Welcome
Invite various persons to bring a designated item and use this liturgy to begin your time of learning together.
One: Come, let us gather around and see how the Spirit will nurture our faith today.
All: Who is with us?
One: Christ, the light of the world.
(Place a candle on a table in your gathering place and light it.)
All: Who is with us?
One: The Love of God, who came to meet us in the world.
(Place a cross on a table in your gathering place.)
All: Who is with us?
One: The Wisdom of God, who speaks through the Scriptures.
(Place an open Bible on a table in your gathering place.)
All: Who is with us?
One: The Grace of God, who proclaims we are children of God.
(Place a symbol of baptism – a bowl of water, a seashell – on a table in your gathering space.)
All: Who is with us?
One: Our risen Lord, who meets us at the table.
(Place a symbol of communion – a plate and cup, a loaf of bread, grapes – on a table in your gathering space.)
One: We are here, Holy Spirit, ready for your leading.
God sightings and prayer offerings
Invite each person to share where they saw or experienced God this week. Invite each person to share something — a person, community, experience, event, etc. – for which they want to offer prayer.
Good and gracious God, we thank you for all the ways you were and are present in our lives and in the world. [Invite each person to say aloud the sighting they named earlier.] We bring our prayers to you, prayers for… [invite each person to say aloud the prayer need they named earlier]. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Connecting with Scripture: Joshua 3:7-17
Read the Scripture aloud the first time using the New Revised Standard Version or the Common English Bible.
As the Scripture is read a second time, put yourself right there on the Jordan listening to Joshua as you are about to cross over into the long-awaited Promised Land. What do you see? What are you thinking? What do you feel?
Connecting through story
Mat and Savanna Shaw, father and daughter, began signing duets and posting them on social media in March 2020 as the pandemic began to shut the country down. She asked for her dad for two things: her first Instagram account, at the age of 15, so she could stay connected with her choir friends, and that he sing with her on the first song she posted. Neither sang professionally nor were they professionally trained but the power and beauty of their songs brought joy and hope to others and made them incredibly popular on YouTube. Listen to their first song.
- What do you think were the prayers of those gathered at the edge of the Jordan?
- In what ways does this song express some of the emotions and hopes that may have been present in those about to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land?
Connecting with our lives
Engage in dialogue:
- Why do you think God was very clear about connecting Joshua with Moses?
- What did God do in this story that reminds you of a story about Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt?
- Why do you think God gave Joshua so many details and instructions about crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land?
- Where does this story fit in God’s story thus far?
- What was Joshua’s role in this next phase of the story of God and God’s people?
- How did Joshua know what his role would be?
- What was God’s role?
- What is God’s role in your story – in your life?
- What do you think your role is in the next phase of the story of God and God’s people?
- How will you know what God wants you to do as a special part of God’s ongoing story?
- What do you need from God to live into your role in God’s story?
Teaching points that can be incorporated into your discussion:
- This is the story of God passing the mantle of leadership from Moses to Joshua.
- The parting of Jordan as the Ark of the Covenant crosses the river, through Joshua’s leadership, is meant to mirror and remind people of the parting of the Red Sea through Moses’ leadership.
- Moses plays a very important role in the ongoing story of God and God’s people. He led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness and almost to their final destination.
- Moses and the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years as they made their way to the land God promised their ancestors Abraham and Sarah many years before.
- While Moses may be gone, God’s story lives on through Joshua and the next generation of people.
- Joshua has a special and particular role to play in God’s story.
- It is a story of God’s constant faithfulness to us, to the promises God makes and to God’s covenant with us.
- Each of us has a special and particular role to play in God’s ongoing story.
- Moses needed God’s help and guidance to bring the people to this point in God’s story. Joshua needed God’s help and guidance to take the people into the Promised Land. We need God’s help and guidance to live into the role God has chosen for us play in God’s story.
Listen to Mat and Savanna’s latest song, and first music video, “Picture This.” As you listen to the words, what do you think the Israelites would be picturing as they made their way from slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness and finally crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land?
Prayer
Close your time together by praying for one another, your neighbor, community and the world.
REBECCA DAVIS is the associate professor of Christian education at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. A teaching elder and certified educator, she served congregations for over 20 years before moving into academic teaching. In addition to teaching and mentoring students, her passion is child advocacy and ministry.
