Where do we go from here?

Where do we go from here?

Oh, I ask myself that all the time, but on this occasion I'm referring to a wandering people who had just lost their leader.

Deuteronomy includes this as it ends:

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, ² all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, ³ the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. ⁴ Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”
⁵ And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. ⁶ He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. ⁷ Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. ⁸ The Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and mourning was over.

I'm drawn to this passage, as I am to much of Moses' tale, because it is plain to see for all that this notion of doing God's will is a real thing, and the notion that one might not get all one dreamed of if one follows God is just as real.

The chapter goes on to say that "never has their arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt ..."

And yet God would not allow him into the promise land.

What are we, therefore, to make of this tale?

1) We can do everything God calls us to do, to the best of our human-ness if you will, and yet we might not see the end result.
2) We can fail because of that human-ness, but God loves us even so.
3) If Moses can be left out of the end game, where are we and who are we to question.

Kathern Schifferdecker, a professor of the Old Testament, writes,
"This story has spoken to people of faith, Jews and Christians, through the centuries. Jewish congregations traditionally read through the Torah (the Pentateuch) every year, ending with this story and beginning immediately again with Genesis 1. That experience of being always (liturgically) outside the Promised Land is one that has helped form the identity of that community of faith through centuries of being -- quite literally -- outside the Promised Land. For Christians through the centuries, on the other hand, this story has spoken of the now-and-not-yet time between Christ's first and second coming. For both communities, this story has encouraged faith.
"One of the most striking uses of this text, of course, is in the speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated. He addressed the crowd in Memphis:
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people will get to the promised land.³
That great modern-day prophet used the story of Israel's first great prophet to speak of hope and faith to a people who needed both. That story can continue to speak to people today who, even in the midst of disappointment, live by faith in the God of Moses, the God who does indeed fulfill promises.
 
The 9th verse of the final chapter of Moses' tale I think instructs us further. It reads, "Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses."

I think the final lesson from this is that we move on. I did a devotional to the communion youth we host each Wednesday this week in which I talked about moving on. Thursday I did a funeral in which I talked about moving on. Grief comes, we must move on. Jobs come and go, we must move on. Great prophets come, then they go, and God provides the next person.

That person might not be the same as the one before, in fact it is almost guaranteed to be different, but different isn't worse or even better. It's just different.

And that's a good way to look at the itinerantcy of the United Methodist Church. Whomever there in a church's pulpit is called to be in that pulpit by God, by the Bishop of this state's conference, by the Cabinet of this conference. Called for that moment. And when that moment has passed, we pray that everyone is on accord that it is time to do what? Move on.

Joshua, son of Nun, wasn'tMoses. Near as I can tell, he never tried to be. But he did what God called him to do, and the people listened.

Where do we go from here? I don't actually know. But I cling to the idea that God does, and therefore his word is a lamp unto my feet.

Some folks can't handle that