Thursday 17 August 2023

Today is Thursday 17 August, in the 19th week of Ordinary time.

Paul Zach sings, ‘Always With Me.’

I can make through the day
When you're with me on the way
In my heart and mind you'll stay
I can make it through the night
When I'm clinging to your light
You will make the darkness bright
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the calm and in the storm
When it seems I'm all alone
It's your hand I find to hold
In each hour of unrest
When it seems I've nothing left
You speak peace in every breath
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the morning, in the evening
When I'm waking, when I'm sleeping
When I'm arriving, when I'm leaving
You will have me in your keeping
Even from my mother's womb
Never hidden from your view
I was always known to you
When I fade away in death
You will catch my final breath
You will take me to my rest
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me

Today’s reading is from the Book of Joshua.

Joshua 3: 7 - 11, 13 - 17


The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, “When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.”’Joshua then said to the Israelites, ‘Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.’ Joshua said, ‘By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.’

When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing towards the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

This passage starts with a promise. God will be with Joshua, as he was with Moses. God promises just as firmly that he will be with you. That he is actually with you, here and now. How do you want to respond to that promise?

The ark of the covenant stands a sign for the people that God is with them. What signs do you look to, to remind you that God is with you?

The land that the people of Israel are entering is not empty. It is settled already by Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites and others. How might this passage sound to them?

Instead of hearing the passage read again, picture the scene as the crowd of Israelites cross through the divided river. Like them, we are reminded of the crossing of the Red Sea a generation earlier. If you had been with them, what would be going through your mind and heart?

For the author of the book of Joshua, this passage is yet another demonstration of how God keeps his promises. Speak to God now about his promises to you, or of the promises you want him to make to you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.