And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

The 24th chapter of Joshua begins with Joshua reminding the tribes of Israel of their history from Abraham all the way to their entry into the promised land. Joshua does this in a way that reminds the people of Israel of all that God has done for them in their lives. As such, this chapter is a summary of most of the first six books of the Bible from Genesis 12 through the majority of the book of Joshua. In light of this history, Joshua then challenges the people of Israel to serve the living God. Joshua makes it clear that regardless of what the people of Israel do, he and his house “will serve the Lord”.

Calling people to remembrance of how they got to where they are is both a past and a very present and real way to bring people together to work towards a common goal or vision. We have a number of opportunities to focus and work together in the coming weeks and months to help others in the communities in which we live and also to welcome and help other members of our congregation. We are blessed to be receiving 10 new members on October 18th and to have a baptism scheduled for the 25th. We do have people visiting St. Paul’s and it is my prayer that we are as warm and welcoming towards others as God continues to welcome and love us. Our Mission Festival is November 8th this year and our speaker will be the Rev. Damon Laaker, an assistant to Bishop David defreeze and also the head of Lutheran Metro Ministries in Nebraska. Pastor Laaker deals with the poor and others in need in Nebraska and can speak to the need for mission and caring among and for the people right around us. Our Women of the ELCA (WELCA) thankoffering service is scheduled for November 15th and the services for both Mission Festival and WELCA thankoffering Sunday will start at 10:00am with Sunday school happening before worship each of those Sundays.

We pray for the continued growth of St Paul’s and the ministries we support. I pray that we can choose to remember our past and look to the present in terms of what unites us as we go forward into the future looking for ways to serve the living God and teaching our children to do the same. As our farmers work in the fields to provide a harvest for their families’ futures, our prayer is that our children may reap a harvest of knowledge, love, care and compassion that will guide both them their future families in happy, productive and faith filled lives lived to the glory of the Risen and Living God.