Joshua 5 | Feast of Circumcision | The Testament Remembered

I grew up a remarkably good little Baptist boy throughout my grade-school years. I was baptized as a Southern Baptist when I was 8 years old, and learned by Bible with the vigor of one who lives in fear of an angry God.

Then, while I was in high school, my family became involved with an extreme fundamentalist church. We were out of control. We used to walk up to people in shopping malls and inform them that they were going to Hell if they didn't embrace our peculiar formula for salvation. Believe me, I know how revolting that sounds to Episcopalians and Congregationalists, but such was the milieu in which I came to adulthood.

Later, my family and I were excommunicated for disobedience and after a year or so my wounds had become so deep that I gave up on Christianity altogether. I suffered chronic depression at this time and sought refuge in alcohol, rock and roll, and riotous living--at least as riotous a living as this bookworm is capable of.

Spiritually, I was also not at peace. The scars were healing slowly and I then began my first explorations into other faith traditions, and found a wealth of wisdom beyond any expectations. I read extensively, and yet, I did not feel personally compelled to practice any of them. It was all too confusing at the time. Finally, in despair at three in the morning, I cried out to God (whoever that may be) in my despair, saying "Enough! If you are out there--show me! I can't go on hurting!" I could not accept my parent's faith, full of mind-games and hypocrisy.

My prayer of desperation was heard, because within twenty-four hours I was given a vision of the Universe as a wild, glorious, ecstatic and seemingly chaotic Dance. All was in perfect harmony except for humanity alone. And each culture provided a tradition within which each person might learn the steps and rejoice with the rest of the cosmos. My culture had given me Christianity. So be it. But I would be a real Christian with no deceptions and/or mind games--the first to admit to being a hypocrite but trying just the same.

So went out got my ear pierced for the first time as a covenant with God--so that each time I looked in the mirror I would remember who I was and not get sucked in to fundamentalist conformity. I had come back to my faith--and I still had a long way to go--but my earring was my bond. A mutilation of the flesh, that marked me as God's own, sealed my commitment to Him, the physical embodiment of my promise and God's faithfulness to me.

In our scripture reading today, God demands of the Israelites a similar act of covenant. Circumcision is the mutilation of the flesh, the physical scarring which, like the branding of cattle, marked the Jews as God's own. Covenant in ancient civilizations was always sealed in blood, and in this case, it is the blood of the male Israelites themselves.

Now in our reading, circumcision had to be performed because all of those who had been born in the desert--the vast majority of people, at this point--remained uncircumcised. The reason is that all of the adult males who had departed from Egypt forty years ago had died wandering in the desert, because they refused to trust God and enter Canaan. Now, in their stead, their children were going to take possession of the Promised Land; but before that could happen, they needed to make their parent's covenant with God their own.

Those who were born in the desert were not uncircumcised out of negligence. Rather, they were not circumcised because the covenant had been disrupted, suspended, until the punishment was over. You will remember that in the book of Numbers, God pronounced judgment on the Israelites who did not want to march onward to Canaan. They--all the males twenty years and older--would died in the desert. And their children would also suffer for their parents' unfaithfulness.

Fortunately, however, God is not unfaithful. God is gracious and forgiving. He had not totally annulled His covenant with Israel but had pronounced a curse on the generation born in Egypt and its children. This curse would only be lifted after that older generation had perished. The penalty for the sins of the fathers doubtless included the withholding of circumcision from their children.

But now, the old ones were gone. The young men were ready: ready to trust God, ready to enter into their inheritance. But first, they must consecrate themselves before their God, to re-establish the covenant their parents had forsaken, and take upon them the mark that identified them in blood as God's own.

Immediately after, the Israelites celebrated the Passover, the sacred meal that they had not eaten since the covenant was breached. With it they celebrated their re-union with God. As evidence that the breach had been healed, the manna that had sustained them through their long journey stopped falling. From now on, they would feast upon the fruits of the land that God had promised them.

Today, I invited you, as we celebrate our sacred meal, to reverently and compassionately consider your own relationship with God. Have you kept your promises? Has God kept his? As you come to this table to celebrate the holy meal, I ask you to recommit yourself to God. To be faithful, as He has been faithful. Then, come to feast upon the "bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world," to celebrate this covenant that you reestablish this day.

Perhaps it is that you have been faithful, perhaps all of your promises to God have been kept. Yeah, and I'm Mother Theresa! I do not ask you to get down on yourselves. We are human, and human is not a bad thing to be. It is a glorious thing, but it also carries with it incredible responsibility, and responsibility is something we, frankly, have quite a bit of trouble with.

That is alright, because with God, it is always the right time to start again. God does not hold the past against us, but always offers us opportunities to reestablish relationship, to continue the journey together, no matter how long you might have been diverted. Re-establishing our covenant with God is no cause for shame, but joy, for Christianity is a religion that calls us to conversion, not just once, but every day. Every day we rise and must answer the classic question from the book of Joshua, "Choose today whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord."

When I went to California Baptist College with my new earring, I got a lot of glares, and muttering behind my back. I was "different," not like them. Nothing against them, but I rejoice that I am different, I am unique, and I am God's.

And I have the marks to prove it. Amen.

Let us pray:
Holy and Eternal One, you are our Creator, Liberator, Comforter and Sustainer. Help us to be faithful as you are faithful, as we wander through the wildernesses of our lives. Feed us now with the bread that comes down from heaven. Give us life, give us hope, and bring us into the joy that you have promised through your Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.