"Remember This: It Starts With Eeeny Meeny"

Pastor Nagle
03/16/2005

“Remember This: It Starts With Eeny Meeny” Joshua 24:14-18 Psalm 145:1-13 Midweek V March 16, 2005
I don’t know that the first lesson tonight is my favorite Old Testament passage, but I will say that it’s one I have thought about often. Thought about, but not always used in a helpful sort of way. The story describes that moment when the people of Israel are to decide about life in the future. And Joshua puts a choice to them: you can either live with the Lord your God or with other gods. You can either live fully with the Lord your God or you can just sort of hang out with him. You can live with the Lord your God in joy or with fear. You can live with the Lord your God only when you know what the future will bring or you can sign on without certainty forever. It’s a scripture passage that deals with choices.
It was a theme we heard in tonight’s other lesson. Remember that the crowd in Jerusalem was given a choice. Because the tradition was to release a single prisoner as a sort of good-will gesture, they were asked, Who should it be—Barabbas or Jesus. And the crowd said Barabbas. Who should it be—Jack the Ripper or Jesus? And the crowd said Jack the Ripper. What about Jeffrey Dahmer, Saddam Hussein, any child molester or fraud? But the crowd never changed its mind. To this day has never changed its mind. Though of course I’ve taken literary license. Twice. First, I pretended that the crowd had made lots of bad choices. Second, I pretended that the crowd was still choosing today. Which may not be totally accurate. Though it’s true enough that you and I have options.
Eeeny Meeny Miney Mo. All the choices we all can make. What we believe in, what we care about, what we do and how we say it. Starting with how you end that childhood rhyme. Growing up, playing eeny meeny, what did you catch by the toe? And did your choice matter then? Does it matter now? On what basis do you ever decide anything— what’s best for you, or others? What’s best for now, or always? What’s best according to common sense, or your own? What brings life or death? And whose?
You know, this matter of choices sometimes depends on how many of us are involved, and who is looking on. That whole mob thing can sway a lot of votes. Sway them foolishly, if I think the mob is wrong. Rightly, if my own interests are served. Have you ever been part of a mob? Would you ever consider the church a mob? Well, it’s the stuff discussion groups are made of. And there’s usually more heat than light generated. Who is to say what’s right and wrong? The mob made its choice. But Pilate wasn’t sure. He himself might have decided otherwise, but when people gang up on you, well, you might choose poorly. Unless you know who you are. Unless you know what you believe. Unless you’ve thought it all through.
I’m spending the closing days before retirement thinking through all the stuff I want you to remember. Things I think are valuable for the living of life. In most cases, they are things you’ve heard me say before. And here’s one of them—that it all starts with a choice. And that the choice can be considered long before it’s actually made. The example I have consistently given is that just as you learned how to drive defensively, it’s good to live with advance knowledge too. Like me, when you’re driving at dusk near a field where the highway department has warned deer live, you know what you’re going to do in case one of them jumps out. You may not know exactly what to do, and other people may do something different, and you may do it well or too late. But at least you know that something has to be done. The problem with the crowds and with Pilate too, was that they did the wrong thing.
Though calling some thing wrong seems to mean that there’s an opposite in which something can be called right. But that’s not always true. There may be two rights, begging for a choice. There may be two wrongs, each to be avoided. But your choice will be more informed when you think about it in advance. Even if you think about things that might never happen, things you hope will never happen, try working ahead. And in it all, that you devise some guideline which you follow. As far as that goes. So someone says: when I make a choice, I’m going to do what the Bible says. What the Bible says in the New Testament. What Jesus said in the New Testament. And if Jesus didn’t say anything about it in the New Testament, I’ll decide on the basis of the Old Testament, unless the pastor shows that the Old Testament was misinterpreted. Unless the pastor had an ax to grind in his own misinterpretation. In which case I’ll do what I want as long as I don’t hurt anyone. But if I have to hurt someone, I’ll make sure that more others are freed from hurt. But if the hurt might come equally -- well, that’s when people throw up their hands in frustration and either vote a straight ticket or play “Eeeny Meeny.” Or do nothing and hope that the problem goes away, or hope that someone else makes a choice which doesn’t demand input from them. You know, I myself don’t like any of that—not even the biblical part. So I end up with something like this prayer: “Dear God, I’m going to do the best I can with the information I have at hand. I may be right. I may be wrong. If I’m right, help me see that I’m probably not always right. If I’m wrong, help me to see which of my accusers is more right, and why. And then help me change my choice with you in mind.” I don’t know that that’s the right way, or the best way. It’s a way that works for me. But you have to choose for yourself.
What I can say about such a way of doing things is this: it’s better to make a wrong choice than to make no choice at all. And it’s all right to remember that God forgives those who live with humility in their wrong choices. And to remember that God walks with us throughout. In all these Lenten sermons, that’s been a common theme—to remember that God walks with us through it all. And here’s the summary—that in these weeks, we have heard that God who walked with us in the past continues on with us in the present—and reminds us to keep our fork, as a symbol that better things are yet to come. We don’t have to believe that, but I think it’s a good idea, because we’ve heard that we can live with joy more than sadness, even when life seems sad enough to drive us to despair. That we can we live with peace more than war, though after consulting with people with no vested interest, we would be willing to defend what we think is right. We’ve heard that we can live with hope that things will get better, but that some times, we must understand this is as good as it gets. And we can be glad about it. That we know we are dust, but that we’re certain God’s creative hand works best with dust. That there is always cause and effect, and that God calls us to make a difference in the world. That we decide to get up from where we are and follow his lead to any of several places and ideas and situations where we might act. And that we do it for others more than ourselves, knowing that God already gave himself for us—so that we now have plenty to give away. That there will be times when we are sorrowful, but that we don’t need to wallow in our sorrow, but instead live with a certainty that there is as much joy in the world as grief. And that God who made the lilies of the field and the birds of the air and blessed them for a little while will bless us longer and more. To know that things aren’t always as they seem, and that we must decide when they are better and when they are worse. But that we recognize that the whole is greater than the parts, and that true vision sees as much scheme as we can and admits what we cannot. That we have done stupid things in life and surely deserve being written out of God’s presence. But that when we think it’s all over, we’re mistaken, for with God it’s never over. And that though we are ready to give in and give up, we have his strength and example to follow, as well as his promise of new life. And that may be the most important thing of all—that we are an Easter people, always given the promise of new life.
Joshua said to the people of Israel, It’s up to you whether or not you choose it. It’s the same situation now. May God bless us in our choosing.