St David's Episcopal Church
  • Welcome
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our History >
      • 100 years
    • Our Beliefs
    • Our Facility >
      • Our Library
    • Building Rental
    • Testimonials
    • Leadership
    • Member Directory
    • Safe Church Policy
    • Episcopal Diocese of W Mass
    • Back to Basics
    • Vision for our Parish
  • Worship
    • Services
    • Services on YouTube >
      • May 2025
      • April 2025
      • March 2025
      • February 2025
      • January 2025
      • 2024 Services >
        • December 2024
        • November 2024
        • October 2024
        • September 2024
        • August 2024
        • July 2024
        • June 2024
        • May 2024
        • April 2024
        • March 2024
        • February 2024
        • January 2024
      • 2023 Services >
        • December 2023
        • November 2023
        • October 2023
        • September 2023
        • August 2023
        • July 2023
        • June 2023
        • May 2023
        • April 2023
        • March 2023
        • February 2023
        • January 2023
      • 2022 Services >
        • December 2022
        • November 2022
        • October 2022
        • September 2022
        • August 2022
        • July 2022
        • June 2022
        • May 2022
        • April 2022
        • March 2022
        • February 2022
        • January 2022
      • 2021 Services >
        • December 2021
        • November 2021
        • October 2021
        • September 2021
        • August 2021
        • July 2021
        • June 2021
        • May 2021
        • April 2021
        • March 2021
        • February 2021
        • January 2021
      • 2020 Services >
        • December 2020
        • November 2020
        • October 2020
        • September 2020
        • August 2020
        • July 2020
        • June 2020
        • May 2020
        • April 2020
    • Sermons
    • Holy Sacraments
    • Walk the Labyrinth
    • Parish Prayer Cycle
    • Country Prayer List
    • Bishop's Word
  • Events
    • Dove Tale Newsletter
    • Community Suppers
    • Episcopal Relief & Development
    • Fun & Fellowship
    • Photos
  • Ministries
    • Adult Education
    • Caregivers Ministry
    • Community Outreach
    • Creation Care Ministry
    • Healing Ministry
    • Veterans Ministry
    • Music Ministry
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Wine Ministry
    • Women's Ministry
    • Youth Ministry
  • Calendar
  • Contact

The Altar: Looking Back and Looking Forward

11/13/2023

1 Comment

 
The Altar: Looking Back and Looking Forward
24 Pentecost; November 12, 2023
Saint David’s Episcopal Church
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25; Psalm 78:1-7; 1 Thess 4:13-18; Matt 25:1-13


In a few minutes, we will dedicate our new altar in loving memory of Ted Kopyscinski, Herb Carpenter, and Bob Hudson. That is a big deal. To the best of my knowledge, Saint David’s has only had two previous altars in our nearly one hundred years. I’m hoping this one serves us for at least the next century, long after we will be gone.

I say what we all know, but is still worth saying. What happens at our altar defines us as who we are. We are the body of Christ because we gather around the altar to share in the sacrament of the body of Christ. Our altar is the symbolic center of our worship, of our building, and of our community.

So, on this day of the dedication of a new center for our life together, I want to look at the significance of altars in Scripture. From our readings for this morning, that means looking at Joshua.

Our reading comes from the end of Joshua’s life and the end of the book that bears his name.

The book Joshua tells the story of the bloody conquest of the Promised Land. Some of it can be hard reading, especially at a time when the Holy Land is again engulfed in violence. But Joshua also has beautiful passages that have a lot to teach us.

As the book Joshua begins, Moses has just died, after leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt and through the desert for forty years. Now the people were camped on the edge of the Promised Land, just across the Jordan River, looking at the formidable walls of the city of Jericho. It must have been a scary time. The people were following a new and untested leader into hostile territory where they would fight a well-defended enemy.

We don’t have time for the details of the story, which is a shame. For our purposes this morning, all we need to know is that the Hebrews prevail. They conquer Jericho and, after a temporary setback, the nearby, smaller town of Ai.

And what is the first thing that Joshua and his people do, after establishing a foothold in the Promised Land? They built an altar to the Lord, offered sacrifice, and renewed their covenant with God, which included a public reading of the entire law of Moses (8:30-35).

Two really important things were happening on that first day at that first altar in the Promised Land.

One, the people were recommitting themselves to the God who had led them to that place and time. They were saying, in a public and ritualized way, that they remained faithful to the teachings and the tradition that they had inherited from all the people who had gone before them.

Second, and just as important, they were acknowledging that they were living in a new situation, as the ancient promises God had made to their ancestors began to come true. And because the people were living in what was, for them, an unprecedented situation, they would have to live out their faith in new ways, they would have to adapt their tradition to their changed circumstances.

That is to say, when they gathered to dedicate that first altar in the promised Land, they were looking backwards and also forwards.

What that first altar in the Promised Land meant for Joshua and his generation, our altar means for us.

Our altar is a symbol of our commitment to the tradition we have inherited. It is the holy table where we reenact and remember Christ’s Last Supper, where we consume Christ’s body and blood in remembrance of Him. The altar represents for us stability, continuity, and faithfulness.

And the sacraments that we celebrate on this altar nourish us, and unite us, and strengthen us for God’s service in an ever-changing world. But, of course, God’s service today looks different in some important ways than it did fifty or a hundred or a thousand years ago.

And so, we do what Joshua and his people did. We come to the altar to remember the past in faith, to face the present with courage and love, and to live hopefully into God’s future, whatever it may bring.

That first altar in the Promised Land was dedicated at the beginning of Joshua’s term of leadership. Over the next few decades, a lot happened. More wars, but not only war. Joshua’s people made homes for themselves in the Promised Land. The generation of conquest grew old and prosperous. That’s when our reading for this morning picks up.

Joshua himself was coming to the end of his life. So, Joshua calls the people together one more time, this time at Shechem, the nearest town to the altar he had built all those years ago. This is Joshua’s final opportunity to address the people he has led so well for so long.

What Joshua does, here at the end of his life—he dies just three verses later—is another covenant renewal, much like the one he led at that first altar, all those years ago.

Joshua reminds the people that God had called their ancestor Abraham into a special relationship. Joshua encourages the people “to revere the Lord, and serve [God] in sincerity and faithfulness.” Joshua assures the people that he and his family “will serve the Lord.” And then Joshua tells the people to “choose this day whom you will serve,” the pagan gods of the land or the God of their father Abraham, the God.

That last bit may sound strange. At this point, the people have been faithfully serving God for their whole lives. But Joshua asks them to renew their commitment, to once again choose God, in a public and ritualized way.

When, as expected, the people promise to serve the Lord, Joshua reminds them that they are making a serious commitment, that serving God means putting away all foreign gods and doing the will of the Lord their God. The people repeat their promise to serve God.

Finally, Joshua again makes a covenant with them, and once again writes out the statutes and ordinances that should define their relationship with God.

All that is to say, Joshua does again, here at the end of his life, what he did with the people at the beginning of their lives in the Promised Land. He asks them to confirm their commitment to the traditions they have inherited, and he lays out for them the conditions of their lives going forward, in new circumstances, not as a conquering people but now as people living peacefully in the Promised Land.

Today, following Joshua’s example, we dedicate our altar.

But first, also following Joshua’s example, we will renew our baptismal covenant. We will affirm once again, in a public and ritualized way, our commitment to the teachings and lifestyle we have inherited. And we will make that old commitment new, we will commit to living out our baptismal covenant in the world around us as it is today, with all of its problems and with all of its joys.

On this historic morning, I give thanks for all that we have inherited. I give thanks for the gift of a new altar that symbolizes our commitment to our past. And I give thanks for the sustenance we will receive here as we strive to live out our faith in ever-new ways. In Christ’s name. Amen
1 Comment
Mary Moore
11/14/2023 11:57:18 am

Although I am not into rituals that much, there is a lot to be said for standing up publicly to declare one's beliefs or intentions. Recommitting after serious reflection is also beneficial to do on occasion. The latter can help reinforce the former.

p.s. Thank you for including the list of readings that go with the sermon. There have been times when I looked back at an old sermon, but had no clue as to what the context was. This helps immensely.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Rev. Harvey Hill
    Rector
    Rev. Dr. Harvey Hill
    Third Order Franciscan

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!

Picture
Donate
EMAIL: [email protected]

Hours

M-F: 11:00am - 1:00pm

Telephone

413-786-6133
ADDRESS                 
​699 Springfield Street,
Feeding Hills MA 01030
  • Welcome
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Our History >
      • 100 years
    • Our Beliefs
    • Our Facility >
      • Our Library
    • Building Rental
    • Testimonials
    • Leadership
    • Member Directory
    • Safe Church Policy
    • Episcopal Diocese of W Mass
    • Back to Basics
    • Vision for our Parish
  • Worship
    • Services
    • Services on YouTube >
      • May 2025
      • April 2025
      • March 2025
      • February 2025
      • January 2025
      • 2024 Services >
        • December 2024
        • November 2024
        • October 2024
        • September 2024
        • August 2024
        • July 2024
        • June 2024
        • May 2024
        • April 2024
        • March 2024
        • February 2024
        • January 2024
      • 2023 Services >
        • December 2023
        • November 2023
        • October 2023
        • September 2023
        • August 2023
        • July 2023
        • June 2023
        • May 2023
        • April 2023
        • March 2023
        • February 2023
        • January 2023
      • 2022 Services >
        • December 2022
        • November 2022
        • October 2022
        • September 2022
        • August 2022
        • July 2022
        • June 2022
        • May 2022
        • April 2022
        • March 2022
        • February 2022
        • January 2022
      • 2021 Services >
        • December 2021
        • November 2021
        • October 2021
        • September 2021
        • August 2021
        • July 2021
        • June 2021
        • May 2021
        • April 2021
        • March 2021
        • February 2021
        • January 2021
      • 2020 Services >
        • December 2020
        • November 2020
        • October 2020
        • September 2020
        • August 2020
        • July 2020
        • June 2020
        • May 2020
        • April 2020
    • Sermons
    • Holy Sacraments
    • Walk the Labyrinth
    • Parish Prayer Cycle
    • Country Prayer List
    • Bishop's Word
  • Events
    • Dove Tale Newsletter
    • Community Suppers
    • Episcopal Relief & Development
    • Fun & Fellowship
    • Photos
  • Ministries
    • Adult Education
    • Caregivers Ministry
    • Community Outreach
    • Creation Care Ministry
    • Healing Ministry
    • Veterans Ministry
    • Music Ministry
    • Prayer Shawl Ministry
    • Wine Ministry
    • Women's Ministry
    • Youth Ministry
  • Calendar
  • Contact