Sermon: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Sermon: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

February 17, 2013; St. John’s Episcopal Church & Cohen Home

So, take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land, that God is giving you, and present it to God.

Give the first fruit to God.  This is not a demand regarding a sacrifice of animals or the gift of money, but this is a commandment to give to God the first fruits that come from your land.  According to Jewish tradition, the best of the harvest was brought into the temple in Jerusalem, with the first fruits being a bit of each of the seven native species to the land.  These were wheat, barley, grapes, olives, figs, pomegranates and dates. 

So, let’s do it.  Let’s give God the first fruits of our harvest.  You’ve got some grapes, right?  What about pomegranates?  Do dates grow in South Dakota?

In my limited time here, I know that these are not the fruits of our land.  This commandment to the Israelites and to us is not about WHAT the first fruits are, but that we give our first fruits, whatever they are, to God, as recognition that God has fulfilled the promise that God made to free God’s people from slavery and oppression.  God is giving us this land already and we take the best of what has grown in this land and give it back to God.

In Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking directly to the Israelites.  He tells them that the Lord has brought us out of slavery, out of the bad stuff.  Check.  God has given us this land, flowing with milk and honey.  Check.  The very fact that fruit and grain are growing in the land is proof that God has already done what God promised! 

What are the first fruits of our lives?  I’m not a pomegranate farmer, but I really love my family.  I feel blessed to be here, in this community, learning every day from each one of you. 

Perhaps this driveway, alternating between dust that stings our eyes and gumbo that devours our shoes doesn’t really seem like the land of milk and honey, but it is.  This is God’s land, which is not cut up by state borders or reservation lines.  This is the land that God has created, all of it, all over the world, and has promised us new life through Jesus Christ.  This is the milk and honey, the sweet nectar, the nourishment and extravagance of love.

This also calls us to celebrate what God has already done, as people of 2013.  We celebrate this freedom, this life, with providing our first fruits, the best of our hands and our hearts.  Lent is not preparing for Jesus Christ to be crucified again.  This has already happened, just as God promised.  Lent is centering ourselves to remember what God has already done, through the exodus of our people, through the gift of Jesus Christ, through new life and placing us in the land of milk and honey. 

And let’s be honest, this land of milk and honey, the promised land, the good stuff?  Doesn’t always appear so good here.  Yes, the phenomenon of dust AND gumbo in the driveway, but what about the problem after problem that we lift up in our prayer concerns every day and every week?  Addiction.  Health problems.  Lack of funds.  Death all around us.  Children who go home to violent households.  People who are beaten or attacked simply for what family they’re a part of.  Living day to day, not knowing if there is going to be food in your stomach or gas in your tank.  How is this, THIS reality of not knowing and struggling with the fear, anxiety, hopelessness, depression and violence living in the promised land of God?

Most days, life here feels more like the wilderness wanderings.  When I read the obituaries or hear the stories every day of people running out of money to take care of basic needs, I don’t feel like we’re living in the good part.  I feel like we’re still roaming around in the dark, hoping and waiting for some guidance.

Even though it may feel like the same path, we’re not in exodus anymore.  Jesus Christ came into our lives and led us out of the desert and into a life rich with the fruits and grains of community, love, fellowship and hope. 

Perhaps instead of seeing Lent as forty days to wander dismally through darkness, knowing that we are dust and that Jesus Christ’s death is imminent, let’s focus on the joyful journey to Jerusalem, the one where we march triumphantly into the city, praising God for the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ and to sing our gratitude to God with thankful hearts and voices for fulfilling the promise that we will be in a land of milk and honey.  Out of God’s bounty, we choose to present our first gifts, our best gifts, first to God, in appreciation for what God has done.  We remember the past journeys, the harder days and lift up that God pulled us through them.  God, we rejoice over Tim Kindle’s successful transplant.  God, we rejoice that Mildred and Myron’s chickens are laying eggs again.  God, we rejoice that this congregation provided an amazing Christmas to the entire community.  God, we rejoice that each one of us has life, air in our lungs, people who love us and who we love, and the opportunity to gather together in this space to worship you, God, our creator. 

Consider the first fruits also as the spirit plate, prepared to honor the Creator and feed creation, before we feed ourselves.  This is offering up the food which we will also nourish our bodies with, recognizing that Tunkashilah has already created us and provided for us in this place. 

God has provided for us and will continue to provide for us, just as God promised to the Israelites.  By offering up our gifts, our first gifts of ourselves in joyful praise of God in our hearts, we declare from the mountaintops that we trust God.  Believing in the promise of this land of milk and honey means that we put one foot in front of the other, dancing and singing our way into Jerusalem, praising God for creating us as living beings, capable of loving, hoping, laughing, forgiving and supporting.  And for this, we rejoice.