A sermon preached by the Reverend Scott Dennis Nowack

on June 26, 2011 at Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, PA.

"Oh, The Places You'll Go!"

Joshua 1: 1-9

Mark 1:16-20

Will you pray with me?  Our Lord and our God, pour out your Spirit on each of us today.  Grant us the ears to hear your word, the minds to understand it, and the hearts to put your word into practice.  Grant me the gift of preaching that the words spoken and shared here today would become a reality for each of us.  We pray this with confidence in the strong name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

            Moving is never easy.  It can be exciting and aggravating, too.  And yet moving is a fact of life, it’s an integral part of living.  We are always moving and changing.  Change comes to us all. 

            This idea of moving can be seen throughout the Bible and in particular our two readings for this morning.  In Joshua, there is a change in leadership from Moses to his successor Joshua, the one who will lead God’s people into the land of Canaan, the land God has promised to them.  Not only does this text signify a change in leadership, but also a new beginning for the Israelites.  They'll shift from wanderers to settlers.  They are a whole generation once removed from the one who crossed the Red Sea.  This current generation finds themselves making another move across the water, the waters of the Jordan River. 

            My main idea for us today is a familiar one to many of us that the life of faith is very much a journey, a moving from place to place; one that leads us to whom Christ calls us to be.  Most often, if we are honest with ourselves, to move, to change, to do something new is overwhelming and exciting at the same time.  And we are given the promise from God, as was given to Joshua, that God is with us wherever we go, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

            In his book, "Oh, The Places You'll Go!", although a children's book, Dr. Seuss is really writing for graduates; "out-starting upstarts of all ages". "Congratulations!," he writes, "Today is your day. You're off to Great Places!  You're off and away! You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself any direction you choose.  You're on your own. And you know what you know.  And YOU are the guy (or gal) who'll decide where to go."  Oh, the places you and I will go!

            What is it that makes the calling of the disciples by Jesus so captivating?  It's not what is said but more importantly what is NOT said.  What did these four men know about Jesus?  Had they heard and known of Jesus before?  How do successful fishermen give up their livelihoods in an instant and spontaneously choose to follow this stranger Jesus?  This blows my mind.  How did they do this?  The text delivers to us a compelling call to leave everything from the past and present and to follow; to move from living for ourselves and instead to following Christ.  For according to best-selling author Philip Yancey, "Faith means trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse."

            "Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.  And when things start to happen don't worry.  Don't stew.  Just go right along.  You'll start happening, too."

            "Except when you don't.  Because, sometimes, you won't.  I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you."

            "You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.  Some windows are lighted.  But mostly they're darked.  A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!  Do you dare to stay out?  Do you dare to go in?"  Oh, the places you and I will go! 

            Unless I’ve missed my guess, is there someone here today who is experiencing the Bang-ups and Hang-ups that come upon us as we travel on our journey of faith.  What will I do after high school, or college or graduate school?  What will I do to ease the pain of losing my spouse after all these years?  What will I do for a job so I can pay the bills?  Is there someone here today who has come to a place where the streets are not marked and you feel lost, lonely and confused. 

            "You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place."

            "The waiting place...for people just waiting.  Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow." 

            The journey of faith is not easy and care-free.  We can find ourselves trapped in a state of dullness and boredom and lifelessness wanting to re-discover what God in Christ is doing.  And we are often called to wait.  God makes us wait for that new beginning we are looking for in life, that new calling that God has on our lives.  We all too often interpret this waiting period as God is not at work and on vacation somewhere.

            I believe the last seven words of the church will be, "We've never done it that way before." 

            Change in any form is difficult, challenging, but it is a fact of life, especially the church.  The thought of these moves and all the changes they bring are both exhilarating and frightening.  We can feel so alone and isolated when change comes to our life. 

            "I'm afraid that sometimes you'll play lonely games too.  Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you...And when you're alone, there's a very good chance you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.  There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won't want to go on."  Oh, the places you and I will go!

            The good news for you and I is this: the life of faith is very much a journey we don't travel alone.  For it is God who frees us from indecision, who releases us from our paralysis, calling us to move, to get up from where we are and move into the new possibilities he has planned for us. 

            Joshua and the Israelites were called by God to get up and move, to throw off their identity as a wandering people and embrace their true identity as God’s people in the land he promised to them.  Simon-Peter, Andrew, James and John accepted God’s call to leave their fishing careers to follow Jesus and be his disciples. 

            God dares us to faithfully move and embrace the joy and newness of life found in Christ Jesus.  God calls us to move, to take a chance on the new thing he is doing in our lives and become one of his disciples.

            As we move and grow and mature along our journey of faith we will be able to carve from the momentous challenges that rise before us a stone of hope.  A stone of hope that can not be moved; a stone which holds you up when you're down; a stone that loves you even when you don’t deserve it; a stone that stands its ground when the mighty waves of anxiety and fear crash down upon it; a stone that will never call retreat in the face of adversity.  This stone of hope is the rock God gave us in Jesus Christ. 

            God has called me and my family to get up and move. And I know that I follow his leading in faith, with trust and courage knowing my Lord will be with us and help us through it all.  Be strong and courageous!  It's going to be hard at times.  I have a new language to learn, new cultural idioms to master, and new foods to savor and enjoy.  There are new friends to be made and new relationships to treasure.  

            Moving is filled with uncertainty and its share of challenges.  But God says to us, "Be strong and courageous; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."  God promises us that “the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ Jesus.”  Be strong and courageous!  Let the good work continue as each of us goes forth on our journey of faith to make disciples of Jesus Christ and proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God is here.  Amen.