“Stones of Gilgal” February 21, 2021 ; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp; Joshua 4: 8-24; Mark 1
During Lent, we are preaching stories from the wilderness. Each family in the church has been given a dish to create the wilderness, pebbles for each day of Lent, a special piece for each Sunday that coincides with the sermon, and a postcard with a photo from the weekly theme and a prompt based on the theme. this is an effort to connect our Lenten journey with worship, the kids' Sunday school classes, and a family activity for each day.
This first sermon started at the end of the journey through the wilderness with the stones at Gilgal. The idea was to start at the end and note that the stones are the building blocks for Lent that will allow us to cross into the Promised Land. That is, the stories of our faith we tell, the prompts for each week of Lent, are designed to lead us to a new place. Not sure how well that translated in the sermon!
Joshua 4: 8The Israelites did as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones out of the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord told Joshua, carried them over with them to the place where they camped, and laid them down there. 9 (Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.)
10 The priests who bore the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan, until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed over in haste. 11 As soon as all the people had finished crossing over, the ark of the Lord, and the priests, crossed over in front of the people. 12 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the Israelites, as Moses had ordered them. 13 About forty thousand armed for war crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for battle.
14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him, as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.
15 The Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant,[a] to come up out of the Jordan.” 17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” 18 When the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet touched dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.
19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 Those twelve stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal, 21 saying to the Israelites, “When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea,[b] which he dried up for us until we crossed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”
Introduction: We begin Lent with materials provided by the Christian Education committee to help us “Journey through the Wilderness.”
I hope you have already put together your wilderness and are putting stones down each day as part of your Lenten pilgrimage.
Each Sunday, the preaching series brings us “Postcards from the Wilderness,” a focus on a particular part of the Israelite’s wilderness story.
You will also find a postcard in your Lenten bag with the prompt for each week, a prompt tied to the sermon story.
Lots of instructions!
Move 1: This first Sunday in Lent, we begin at the end of the journey through the wilderness.
a. Sort of like reading the last chapter of a book so you know where the story ends, then going back to the beginning and seeing how the story leads to the ending.
1. The journey through the wilderness for the Israelites ends when they cross Jordan River and enter the Promised Land.
2. A formative story for the Israelite people.
3. Not quite the Passover story, but a powerful story of God’s redemption.
c. Do you remember this story?
1. Go back and read Chapter 3 of Joshua and the first part of Chapter 4.
2. Story goes like this.
3. when the Israelites arrive at the Jordan River they cannot cross it.
4. the waters are at flood stage.
4. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness and now they arrive at the brink of the Promised Land, and the Jordan River is so full of racing water that they cannot cross it.
5. the challenges, fears, and hardships of the wilderness seemingly gathered together in the swirling waters of the Jordan.
c. But God will provide a way.
1. The priests shall carry the ark of the covenant ahead of the people.
2. When the feet of the priests hit the edge of the river, the river runs dry. Literally.
3. the priests then stand in the middle of dry river while the Israelites pass by on the dry ground.
4. to memorialize the moment, Joshua sends twelve men, one from each tribe, to go back into the dry river bed and each bring back a stone from the middle of the river where the priests have been standing.
8. they bring stones to Gilgal, where they are camped for the night, and build a cairn, a stack of these stones as a visual reminder of how God had redeemed them and brought them into the Promised Land.
Move 2: A couple of things to notice from the story.
a. Ark of the covenant carried the presence of the Lord.
1. It was the visible sign of the invisible God.
2. the story of the priests standing in the middle of the Jordan causing it to run dry is not about the priests, but about the God whose presence is with the Israelites in the ark of the covenant.
3. God dries up the river;
God leads the Israelites into the Promised Land;
God redeems God’s people.
b. Twelve men from twelve tribes.
1. Act of the community.
2. God does not save only the best and the brightest among the Israelites;
God does not save only the rich and the powerful
God saves all of God’s people.
c. 4:22 - tell the story.
Move 3: About those stones.
a. The stacked stones at Gilgal become a concrete reminder of God’s faithfulness to Israel.
1. I bet even back then some wise educator in the group would the people list twelve stories of God’s faithfulness.
2. the stones pointing to stories of God’s faithfulness.
3. So too, each day during Lent you are invited to place a stone in the wilderness.
4. Each stone a step toward the Promised Land.
5. Each stone a reminder of how God has been faithful to you.
b. Collectively, those twelves stones from the river bed that are stacked at Gilgal represent all of God’s people.
1. So too, we share stories of God’s salvation that speak to all of God’s people.
2. As they told their stories, the Israelites surely told the story of:
Creation
Abraham and Isaac;
Miriam dancing as they made it across the Red Sea
3. Stories we can tell as well.
4. stories that speak to us collectively.
5. WE, of course, would add the story of Christ dying on the cross and Christ’s resurrection.
6. We have many stories to tell about how God redeems God’s people collectively.
c. But, each of those twelve stones is different, reminding us that we each have our own unique stories of our faith.
1. the prompt on the postcard this week asks, “when you are scared of what’s about to happen, what helps you?”
2. In other words, how has God found you in the scary times of life and saved you?
3. Add your particular stories to the pile of stones.
4. when have you discovered God’s life-changing presence in your midst.
5. A personal example from my own faith journey - when I was about six, the neighborhood kids were playing a game of war. We were soldiers. What does every soldier have? A canteen to carry water and drink from when thirsty.
Several of the neighbors had actual canteens. I did not. But, there was an almost empty Drano bottle in the trash. That seemed like a good choice for a canteen.
until I drank from it. then, came the burning sensation in my throat, the spitting up, the rush to the emergency room.
the treatment was to drink fluids to try and dilute the Drano in the system. I left with my voice intact and the reminder from the doctor that I should consider it a miracle that I had not burned something up in my voice box and that I could still speak.
A story that shaped my life because it made me understand my ability to speak was a gift God saved for me, so I better use my voice as part of my discipleship.
6. One of my personal stones.
d. This Lenten journey, tell your stories.
1. Claim for yourselves and share with others your memories of God has acted decisively in ways that impact us all and in particular ways unique to you.
2. Remember, the stories of what God has done are stores that lead to new places.
3. The stones of Gilgal point to the story of crossing the Jordan River in the Promised Land is a story about how God transforms people and invites them to new places and opportunities.
4. the stories we tell are not just about the past, but how the God we met in past is guiding in the present and calling us into the future.
5. What does life look like after the pandemic? how do we recover from the winter storm 2021?
6. We do not have all the answers in this moment, but we know the God who has been with us in the past is now leading us to the new places that wait for us.
Conclusion: Each day of Lent brings another stone on the path through the wilderness.
Place the stone; tell the story; look for where God is leading you.
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