The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Joshua 4 Listen: (3:31) Read: Colossians 1 Listen: (4:18)

Scripture Focus: Joshua 4:10, 18

10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua…

18 And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.

Reflection: Holding Chaos at Bay

By Erin Newton

Standing in the middle of the muddy riverbed, the priests hold the ark of the covenant—the symbolic presence of God—keeping the waters at bay. They are doing none of the withholding. They hold poles; God withholds the raging waters.

I love how the text presents the image of the river crossing. I imagine the waters receding, making a path for God’s people. The priests stand motionless in front of this invisible dam. They are not shouting some magical phrase. Their arms are not outstretched as if to bend the waters to their will. They are not even doing the work of a beaver, piling and weaving limbs and branches to keep the waters back. They stand. They stand next to the presence of God.

When they settle in one place long enough, the priests will busy themselves with other things. They will cleanse and burn and offer and worship and intercede and sacrifice. They will live  in the presence of God. God will keep doing the work of barring chaos from drowning his people. But here, in this place, they just stand.

Doing something feels a lot more productive than standing. We’re told that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” So we, in turn, translate that to “keep busy.” Busyness is godliness, right? Not always.

In the riverbed, these image bearers of God are holding the presence of God. He silently commands the waters, “This far you may come and no farther” (Job 38.11). As priests, they are called to do this specific job. Stand.

And so are we. When God granted all his people to be a priesthood (1 Pet 2.9), he intended for us also to stand in the gap—between humanity and chaos—holding the presence of God. We present the law of love and truth and justice and righteousness to the forces that would bring death and destruction. We stand firm and watch God work.

In Claire Keegan’s novella, Small Things Like These, the main character is abruptly confronted with the suffering of others. His mind is torn between complacency and action. The story ends with a poignant question: “Was there any point in being alive without helping one another?”

In the case of Joshua 4, can we ask ourselves, Is there any point in being alive without standing in the gap, holding space for people to find safety without chaos consuming us all?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy Name we put our trust.
Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have put your trust in you. — Psalm 33.20-22

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Spiritual Markers

Their lives were literally and figuratively rootless. They had never known cultivation or agriculture. They had never known any other life than that of a migrant.

Spiritual Markers

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Links for today’s readings:

Read: Joshua 3 Listen: (2:45) Read: Romans 16 Listen: (3:30)

Scripture Focus: Joshua 3.14-17

14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Reflection: Over Jordan

By John Tillman

Crossing the Jordan has been a spiritual metaphor for centuries, but it took special meaning for slaves in the American South. It symbolized an escape from slavery, shelter in place of homelessness, and fruitfulness in place of a barren desert.

In the story of Israel’s failure to enter due to fear, and their return in faith after wandering for 40 years, the Jordan symbolizes a place at which faith and courage are required.

In the story of the transition from Moses to Joshua, from Elijah to Elisha, and from John the Baptist to Jesus, the Jordan symbolizes a change in leadership.

And of course, the Jordan represents entering the promised land, with Canaan standing in as the eternal land we are destined for in Heaven.

On one side of the river is the desert, the unforgiving land, the land of trials, the land of sin, the land of rebellion, the land of suffering.

On the other side of the river is the land that is promised, the land of blessing, the land of freedom, the land of rest, the land of satisfaction and plenty.

The Jordan also represents the final crossing of death—both a time of judgment and a time of cleansing. For Christians, the waters of the crossing hold no terror. We do not enter them alone. Someone else marches in with us. His nail-pierced feet touch the waters and they pile up, inviting us to cross without muddying our clothes.

We cross the Jordan not with priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, but with Christ, our High Priest. When we cross over the Jordan with Christ, the land has no enemies to be defeated. It has no cities to march around and no battles to be fought. For, there too, Christ has gone before us, preparing a place for us. It is there that we will be fed by the tree that grows in the river that comes from the throne of God. It is there that we will take from that tree healing for the nations.

“Our home is over Jordan.” It is over Jordan that our tears will be wiped away.

Music: “Our home is over Jordan.” “Deep River” — Marian Anderson

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face. — Psalm 105.4

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Healthy Patriotism

Rarely are nations totally evil or good…Healthy patriotism, like healthy Christianity, celebrates good while lamenting and resisting evil.

Healthy Patriotism

Read more: Jeremiah, the Unpatriotic Prophet

The most patriotic thing Christians can do is see the problems of our nation and speak the gospel to them.

Jeremiah, the Unpatriotic Prophet

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Joshua 2 Listen: (3:49) Read: Romans 15 Listen: (4:32)

Scripture Focus: Joshua 2.8-11

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

Reflection: Becoming Part of the Promise

By John Tillman

Those who feel powerless to stop sexual victimization will often attempt to profit from it and Rahab had carved a place for herself in the power structure of Jericho.

Her work filled a niche in the economy and her brothel filled a niche in the wall. Powerful men knew her well and came to her not only for sex but for intelligence.

Her brothel, situated strategically in the wall of the city and near the gate, was a natural place to search for unsavory, shifty spies in the land. The leaders knew that if there were trouble-makers, Rahab would have seen them. If there was trouble coming, Rahab would have heard of it.

She had heard of trouble, probably from the bedside whispers of some of these same men. The rumors coming out of the desert told of a people whose God fought for them. A God so powerful that his people couldn’t be cursed. Armies fled before them. Canaanite gods were powerless.

Sending the leaders away with a plot of misdirection, Rahab plotted a new direction in life as she climbed up to the spies hiding on her roof.

I imagine her sitting on the roof with Abraham’s promised children, not yet equal in number to the stars they sit under. There, she delivers to their ears the pillow talk of her clients. The powerful kings of Jericho and surrounding towns were melting with fear. Rahab asks to be accepted by this powerful God who is not only in the heavens but active upon the Earth.

In this act, Rahab the Canaanite prostitute becomes a part of the Abrahamic promise. The promise itself would pass through her womb as one of the Canaanite grandmothers of Jesus. God who promised Abraham these children, numbered like stars, would fulfill to an infinite degree the promise he made to Abraham to bless the nations, through the fruit of Rahab’s womb.

No situation is hopeless and no person is doomed to destruction who turns to God. No matter what niche of the economy we feel trapped in or what political citadel demands our loyalty, like Rahab, we can climb on the roof, look to the stars, and join the children of the promise. We can help birth God’s promise on Earth to benefit others.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and mind.
For your love is before my eyes; I have walked faithfully with you.
I have not sat with the worthless, nor do I consort with the deceitful.
I have hated the company of evildoers; I will not sit down with the wicked.
I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, that I may go in procession round your altar,
Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and recounting all your wonderful deeds. — Psalm 26.2-7

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Jericho’s Wall

Many scriptures say how terrified everyone in Canaan was of Israel, but none say they taunted Israel or made fun of God’s plan of marching around the city.

Jericho’s Wall :: Readers’ Choice

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