²⁰ Those twelve stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal, ²¹ saying to the Israelites, “When your children ask their parents in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we crossed over, ²⁴ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” Joshua 4:20-24

There is something about this passage that always warms my heart. It’s the collective memory. The hope that there is something greater on the horizon. The experience that the Israelites shared together. The excitement of what it must have been like to cross the Jordan. The expectation of the Promised Land. The desire to honor the past to move forward in the future. Joshua had left Moses behind and now was helping to lead the people into a new place in a new moment in their life as a community. With it came all the fear of messing us, the newness of a place, and the infamous “we used to do this” attitude of the people. It also reminds us of all that God had done for the people that followed him. So, this memorial of sorts was a way of marking the specular moments in their journey that was far from over. I have been your pastor for 2 years (WHAT?). We have gotten to know each other, shared life together, and are wading through a pandemic—still. The church is 152 years old. Happy Birthday FBCL! Take a moment to pause. Think about where this place came from. “August 22, 1869 in the home of Mr. and Mrs. L.W. Billingsley, fourteen people gathered. It was a mixed racial group that gathered to covenant and combine themselves into what is today First Baptist Church Lincoln.” You have had community, new buildings, painful goodbyes, moments of doubt, times of frustration, and different pulpits. Let us celebrate those times. We place our stones in the Jordan River (read Platte River here). We step over them to cross over the river. God was with us then, is with us now, and will not leave us. The next couple steps might be scary. However, we go together. We tell people what the stones mean “so that all peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” Here is to the next 152 years and more! I am thankful for you. I am so grateful to be your pastor. I am hopeful despite the pandemic. I love you. So put down your stones and celebrate! God has done, is doing, and will do a mighty work!

Pastor Joy