And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.

           This is another great water story. In the gospels there is Peter walking on the water. There was the calming of a storm. In the Old Testament there is the flood. The crossing of the Red Sea.

           Speaking of the Red Sea, that incident serves as some background to what we read today. You know the story. God commissioned and consecrated Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. The Promised Land was a great land, flowing with milk and honey. Moses led the people out of Egypt. They were pursued by Egyptian armies. They came up to the Red Sea. God parted the waters. The Israelites crossed over on dry ground. The Egyptians did not fare as well.

The people pressed on towards the Promised Land. Led by Moses. Guided by God. God provided for them. The wonders of God were beheld. The only thing was the people complained so much. Complain, complain, complain. Well, that wasn’t the only thing. They also demonstrated an amazing lack of trust in God. God would accomplish a wonder in their midst. Then the people would ask where God was. But they kept moving towards the Promised Land.

They soon found themselves there. Not there as in the land, but there as in about ready to enter it. And then comes one of my favorite Old Testament stories. God promised them this great land. But they would have to take it. The land was not empty. Other people lived there. In other words, there were obstacles in the path leading to the future God had for them.

So as they stood on the threshold of realizing God’s promise, Moses rustled up twelve men. One from each tribe in Israel was chosen. He sent the twelve on a mission. They were to go into the land and spy. They were to do some exploring. The purpose of their fact-finding mission was to see what the land was like and what the people were like. And being it was also the season for the first ripe grapes, Moses told them they might as well bring back some fruit while they were at it. See, it had probably been a while since they had some grapes.

           Twelve men went in. Twelve men returned. And they returned having two minds about the meaning of what they saw. Now, they were of one mind about the land. They all reported the land was good. It did flow with milk and honey. They had some fruit. They appeared to be of one mind about the people who lived there. The people were powerful, and they lived in powerful cities.

           Where they differed, though, was in how they saw themselves in relation to those allegedly powerful people. Ten of them said, “The people there are so big and powerful that we seem like grasshoppers next to them.” Their conclusion was they should not go in and take the land. If they attempted to do so, they might become extinct as a people. People who are afraid have a tendency to exaggerate possible conclusions or outcomes. But two of them—Joshua and Caleb—said the people of God would be able to take the land. They said they should not be afraid. In fact, they said the people of God would be able to swallow up the people already in the land. Numbers, chapter fourteen and verse nine is a great passage in which Joshua and Caleb say, “…do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone,

 but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

           The people chose to go with the majority report. As a result, that generation wandered in the wilderness until most of them died. God promised them a great future, and they did not seize it because they saw too many giants in that future. And they were afraid.

           So let me pause and ask, What is it about the future that may frighten us? Perhaps, “frighten” is too strong a word. But I believe God has a future for us—for this community of faith. God is calling and leading his people—the people of First United Methodist Church. To where and to what…well, that might not be clear yet. It will become clearer as a long-range visioning and planning task force begins work next year. The vision will be cast. And we will get there—wherever “there” is. It may take a while, but we will get there.

           Along the way, though, there will be some obstacles. Oh, yes, there will be. The devil will seek to cloud our vision. Anything make us nervous as we look ahead? Do we see any “giants” out there—those things that may cause us to feel inadequate—those things we feel may squish us?

           Whatever they are, we need not be afraid. We will swallow them up. They have no protection. We, on the other hand, are protected by and led by God. And I do not want any lack of faith on my part to disqualify me from seeing what God will do.

           The generation that escaped Egypt…most of them did not get to see the Promise. God raised up the next generation. They are the ones we read about in today’s lesson from Joshua. They were getting ready to cross the Jordan. They were going into the land.

           You know…I believe God is going to do amazing things among us. I truly believe that. And I want this generation to be the generation that sees it. So what must we do?

           Well, Joshua told the people they needed to consecrate themselves. They needed to consecrate themselves because God would do amazing things in their midst. Consecration for them would involve a religious purification rite and all that. But in consecrating themselves they were devoting themselves completely to God and to the worship of God.

           That’s who we must be. A people devoted completely to God and to the worship of God. A people totally committed to following Jesus Christ in all areas of our lives. A people seeking to live in this world as citizens of the kingdom of God. We consecrate ourselves, and we will see God do amazing things.

           The people to whom Joshua spoke did. The Jordan River stopped flowing. To stop a river from flowing would be pretty impressive. Correct? Impressive in its own right. But what made this even more impressive—as if anything could have made it more impressive—was it happened while the river was at flood stage. And the people did not walk through a little patch cut through the river. This was a whole nation. Thousands and thousands of people. Could you imagine trying to line them up single file to walk through a narrow path cut through a river? I don’t pretend to understand all this. I simply choose to believe it. But the river was stopped from where they were to a long way upstream. The water piled up in a heap. I think that is a great line in the story. The water piled up in a heap. Ever see water piled up in a heap? I’ve seen a pile of leaves, but never a pile of water. Well, the people who lived way upstream, in the town of Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, saw a pile of water. And the people of God—this mass of people as far as the eye could see—crossed over. It took them a good while to cross over by the way. And they crossed over on dry ground. Not mucky, wet river bottom stuff—but dry ground.

           An amazing thing. Do we dare believe we can witness equally amazing things? We must first consecrate ourselves.

           And then we need to dip our toes into the water. There is a bit of faith involved in that.

           The priests were told to set foot in the water. In other words, they did not go to the water’s edge and wait for God to pile the waters up in Adam. They walked to the river. And as soon as their feet touched the water’s edge, the water stopped flowing.

           There will be times when we will need to get our feet wet. Or put another way, there are and will be times when we need to take that first risky step into the unknown. But we take it trusting God. Like Peter walking on water. And the priests setting foot in the river.

           God is calling us. God has something for us. Let’s consecrate ourselves and then set foot in the water.

           And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.