Among the many things for which Wood Allen is famous, he is famous for saying "80% of life is just showing up." Which begs the question, of course, what's the other 20%? If Woody's right, about the 80%, what do you think Joshua would say about that proportion? Today, both Joshua and Jesus say life is about commitment, and they don't make it sound like only 20%. To hear them, what we choose, and the level of commitment to that choice, is what our very lives depend on.

Joshua, as you know, is giving Israel his farewell address. Although part of his speech rehearses the story of Israel's rescue from Egypt and all the ways God fought on their behalf against the current residents of their Promised land, the lectionary committee skips that part, as if to say, "Concentrate on commitment for God's sake." Not because of the goodies we get out of God. God, after all, is committed to us just for the sake of the relationship, not because of anything we can do that God needs. And Jesus' thing about the 10 bridesmaids, some ready to go and some dithering and not quite all packed-it only reinforces Joshua's imperative. Choose! Choose today! Right now! Be ready!

Joshua, apparently, thinks Israel is too blasé as they choose God. In his mind, they answer too readily, parroting back his rehearsal of the Egypt and conquest story, as if they're saying, "We love God for what God has done." As if they are a "finished product," as if God was done with them. Joshua reminds them that commitments based on "what's in it for me" are commitments that fall apart too easily. When Israel protests their commitment to serving God alone, Joshua acquiesces and acknowledges "OK, commitment enough" to the covenant. We know, of course, that even Joshua's monument was never quite enough to keep Israel sticking to the deal. We hang religious plaques in our homes, carry prayer reminders, and wear crosses around our necks. Even their combined weight is not enough to keep us from catty comments, passing panhandlers on the street, and sleeping in Sunday mornings when we've had a rough week. Even when some Joshua in our lives offers their own life as witness to commitment-some Mother Teresa act-alike, some Gandhi type willing to die rather prove a point with violence or competition-even then, it's much easier to commit superficially to 27 different ministries than to risk the vulnerability of relationship face to face with the recipients of our largesse. "Do you know what you are choosing?" Joshua asks. "Are you willing to stake your life on God's providence, whether or not you end up successful?" Whatever "successful" means to us.

I know that I, personally, would rather attempt to save the world than share my lunch with someone at Sisters of the Road Café in downtown Portland. I'd rather fight global injustice than suffer the personal inconvenience of "reduce, reuse, recycle." I recently heard that if each US family used just one box of recycled Kleenex this year, rather than buying virgin tissues, we'd save whole forests worth of trees. Heifer Project works on the premise that, it may only be one bred heifer now, but in no time a whole village of kids has straight bones and the mental energy to learn to read. It may have been only one bus ride of not giving up her seat to a white man, but the eulogies at Rosa Parks' funeral showed that 50 years later the implications of that small act are still being lived out.

Our choices have consequences. Jesus' parable points out that, while it is easier to go along to get along, it's hard to both do that and still be God's person. It's easier to try out dangerous things, make cruel jokes on others or hurtful snide remarks to just fit in. Join certain clubs and teams for the sake of popularity. Keep your mouth shut while other kids try cigarettes or drugs. Just a beer because it looks so grown up. Commitment to Jesus' way of life-more than the famous 20%--is what he means by "being ready." He means present to relationship with God, listening for God's will, understanding there are implications to our choices. Throwing out the not-ready bridesmaids in the parable seems harsh, but it's no kindness to soft-pedal reality. Are you on the bus or are you off? Grace is there for everyone-but you've gotta accept it. Gandhi's wife, at least in the movie, told him, "Some of us don't want to be saints." That may be the case, but make sure that's really what you decided. You get no credit for being aware of God's commandments if you still fail to act on them.

My aunt used to comfort me with, "We always have choices." That's true whether we're facing an earth-shaking decision or whether we are making one of the thousand daily decisions of living. Paper or plastic? For here or to go? You want fries with that? To hear Joshua talk, our choices are actually about wholeness. We can choose to experience that health, wholeness, peace, shalom God promised Israel in their own land. To hear Joshua talk, the foundation of a life of wholeness is relationship with God.

But we're 21st century Americans. It's a little hard for us to believe that what this Bronze Age people was choosing is anything like what we're asked to choose. Think of health issues alone! We know so much about the causes of disease, our lives are so jam-packed, so stressful, so busy, the mere thought of being able to choose health is strange. We're inundated with so much information, so many conflicting demands, we become "victims" of our bodies. We're overweight, our arteries are clogged with fat, diabetes 2 is epidemic, even among children. Because of the choices we make. We're in freefall, allowing ourselves to be held captive by our bodies. If we're truly committed to stewardship of our bodies as well as our time and treasure, we must be proactive about our health choices as well. Be nice to your bodies, friends! Where else would you live?

A conversation with one of my Namaste friends this week reminded me of Joshua and God's providence. My friend is an artist. For the last year, she has been in the risky place of discovering she's called to devote herself fulltime to the ministries of art and spiritual direction/healing. There is nothing in the Help Wanted ads for that position, but she has been finding that, when she trusts that God will provide, she gets by. The math doesn't work, she says, but following her sense of call, she keeps doing her art, opening herself to spiritual healing for others. As she sees what she does as ministry, enough money is provided. God doesn't just ask for her time or the use of her gifts. God insists that, as she gives herself away, she choose to trust as well. As we talked, my friend and I discovered that the issue is choosing, but not in a catastrophic or apocalyptic sense. It's about the thousands of choices we make every day. Choices that define who we are and whose we are. Choices about mundane, almost incidental things. But choices on which our lives depend. The very choices in which our lives are expressed.

Jesus' parable about the bridesmaids asks us to be faithful disciples now, because we don't know when Judgment will come. We must understand that serving the Lord is a matter of daily decisions, daily presence to God and those around us. We are to be attuned to the impact our choices make on others, as well as on ourselves. Our choices do have consequences. To avoid choosing is also a choice, but that's a "no" choice. And that may not be what we intend. Choose. Your very lives depend on your choosing.

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