Is It River
Crossing Time?
Joshua and the people had been walking for a long time. And I mean long! Try 40 years long. All their lives long. You see, the people who were traveling with Joshua were the children and grandchildren of the Israelites who had left Egypt with Moses. You remember the story.
The Israelites
were led out of slavery in Egypt by the hand of God through the person of
Moses. Ten plagues were sent: frogs,
hail, locusts, but still Pharaoh would not relent. Each time, the Lord would warn Pharaoh, “Let me people go!” But still Pharaoh would not relent. Finally, the Lord sent the angel of death to
take the first born of all the Egyptians, and Pharaoh relented…for a while.
Once the
Israelites left Egypt, Pharaoh had a change of heart. He sent his soldiers and chariots out into the desert to corral
the Israelites back into slavery. But
the Lord parted the waters of the Red Sea and the Israelites passed through the
waters, passed through the waters and out of slavery, passed through the waters
but into what?
Well, that’s where
the walking comes in. The Israelites
passed through the waters and into the desert.
The HOT. SANDY. DESERT. Now, that’s not to say the Lord left them
alone. No, the Lord remained good to the
Israelites. He fed them with manna and
quail. He quenched their thirst with
water from the rock. And the Israelites
were grateful to God and praised His Name….right? Wrong! Rather, the
Israelites grumbled out there in the desert.
Complained. Said things like,
“It would have been better to have died in Egypt. Better a slave than this!”
So the Lord let them continue to walk.
The Lord knew that the Israelites were not yet prepared for the Promised
Land.
Which brings us to
today’s lesson. The Israelites who left
with Moses were gone. The generation of
slaves had died. A new generation, a
generation that was not formed according to the ways of slavery, a generation
programmed and prepared for freedom, had come of age. And it was river crossing time.
Like their parents and grandparents before them, God was going to lead
this new generation of Israelites through the waters, out of the slavery of
their past into a new hope and a new tomorrow in which freedom would reign and
the Lord would be their God.
*****
The idea of “River Crossing Time” is a metaphor for the new: new ways of living in this world; new roads to follow as disciples of Jesus; new directions for thought or practice; new challenges, new opportunities, new arenas in which to serve. For the Israelites, crossing the river Jordan was to enter into a life that was all new. No longer would they wander aimlessly through the desert. No longer would they have to wait, wondering when the time would come to enter into God’s Promised Land. For the Israelites, now was the time of promise fulfilled: it was river crossing time.
Every
generation has a moment when it is river crossing time. The early Church had to decide: would they
allow Gentiles to know the grace of Jesus, or was the Faith just for Jews? Francis of Assisi had to decide: would he
allow the Crusaders to continue their war on Islam without protest, or would he
cross the front lines of the war and seek to bring peace between peoples by meeting
the Sultan face to face? Joan of Arc
had to decide: would she keep her place and her mouth shut, or would she heed
the call of the visions sent to her from above? Martin Luther had to decide:
would he continue in the religion of his youth even though his faith had lost
its fire, or would he launch into the unknown territory of reform by claiming
the truth of God’s Word? Dietrich
Bonhoeffer had to decide: would he stand by silent and allow the German Church
to walk lock step with the Nazis, or would he stand against his own Christian
brothers and sisters and speak out for his Jewish ones. For each of these folks, it was river
crossing time.
Not
only does every generation, but every organization has its own river crossing
time. My first pastorate was in San
Antonio where the church had dwindled from a membership of 500 in the mid
1960’s to 115 by the late 1970’s. The
Presbytery told the pastor, Duncan Stewart, that his job was to close down the
church gracefully, to help the people let go.
Obviously, the Presbytery didn’t know Duncan too well. A retired, full bird colonel in the Army, Duncan didn’t know the
word “quit.” He told the Presbytery
that his job, as he saw it, was to turn the church around, which is precisely
what he did by getting the people to turn outward rather than inward, to
believe in God more than themselves.
For that church, that moment was a river crossing time. By the time I arrived in the late 1980’s the
church was once again a thriving, mission oriented church family.
*****
I
discuss the notion of river crossing time because it may be, for us, just such
a time. Before I arrived in Pueblo as
your pastor, the church embarked on a building program. You all approved a three phase program by a
52% to 48% vote of the congregation.
Not surprisingly then, although you approved all three phases, you only
funded the first two phases. So we are
now left with a mandate but no funds!
What should we do?
The
Session appointed a Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) to look into “phase
three” issues. We have discussed ideas,
researched possibilities from engineering, legal and cost perspectives,
discarded certain ideas and generated still others. Now we are in a place where we need to have you, the
congregation, focus our discussions together by giving us feedback and input
about where we should go. What are we, together, as a community, to
do? The emphasis is on we. This is not my program; this building plan was started before I
arrived so I don’t have a dog in this fight.
The only dog I have in this fight is to ensure that whatever we do it is something that WE will do together. I can promise you that there will not be a
congregational meeting where there is a 52-48 vote! I will do everything in my power to submarine any such meetings. No, either we go forward together or we don’t go forward.
The various ideas
that the Long Range Planning Committee has discussed and researched require
feedback focus on the elevator, a possible alternative to the elevator, a fire
response system and on-going maintenance.
Throughout the month of February we will be asking you to fill our a
survey regarding these issues. In order to help you better understand the
survey questions, here is an overview of our six hours worth of discussion.
Essentially, this is our mid-term report:
Ø
One option is the long
discussed elevator construction by the east entrance, which would cost between
$750,000-$800,000. This is a “ballpark
estimate” provided by an architect. As part of this new construction, bathrooms
would be required by code for each floor to which the elevator goes: the first,
second and third floors but not the basement.
Ø
An alternative option is
to add 46’ x 36’ of space plus two bathrooms required by code to the east side
of the building but without an elevator.
This new space could allow the choir and handbells to be moved to the
first floor and for additional first floor meeting space for study groups. The
“ballpark estimate” provided by an architect for this option is between
$400,000-$450,000. An auxiliary aspect of this proposal would be to convert
certain third floor space into closets and purchase roll-away beds for IHN to
use so that the beds would not need to be carried up and down the stairs; this
cost would be relatively nominal.
Ø
An open question among
committee members is what kind of system is in order in the event of a fire? A
fire alarm system would alert building occupants of an emergency; a fire
sprinkler system would douse a fire. No cost estimates have been
gathered on either option but the committee assumes a sprinkler system will be
much more expensive.
Ø
There are certain
required building repairs that are not
optional and must be included in either a capital campaign or as part
of our operating budget over the next few years in order to protect the long
term viability of our building: 1) foundation stabilization on the east side of
the building, 2) exterior stone protection and repair, 3) new gutters, 4) new
windows to increase energy efficiency, 5) new paint and carpeting, and 6) a
long overdue organ overhaul.
*****
When
I think about all the money we might have to spend to build an elevator or even
just to do the non-optional maintenance, I get anxious. I’m not sure we can do this alone. But thanks be, we are not alone. Rather, we are like the Israelites who faced
the Jordan river at flood stage. No
doubt, as the Israelites looked at that river, they thought to themselves that
there is no way we can cross this river without help. Well, help was given then because it was river crossing
time..
And, if it’s river crossing time for us, help will be given now.
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