For the LORD has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the LORD.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the LORD. – Joshua 22:25

The Israelites heard about an alter built on their territory they did not build and believed it to be an alter for another god or idol. When they confronted the people of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh who had in fact built the alter, they realized it was indeed an alter to worship the one and only true God and the eastern tribes had built it as a “witness” for all to see they worship the God of Israel.

When I read this story, I am reminded of how some congregations tend to treat each other today. Say for example, you hear about a church across town doing a series of Sex. You are dumb founded that a church would do something like this and declare “war” on them by bad mouthing them to your friends, telling your pastor, making rude phone calls, sending sour emails, etc. However, if you had just taken the time to go over to the leaders of the church and asked them what they were doing, you might just walk away in support of their actions.

That is the difference between what the Israelites did and what so many of us forget to do today. We hear about something negative and we just harbor the animosity and spread gossip that probably isn’t true. If we would just get over our pride for 30 seconds and ask the person or people about what you heard, I bet the interpretation of the story would be completely different.

This is a basic communication skill. When confronted with information you are supposed to take three steps: 1) gather details about what you are hearing or seeing, 2) make at least two possible interpretations about the data, and 3) ask the source for clarification. Description, interpretation, clarification.

So what does that have to do with worship? Think about how offended people get when they hear a certain style of music or upset they get when the worship looks more like a concert than “worship.” If those people would do as the Israelites and find out for themselves where the heart of those involved is and what they believe, there would be a lot less confusion and a ton more unity. They may never like it, but they may begin to understand and appreciate it. And that’s a start.