March 31, 2019
Joshua 5:9-12
Most of you have probably figured out by now that I love stories. Not the false, fictional, or fake kind of stories, but real, true life stories. For me, true stories have this way of connecting me to people I don’t even know. I can hear something about their story and instantly feel close and connected to them. Of course, this is even more so for the real, lived stories of those we love. For example, even though Amy & I didn’t know each other when I was nine years old, she can tell you everything about the cross-country trip my family and I took at the end of my fourth-grade school year. She can tell you how nine of us packed into two sedans and how we used CB Radio’s to communicate between cars as we traveled. She can tell you how it took us almost a full hour just to get out of Greensboro because after we all packed into our appointed vehicles our first stop was to get breakfast and when we pulled into the McDonald’s on Guilford College Road, my dad turned to my mom and said, “Toni why is your Dad parking his car?” You see, my Dad had pulled into the drive thru, but my Pop parked and everyone got out and went inside to order and then eat their food. It took less than five minutes to get from my house off Jefferson Road in Greensboro to that McDonalds, but that didn’t matter. On a road trip, I recall my Dad as having one goal – get to the final destination. My Pop, on the other hand, seemed to live life at a much different pace. A much more relaxed pace, if you will. The point, though, is that stories, especially of those you love have this way of pulling you in and connecting you to one another in ways other things can’t.
Last Thursday and Friday, I had the privilege of attending, and representing our church, at the Annual Gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. Our local denominational association and partner. I want you to know how wonderful that day and half was for me. The only thing that would have made it better was you being there to experience it too. There was so much hope and so much joy radiating throughout the gathering for what church life can be… What church life should be. It was a great reminder as to why I answered God’s call to vocational ministry. It was a reminder I needed.
My time at this year’s annual gathering started Thursday afternoon when I attended the Leadership Institute, led by Dr. Tod Bolsinger. His presentation was based on his latest book, Canoeing the Mountains: Church Leadership in Uncharted Territory. During that presentation he told this wonderful story about his Italian grandfather, who like Amy’s great grandfather entered a new land called America through Ellis Island. Dr. Bolsinger went on to tell those assembled about the two things his grandfather, Guido Evangelisti, thought were more important than any other – Food and Education. His grandfather came to American with nothing and worked his way up in what we today would call the food industry, eventually owning a restaurant. For him, food not only gave him the ability to provide for his family, food also provided the family the chance to establish the important practice of connecting with one another. Coming to the table to partake of the gift of the food prepared, offered the family the chance to check in with each other. This practice, being offered because of food, became part of the DNA of this family. It became one of the core values of this family. A value so important, so essential, that it must be included in every description of this family. A value so engrained that a grandson in his fifties can stand before a group of strangers and tell them about who his grandfather was and what his grandfather’s values were even though he actually never got to meet him because his grandfather died before the grandson was born.
That is the power of story.
*******************
Core values, though, is what I want to spend the rest of my time today discussing because core values are at the very heart of staying connected. Staying connected to generations before… Staying connected to generations current… Staying connected to God’s creation… And staying connected to God. Core values are all over the stories told in the Book of Joshua and those core values helped those Israelites who actually entered the promised land of Canaan, stay connected to their ancestors who started the journey, but were not there when the journey ended. Core values are front and center in their preparation before entering this Promised Land. Core values help explain why re-affirming their covenant with God is of paramount importance. Simply put, core values connect.
Even though Moses had led the people through their wandering days in the wilderness, they now had a new leader in Joshua. Most believe when leadership changes, those that follow change, but Dr. Bolsinger offered a new way of thinking… a new way of seeing that starts and ends with a group’s core values. Core values are those things that never change. What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
How you achieve your core values may change when leadership changes, but I think Dr. Bolsinger is correct – Core Values never change. A group’s DNA never changes. Leadership changes. Core values do not. Unless of course you don’t know what your core values are, which begs the question… What are the core values of Firth Baptist Church?
For those Israelites led by Moses, becoming a people led by Joshua could never change the fact that they were the people of the one true God. As they stood at the threshold of entering this new land under this new leadership it became even more important to recognize their core values. Before they came into contact with the people already inhabiting this new land, they needed to remember this core value because those new people in that new land might try to change their understanding of who they are. As they stood on the threshold of this new land, they needed to clarify both who they are, and whose they are. What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
In the verses before the start of our text today, we read about Joshua circumcising the young men before they enter this new land. For this group, circumcision is more than something they do just because others believe it is important. It is a symbol of their covenant with God and it is symbolic of their commitment to be different from the Egyptians behind them and the Canaanites ahead of them.[1] It represents so much more than a physical act. It represents one of those things that will never change for this group. It represents a core value. What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
**************************
There is no better time than the present for us to begin the process of figuring out, or discerning, our core values. I do not believe it will be a quick process. In fact, I hope it will not be quick because it will require effort on everyone’s part. It will require participation on everyone’s part if we are to discover the core values of First Baptist Church. What are the things that are so important, so vital to who First Baptist Church is, that no matter who holds positions of leadership, those things will never change? What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
The season of Lent always offers us the same type of opportunity to examine ourselves. To ask the same or similar type questions about who we are and whose we are and what values we hold so high that they will never change. So maybe this Lenten season has afforded us some good practice on the kind of discernment I’m talking about. But even if it hasn’t, the process of discovering the core values of First Baptist Church is critical to the church’s future. We must undertake the process of figuring out those things about First Baptist Church that will never change. And once we figure those out, we must be willing to change everything else. This is how we stay connected.
*************************
For Guido Evangelisti, Food and Education were core values. It was those core values that pushed him to flee his home as a teenager in search of a new land. A land of promise. And even though there was a time when he didn’t have much food to eat himself. And even though he himself did not have a formal education, his core values never changed. And precisely because of his core values, there are twenty-three undergraduate degrees and numerous Ph.D’s among a his nine grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren
Core values connect current generations to past generations. Core values connect current generations to current generations.
Everyone has them. Every church has them. What are ours?
[PRAYER]
Amen!
[1] Trimiew, Darryl M., Feasting on the Word Commentary, Year C, Joshua 5:9-12, Theological Perspective
Joshua 5:9-12
Most of you have probably figured out by now that I love stories. Not the false, fictional, or fake kind of stories, but real, true life stories. For me, true stories have this way of connecting me to people I don’t even know. I can hear something about their story and instantly feel close and connected to them. Of course, this is even more so for the real, lived stories of those we love. For example, even though Amy & I didn’t know each other when I was nine years old, she can tell you everything about the cross-country trip my family and I took at the end of my fourth-grade school year. She can tell you how nine of us packed into two sedans and how we used CB Radio’s to communicate between cars as we traveled. She can tell you how it took us almost a full hour just to get out of Greensboro because after we all packed into our appointed vehicles our first stop was to get breakfast and when we pulled into the McDonald’s on Guilford College Road, my dad turned to my mom and said, “Toni why is your Dad parking his car?” You see, my Dad had pulled into the drive thru, but my Pop parked and everyone got out and went inside to order and then eat their food. It took less than five minutes to get from my house off Jefferson Road in Greensboro to that McDonalds, but that didn’t matter. On a road trip, I recall my Dad as having one goal – get to the final destination. My Pop, on the other hand, seemed to live life at a much different pace. A much more relaxed pace, if you will. The point, though, is that stories, especially of those you love have this way of pulling you in and connecting you to one another in ways other things can’t.
Last Thursday and Friday, I had the privilege of attending, and representing our church, at the Annual Gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. Our local denominational association and partner. I want you to know how wonderful that day and half was for me. The only thing that would have made it better was you being there to experience it too. There was so much hope and so much joy radiating throughout the gathering for what church life can be… What church life should be. It was a great reminder as to why I answered God’s call to vocational ministry. It was a reminder I needed.
My time at this year’s annual gathering started Thursday afternoon when I attended the Leadership Institute, led by Dr. Tod Bolsinger. His presentation was based on his latest book, Canoeing the Mountains: Church Leadership in Uncharted Territory. During that presentation he told this wonderful story about his Italian grandfather, who like Amy’s great grandfather entered a new land called America through Ellis Island. Dr. Bolsinger went on to tell those assembled about the two things his grandfather, Guido Evangelisti, thought were more important than any other – Food and Education. His grandfather came to American with nothing and worked his way up in what we today would call the food industry, eventually owning a restaurant. For him, food not only gave him the ability to provide for his family, food also provided the family the chance to establish the important practice of connecting with one another. Coming to the table to partake of the gift of the food prepared, offered the family the chance to check in with each other. This practice, being offered because of food, became part of the DNA of this family. It became one of the core values of this family. A value so important, so essential, that it must be included in every description of this family. A value so engrained that a grandson in his fifties can stand before a group of strangers and tell them about who his grandfather was and what his grandfather’s values were even though he actually never got to meet him because his grandfather died before the grandson was born.
That is the power of story.
*******************
Core values, though, is what I want to spend the rest of my time today discussing because core values are at the very heart of staying connected. Staying connected to generations before… Staying connected to generations current… Staying connected to God’s creation… And staying connected to God. Core values are all over the stories told in the Book of Joshua and those core values helped those Israelites who actually entered the promised land of Canaan, stay connected to their ancestors who started the journey, but were not there when the journey ended. Core values are front and center in their preparation before entering this Promised Land. Core values help explain why re-affirming their covenant with God is of paramount importance. Simply put, core values connect.
Even though Moses had led the people through their wandering days in the wilderness, they now had a new leader in Joshua. Most believe when leadership changes, those that follow change, but Dr. Bolsinger offered a new way of thinking… a new way of seeing that starts and ends with a group’s core values. Core values are those things that never change. What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
How you achieve your core values may change when leadership changes, but I think Dr. Bolsinger is correct – Core Values never change. A group’s DNA never changes. Leadership changes. Core values do not. Unless of course you don’t know what your core values are, which begs the question… What are the core values of Firth Baptist Church?
For those Israelites led by Moses, becoming a people led by Joshua could never change the fact that they were the people of the one true God. As they stood at the threshold of entering this new land under this new leadership it became even more important to recognize their core values. Before they came into contact with the people already inhabiting this new land, they needed to remember this core value because those new people in that new land might try to change their understanding of who they are. As they stood on the threshold of this new land, they needed to clarify both who they are, and whose they are. What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
In the verses before the start of our text today, we read about Joshua circumcising the young men before they enter this new land. For this group, circumcision is more than something they do just because others believe it is important. It is a symbol of their covenant with God and it is symbolic of their commitment to be different from the Egyptians behind them and the Canaanites ahead of them.[1] It represents so much more than a physical act. It represents one of those things that will never change for this group. It represents a core value. What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
**************************
There is no better time than the present for us to begin the process of figuring out, or discerning, our core values. I do not believe it will be a quick process. In fact, I hope it will not be quick because it will require effort on everyone’s part. It will require participation on everyone’s part if we are to discover the core values of First Baptist Church. What are the things that are so important, so vital to who First Baptist Church is, that no matter who holds positions of leadership, those things will never change? What are the core values of First Baptist Church?
The season of Lent always offers us the same type of opportunity to examine ourselves. To ask the same or similar type questions about who we are and whose we are and what values we hold so high that they will never change. So maybe this Lenten season has afforded us some good practice on the kind of discernment I’m talking about. But even if it hasn’t, the process of discovering the core values of First Baptist Church is critical to the church’s future. We must undertake the process of figuring out those things about First Baptist Church that will never change. And once we figure those out, we must be willing to change everything else. This is how we stay connected.
*************************
For Guido Evangelisti, Food and Education were core values. It was those core values that pushed him to flee his home as a teenager in search of a new land. A land of promise. And even though there was a time when he didn’t have much food to eat himself. And even though he himself did not have a formal education, his core values never changed. And precisely because of his core values, there are twenty-three undergraduate degrees and numerous Ph.D’s among a his nine grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren
Core values connect current generations to past generations. Core values connect current generations to current generations.
Everyone has them. Every church has them. What are ours?
[PRAYER]
Amen!
[1] Trimiew, Darryl M., Feasting on the Word Commentary, Year C, Joshua 5:9-12, Theological Perspective
