Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.

Everyone sorry for the delay in getting this episode out. I was sick yesterday, still a little under the weather. So you'll notice a difference in the recording quality. Please forgive me for that. This week, we're finishing up the sermon series on raising children in the faith. So the readings are a little different from the lectionary. The reading that I've chosen for the Old Testament for this upcoming Sunday comes from Joshua chapter four, verses one through seven. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people, each from each tribe, a man and commend them saying, take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan. And from the very place where the priest feet stood firmly, bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel whom he had appointed a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you, when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you, then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel, a memorial forever. Here ends the reading. This reading follows up on an important story in the history of Israel. Just before this, Joshua and the people were on the far side of the Jordan. And God instructed the priests to take the Ark of the Covenant and walk into the Jordan River. And where they did this, the Jordan River would stop and pile up on where the the ark was, and everything underneath it would be dry. So the people of Israel crossed into the Jordan River, very similar to the way that they crossed the Red Sea when Moses was around. Now, this time, God has a plan with Joshua, to help the people of Israel. Remember, they didn't do a great job of remembering what God had done when they crossed the Red Sea, or with the manna, or with the quail or anything like that. They just kept fighting against God. So what God tells Joshua to do is pick up 12 stones. And he says, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, this may be a sign among you, when your children asked in time to come, what did these stones mean to you, then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. The idea behind these stones is that they would take them out and pile them up and make it into a monument that would remind God's people about the event that happened. And God anticipates something here, he anticipates the children going by and seeing these these stones and going, Huh, that's weird. stones don't pile up like that all on their own. What's going on here? And it would be an opportunity for the congregation of Israel, whether the parents or others to say, Do you remember the story? Do you remember what God did for us? This is a way to incorporate the history of God's promises into the life of Israel. And we as a congregation have a number of ways that we do that. We incorporate the history of God's work through our divine service, through reading and speaking about God. And it's the entire congregations efforts along in partnership with the parents to help pass this on and tell these stories. And so, Joshua, and God set up this memorial for all time, that these stones will then be there to remind God's people of his work and his promises. And what a great way to incorporate that into the life of Israel as a physical reminder of what God has done and how he promised to to bring salvation to God's people by bringing them into the Promised Land. That's it for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai