you will serve." Joshua was not asking the people to serve him, nor was he suggesting that the people should serve the elders, the heads, the judges or the officers of Israel. "Will you serve the Lord your God," was the foundational issue - and the people said "yes." From this "yes" came statues and ordinances that put flesh on the bones of that commitment. But it was the breath of that people saying "yes" that put life into those laws.

We are like the disciples who have heard a difficult teaching. Is this teaching out of the mouth of Christ? No, but might it be out of the heart of God? Time will tell. I do not know the answer to the questions raised by General Convention, nor can I see the journey's end. But I know who I serve - the God of Israel, the Father of us all, Christ his son who died for you and for me, and the Spirit of the living god. It is this Spirit who breathes life into me daily even when I stand in confusion and concern. It is this Spirit which calls me to recommitment as I stand in the company of distraction in a landscape full of idols that would divert my allegiance and attention.

Are we able to profess collectively "as for me and my household we will serve the Lord?" Are we willing to recommit ourselves to God? What God will do with our affirmation remains to be seen. The destination is unknown. But where else would we go? It is Christ who has the words of eternal life and Christ to whom I stretch to listen, even when, especially when, the teaching is difficult.

Let us not be distracted whether we are moving forward or standing still. God who called Abraham and sustained a vision to this day will not leave us to perish in a strange land, nor abandon us to the care of rocks and trees. God is still God. Christ is still for us. The Spirit is still with us. Let us choose to be conscious in our choice to be in such company.
AMEN.