Sermon from Sunday, October 9, 2016

Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11  (On Thanksgiving Sunday we often look back at early North American Thanksgiving stories – the Pilgrims in the American colonies, and before that Martin Frobisher on Baffin Island.  Today we look back even farther than that, to the first Thanksgivings of the people of Israel – our spiritual ancestors.

After being set free from Egypt and journeying forty years in the wilderness, when Israel finally enters and takes possession of the Promised Land, they face the task of how to handle its bounty in a faithful way. 

In a sermon purported to be by Moses, they are told to take the first part of each year's harvest to the priest, to offer it in thanks to God for what the land has yielded.  The prayer that is to be said with the offering calls to mind three facts of Israel's life -- the wandering of Abraham, their father; their slavery in Egypt, liberation, and desert journey with God; and the undeserved gift of the rich land they are now in.  Then the instruction ends with a command to be grateful and to let others share in the celebration.)

BRIAN:

Man, look at all this stuff!  What a good year!  The harvest is great.

What a gift finally to be living in Canaan!  It was so long in coming, but God is good.  We’re here!  We’ve arrived!  This really is a land of milk and honey, a land of promise.  As far as I’m concerned we live in the best country in the world and we’re so fortunate to have everything we need.

So come on – let’s haul it in, store it away, keep it safe, and enjoy.  Our harvest, our food, our bounty, the blessings of our land!

BRYNNA:

Whoa!  Hold on just a minute!

What do you mean “our harvest,” “our food,” “our bounty,” and “the blessings of our land?”

Maybe I’m crazy, but does it sound a bit like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings going on and on about “my precious?”  You know, the ring of power he totally ruined himself over – the way he was always so obsessively protecting it as his special gift, ruining his whole life and losing his soul by trying to make it his special treasure in the world?

I mean, wasn’t this a good country before we got here?  With other people enjoying it long before us?

Because we’re not the first nation here – and we’re still not the only one.  It was a land of milk and honey for the original tribes of Canaan long before us – and they’re actually still around.

So wasn’t this land was God’s gift to them, too.  And did God want them to stop enjoying life in this land just because we finally made it to the Jordan River, and were able to cross over to live here?

It makes me wonder whose land, this land of milk and honey really is. 

Whether it’s anyone’s.  Or whether it’s really only God’s?  Just one part of God’s one good Earth? 

And does this maybe make it – and all its milk and honey, really everyone’s?

BRIAN:

Hmmm … you have a point and I get it.  All the Earth is God’s – all its goodness is a gift of God – not a possession – not even a reward – but a gift of God’s goodness – part of God’s goodness – part of Earth’s total goodness.

So … why don’t we make this part here an offering to God?

It’s the first part of the harvest – the best and the happiest part … we don’t need to be selfish … let’s remember God and honour God’s good will by letting go of this part – and then we can enjoy the rest … the other nine-tenths … and maybe then God will bless us even more!

JEFF:

Hey … did I just hear you say “more?”  When did we start using the language of “more”? 

Isn’t that what the Egyptians were always talking about, and obsessing about?  More food.  More money.  More power.  More land.  More control.  More work.  More hours.  More sacrifice by the slaves in the system.

And yeah, they built great things because of it – things that will stand for centuries and that people will marvel at, and travel thousands of miles to see, even millennia from now.

But at what price?  At what human cost?  At what cost to the Earth?

I remember how scary the wilderness was at first when we left the culture of “more” behind.  There IS something weirdly reassuring about it, as though with “more” we can be our own salvation.

But out there in the wilderness, there was also something freeing when instead of thinking about “more” we learned the meaning of “enough.”

I know it’s not easy to let go of “more.”  The message of “more” is all around us.  And sometimes the drive for more is what makes us do our best. 

 And how do we know when what we have is “enough?” 

It’s never easy to work it out in real life. 

But still I hope the promised land doesn’t make us lose the good news of “enough.” 

BRIAN:

I know you’re right.  “More” is so oppressive and deadly; because there is never an end to it, is there? 

And it’s not just about greed.  It’s more about restlessness, isn’t it?  About fear and anxiety.  About dis-satisfaction, dis-ease, something lacking inside us that we think we can fix by having more.

But “enough” … how wonderful that sounds … how full and at rest and at peace; reminds me of something someone here once told me – that we don’t need more, to be thankful; we just need to be more thankful.

So what do we do then, when we clearly have more than enough?  What good reason can there be for there being so much milk and honey, if we already have enough?

ROBYN:

Well … I don’t want to be a nag … but if I could chime in …

There’s one more thing that makes us God’s people in the world – something way back in the beginning, back in our spiritual DNA, way back before Egypt and the wilderness and the gift of being led by God to a land of milk and honey. 

Remember Abraham?  And the three promises God gave him?

One – that God would give him a great family.  Two – that God would lead his family to this land, even though Abraham had no idea where it was.  And three – that through Abraham and his family, all the world would be blessed – that all nations would be blessed by him and through him, by and through his family on Earth.

 

All the milk and honey are not just for us, are they?  It’s for the good of all the world, isn’t it?  And we’re here to help that come true. 

And can there be anything better, than to have some part like that in making God’s good will me true for the goodness and well-being of all the Earth, all its people, and all its creatures?

BRIAN:

Wow!  It sounds so simple.

And really it is.  And even more than all the milk and honey – more than all the good things we have in life – maybe this is the best thing to be thankful for – the chances we have to be among those in any nation on Earth who play some part in making God’s good will come true for all the Earth.