At the Crossroads

Reverend Philip Stringer

Proverbs 8:1-4

LET US PRAY: O merciful Father in Heaven. You give the knowledge of your saving help -- a comfort to your people. Feed our hearts with your Holy Word, and make our hearts instruments of your glory, today and all days. AMEN

The trail at Newfound Gap.

We stand at a crossroads. That phrase is often used on occasions of great change. In 1861, our nation and President Lincoln stood at a crossroads — would we continue to be a nation which tolerated enslavement or not? Would Lincoln and Congress allow states to secede or not? To say that we “stand at a crossroads,” often means we are at a moment when historic choices must be made, but the truth is that we have ALWAYS stood at a crossroads. We always will.

Because each moment is a moment of choice. To “stay the course” and keep doing what we are doing, or change direction, change objectives, change priorities.

Today, the Word of God proclaims an important truth to us — reminds us of a truth greater than are we — greater than the moment in which we stand — and that truth is that Wisdom stands at the crossroads.

Before Abraham Lincoln.

Before Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Before Martin Luther took his stand.

Before Copernicus.

Before Genghis Kahn.

Before Christ crucified.

Before Moses and Abraham.

Before the heavens and earth.

Before there was light and dark.

Before all things, Wisdom was there. And remains there.

Wisdom stands at the crossroads, and because of that, you need not fear.

When we are faced with life’s great challenges and wrestle with discerning between right and wrong — it is well for us to remember.

Today, the Word of God says to us, “Do not be afraid.”

There is a quote from the movie director, James Cameron:

“Hope is not a strategy.” It is a statement that has resonated in culture. There is a book on business that took the quote as its title.

Yesterday my family took me to see the newest Mission Impossible movie for Father’s Day, and I actually heard it stated in the movie: Hope is not a strategy — and when one is speaking merely of being optimistic, it is true. The word, “hope,” when used in this context, denotes a fantasy in which someone longs for a desire to become reality.

I hope it doesn’t rain today.

I hope the Cubs win the World Series.

I hope that this year’s hurricane season is mild.

I hope everything goes as planned.

These are all fantasies that one might want to become reality.

It involves an element of good luck. “I hope I roll a seven on the dice.”

Mr. Cameron is right — this kind of hope is not a strategy. It is passive — it is a wish — and all the wishing in the world won’t affect an outcome.

But that statement does not understand holy hope.

When Paul speaks of hope, he isn’t speaking about this passive, wishful kind of “hope.” Paul is speaking about being grounded in truth. He is talking about building one’s life on a firm foundation;

a solid starting point;

a sure and certain hope —

a confidence in a fact.

That foundation — the starting point and basis for how one lives, how one views the world and the basis upon which one makes decisions is this: That we are enfolded in God’s love.

I should probably look up the official definition of “grace,” but I have my own definition. Grace is love in action.

God is love, and in great love for us, Jesus suffered death on the cross. Out of love for us, God bore the brunt of hate and overcame it.

Hate threw the worst it had at love — but love endured. Love endures.

God is love. And before God created the heavens and the earth — Love was there. Lady Wisdom, proclaimed throughout Scripture, is God’s own self.

Jesus Christ crucified and raised is the ultimate expression of the wisdom of God, and foundation upon which we see ourselves, each other and all of creation.

“On the heights, beside the way,

at the crossroads she takes her stand;

beside the gates in front of the town,

at the entrance of the portals she cries out:

“To you, O people, I call,

and my cry is to all who live.

“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,

the first of his acts of long ago. . .

“… I was beside him, like a master worker,

and I was daily his delight,

playing before him always,

playing in his inhabited world

and delighting in the human race.”

You and I are living in one of those historic moments of time. It is a moment of great change for our nation and for the world. We stand at a crossroads. There are choices to be made, and each one of us must make them.

Crossroads can be places of opportunity. Crossroads can lead to peace and prosperity or to suffering and peril — and because of that, the crossroads can be a frightening place to be.

But do not be afraid. You do not stand at the crossroads alone. Wisdom is there. Before all things — before this moment and before there was even a crossroads, the love of God was there.

I can’t tell you what your individual choices should be. I can’t tell you what will happen to our nation and to the world. People and groups of people will make their decisions and for good or ill, history will play out the consequences of those actions.

But what I CAN tell you is that the wisdom of God — the love of God — is at the heart of every good choice and every good action. So, when you are faced with choices — when you find yourself at a crossroads — remember that the wise choice is always the loving choice.

If you sense that hate and prejudice and fear and control are at the heart of a person’s choice, then you can be sure that there is no wisdom in it.

If you sense that your choices are rooted in fear or hate or a need to control — then that should signal to you that you are not acting in love.

Everything good comes from love — and the wise know that love endures all things.

Before all things there was the love of God — and when all is said and done — when all human decisions— be they for good or ill — are done, the love of God will still be there.

When all is said and done, you will still be held safely within the love of God.

When we live by faith in the power of God’s love, we live with a sure and certain hope. And hope does not, does not disappoint.

AMEN