It was a joy to be with the saints of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Valley, Nebraska on Sunday August 25, 2024. Thank you Pastor Barbara Oshlo for the invitation and to the whole congregation for the warm welcome. I was invited to bring greetings from the Bishop and the whole synod, and to share a word of gratitude for the congregation’s ministry and mission share participation. I did that early in worship, and then was also invited to preach on stewardship as well as be present for conversation and Questions and Answers from the congregation following worship. It was a beautiful morning and a great day. The congregation’s livestream of the worship service, can be viewed or listened to here, in case you would like to listen or watch the sermon and worship service: https://www.facebook.com/stmarksvalley/videos/875129740620854 What follows is the majority of the manuscript that I preached from, based especially on the readings for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 21- Year B) Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 and John 6:56-69. A good portion of this sermon is adapted from “Be Bold, Respond, Recommit and Serve” a commentary that I wrote for the Stewardship of Life Institute as published August 20, 2024, which can be found here.

Grace and peace from God in Christ who is with you, for you, and who loves you. Amen.

Somehow August is already nearly over. The days of summer are numbered. School is back in session. And that means something new to me, as a young parent who is kind of tied to that calendar just as I suspect many of you are too. The ministry year in your congregation and your partner congregations of the synod is about to launch. It’s a good time to look back at the summer that was, and to look ahead at the year that is to come. In doing so, perhaps it would be good to offer up some questions. Questions that are on our hearts and minds. Questions that might just hint at some of our deepest yearnings, fears, wonderings, dreams, and hopes.

Questions to Get Us Started
Questions like, what might God be up to? What might God be inviting for the saints of St. Mark’s in the year ahead? What might God be calling us to see, notice, witness, and wonder about? Questions of God, life and faith, like Joshua invites the people of Israel to respond to. Questions like Peter asks in response to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go?” Questions like what might this mean? Questions like but what about our worries, and how might we afford this? Questions like, is there enough?

These are all questions we might be asking today. And some of them at least come from the stories we just heard. Showing us, that questions have always been a part of what it means to be a disciple and follower of Jesus. In our first lesson today we find ourselves near the end of the Book of Joshua. Where we remember that “Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.”[1] It might be like gathering all the faithful together. All disciples, and all vocations, lay leaders of every kind, parish ministry associates, deacons, pastors, bishops. All of these have gathered, as Joshua has gathered them for a sort of commitment time. He has done so to renew the covenant that their ancestors had made with God and with one another. To start anew. Just as we might be doing this season, as we look to a new ministry year, school year, and perhaps as we fall into the more normal rhythms of the calendar and work life as the calendar moves towards fall.

Remembering Joshua and Israel
What Joshua invites the people into might be similar to what we experience today in worship when we profess our faith together using the creeds, when we affirm our baptisms, or even when we go through a liturgy or litany of the installation for new Sunday School teachers, new congregation members, or even new council members. All of these actions are times of commitment to ourselves, each other, and to God.

Joshua leads this litany and invites the people of Israel gathered to remember the story of who God is, who they are, and what God has done and will do for them. Joshua commands, “Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”[2] Joshua recounts where God’s people have been, and even hints at where they have perhaps fallen short. And then he invites them to respond. How will they respond? What will they proclaim? Who will they follow and serve? Whatever their response might be, Joshua makes clear for them to know where he is coming from, saying, “but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”[3]

Joshua leads by example and then invites others to consider their own lives. They do. They answer and recall God’s saving work out of Egypt and the wilderness.[4] They respond and proclaim that God, “protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed…Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”[5]

This feels like liturgy. Just as the people of Israel recommitted that day to God and each other, we too are invited to do the same each week when we gather around this table and this fount. We are in this together. And we are here, first of all, because of God’s deep, abiding, and abundant love. And we are invited to respond. But the question then becomes like Joshua asks of the people, how will we respond? Will we do so with fear, worries, and trembling? Will we do so with doubt or cynicism? Will we do so with indifference or insincerity? Or will we do so with hope and trust? With joy, praise, and gratitude? That seems to be the question put forth this week in the first lesson. To this question Joshua leaves no doubt by saying, “but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”[6] From this response then flows our discipleship and stewardship.

Households and Relationships
You see this picture on the screen here. It’s from today’s story. It also is right there next to our front door in my family’s home. It was a wedding gift fourteen years ago from one of my wife’s uncles- who also happens to be a pastor. He knew Allison and I were both going off to seminary. He knew most of all, that this life we all lead as disciples is a response. It’s joyful. It’s wonderful. It’s hard. It’s challenging, and it’s a commitment not just for ourselves, but for each other. For our neighbors. And one we can never make alone. It’s a commitment and covenant we make with God and each other. Allison’s uncle might have had some sneaking suspicion of what might lie ahead, but if I’m being honest, I would have had no idea at all the joys and challenges this life would bring. The joys of being a young dad to two girls who at least so far love school. The joys of being a deacon who walks alongside God’s people. The joys of being a pastor’s spouse. The challenges of being a pastor’s spouse, who also serves on the synod staff. The challenges of following God’s call, which led us to Nebraska and far away from our family in Western Washington state. But this life together, is one about cherishing relationships but also recognizing that we build family and relationships too. We do this as God’s people.

We do this as we follow the One who calls us- who calls you, and who calls us all as the Body of Christ. To grow in relationship with one another and to lean on each other. Something Joshua does as he brings Israel together again.

Our Response through Peter and Joshua’s Examples
So, as Joshua proclaims that he and his household will serve the Lord, we’re invited to respond. Would we be so bold as to declare this too? And if so, do we know what we might be getting ourselves into? Did the first disciples even know and understand half of what they were getting themselves into? That they would be following this person named Jesus from Nazareth all over the Galilean countryside, to see things that they couldn’t ever have possibly imagined? To see five loaves and two fish feed thousands? To feel the joys and deepest hurts and brokenness of the world? From the mountaintop experience of the Transfiguration to the cross on a hill and the darkness of death, to the hope and promise of the resurrection.

Peter today gives us a good example of this in the gospel story this week. He’s all in, much like Joshua is all in. They are committed. Peter hears Jesus declare, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”[7] Jesus’ very words bring life. These words change lives and save lives because the Good News of God’s love made real is in them. And Peter knows this deep down within himself to be true. So Peter responds to Jesus, and in so doing, offers the words of our own response. “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.”[8]

Plenty of other disciples turned away because they couldn’t get it. They couldn’t comprehend it. They didn’t want to change. They couldn’t believe it. It’s a risk to hear God’s Word for you and to believe it. But part of discipleship and stewardship is being willing to take a risk, to follow, and to respond.

Our Response as Stewards and Disciples Today
How will we respond? How will you respond? Part of our response is to say along with Joshua, that we will serve the Lord. This commitment and proclamation of service is key to our stewardship. It’s one’s response from which the rest of one’s life flows as a disciple and steward. Where we live out the promises made between God and us in baptism. And where we remember whose we are as God’s own, and all that God has done, will do, and promises to do for us. Where we live our lives changed, because we know that grace is a gift that God gives, which we could never earn or deserve. And instead we respond with joy and gratitude, ready to dig in, come alongside our neighbor, and meet them where they are at.

This is what stewardship looks like for me. Where we recall the words of the psalmist who sings in Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”[9] The earth is God’s. And all who are part of the earth, is God’s too. Everything is God’s. You are God’s. I am God’s. And all that we have, and all that we are, is God’s. Everything that makes you the unique person and Child of God that you are, is God’s.

Your time, talent, treasure, assets, and finances of all kinds. Your lives, health, bodies, hearts, souls, and minds. Your passions, strengths, vocations, gifts, relationships, ideas, dreams, stories, and even your questions. All that is yours, is really God’s. And all of creation that surrounds us, and which God entrusts into our care in the beginning of Genesis, is God’s too. All of this and more, is God’s. And God chooses to entrust some of it into our care. God does this because God wants life to go well for God’s people. Because God wants to be in relationship with us. And because God hopes that we might live lives of deep meaning and purpose, in part through caring for our neighbors with all that God entrusts.

God does this and so much more, for you. God will go to and through the point of death on a cross to bring life for you. God will go looking for you and bring you home. God does as only God can do, bringing life, hope, and salvation. All of this is pure gift and grace we could never earn or deserve. And that is Good News. Good News which we are entrusted with. News which then leads us to respond as stewards and disciples. News which we are sent out with to serve and share with hope, joy, and love.

What might God be inviting?
We began with questions, so let’s return to those questions. What might God be inviting? God is up to something here among you, St. Mark’s. God is up to something outside these walls in Valley. God is doing a new thing and is calling you to keep going. To dive in with the start of confirmation. To continue to cultivate and engage community for online and in-person worship. To gather together with good A/C on a day like today. To support COPE and the Little Pantry meeting your neighbor’s needs. To partner with the Red Cross and do the good work of donating blood. To keep showing up in your community. To keep meeting your neighbors where they are at as signs of Jesus’ love. To keep living faithfully your vocations as God’s work is done in part through you. And as this happens, the work of the Kingdom of God continues. The kingdom breaks in, bit by bit, today even.

Behind some of the questions that might be on our hearts and minds, might be worries or fears. Things of the unknown. Things that might be out of our control. But here’s the truth. With God, you are enough because God is always more than enough. For it is God who entrusts each of us with what we need to meet the needs of this day, and the needs of our neighbors near and far. So keep asking the questions. Share your heart’s deep wonderings with each other. Wonder about what God might be up to and what God might be calling you to be a part of.

As you do so, commit again like Peter and Joshua. Let us be so bold as to echo Peter and to join in as disciples and stewards renewed this day. Let us be so bold as to respond and serve as Joshua. Let us be so bold as to risk and to follow wherever Jesus may be leading. To come and see that the Lord is good. To pay attention, witness, and wonder what new things God might be inviting now, and inviting us to see, join in, commit to and respond to in the days and year ahead.

Ask question. Be bold. Respond. And Serve. Knowing and believing deeply that this is possible because we are not alone. Because God in Christ is with you, is for you, and loves you. Always. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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Citations and References:
[1] Joshua 24:1, NRSV.
[2] Joshua 24:14, NRSV.
[3] Joshua 24:15, NRSV.
[4] Joshua 24:17.
[5] From Joshua 24:17-18, NRSV.
[6] Joshua 24:15, NRSV.
[7] John 6:53, NRSV.
[8] John 6:68, NRSV.
[9] Psalm 24:1, NRSV.