The Great Divide

My major in undergraduate school was geography.  That is a far cry from what I do now, but the degree did prepare me well for my secular job as a municipal planner.  There are lots of applicable disciplines that relate to geography as a science, including demography, sociology, and statistics.  But that work happened decades ago, and I have moved on from that life.  However, every once in a while, some subject comes back into mind that relates both to that life and the life of a pastor.

Last week I was thinking of a Kate Wolf song called, The Great Divide.  It is a wonderful song that would be fitting for a folk music concert or a campfire.  For today, however, I want to focus on the geographical term and the spiritual concept.  There is a line, running North to South, from Canada through Mexico, called the Great Divide. It is the line, roughly tracking the highest elevations in the Rocky Mountains, where water drains either East toward the Atlantic and the Gulf, or drains west to the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.  But there is another Great Divide.

We have been (this is the last week) reading the Nicene Creed.  There is a sense that this, and the Apostle's Creed,  are lines of separation.  We either believe the Biblical foundation of the creeds (who God said He was in Father, Son, and Spirit) or we believe some other extra-Biblical source.  In layman's terms, we (in the Global Methodist Church and in other Orthodox denominations) believe the Bible and the early Church Councils, are correct.  Why is this important?

Last week, we read from the Book of Joshua.  In Joshua 24:14-15, Joshua realizes that our focus on foundational, Scriptural, beliefs defines who we are and how we interact with our world.  Joshua renews the Covenant between the people and God at Shechem.  He gathers all the tribes and leaders of Israel and makes a proclaimation that is truly the Great Divide.  In verse 15, Joshua announces, "Choose this day whom you will serve ... whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  It was a watershed moment.  A time of both division and unity.  Would the people flow in the direction of the Lord, or will they flow into the sewer of the culture?  Belief is important.  Belief is upheld by the word of God, the power of the Spirit, the person of Christ, and the blessing of the Father.  Choose this day whom you will serve!