By Jim Brenneman, president
Scripture: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 (NRSV)
Life is a journey. All of us live in the in-between-ness of past and future. Very few of us live our whole lives in one place. Even those who do, see the world by way of internet, travel-shows on television or by reading a good novel or Bible stories such as today’s Lenten text (Deut. 26:1-11). In short, we are time-travelers, on a journey, “resident aliens,” wanderers all.
Moses reminds his people that life is a journey. They are standing on the banks of the Jordan River about to cross over into the “promised land.” Moses describes for them an annual first-fruits ceremony he wants them to perform after they arrive there. He tells them to recite a credo that begins with, “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor. . .” that recounts their life as wanderers, travelers, sometimes in captivity, sometimes oppressed, often refugees, people en route, from there to here, from then to now, from past to future. He doesn’t want them to think that settling down means that life comes to a stand-still. It does not.
The lenten-season marks the in-between-ness of time before the promise of resurrection. It’s a place-holder on the journey to remind us that sometimes the best insight happens only in hindsight.
Today, as we stand at our own river banks looking across stormy waters to the promise of a better future, let us join our ancient ancestors in an annual reminiscence of previous wanderings, captivities, losses and gains. And let us, like them, reflect on how God has been with us and will be with us on our journey from here to there, from then to now, from past to future, from death to resurrection. And let us celebrate with each other “all the bounty that the Lord our God has given us.”
Prayer: In our many life wanderings, O Lord, hear our cry for help, see our affliction, our toil, our oppression. Bring us out with your mighty hand and outstretched arm, with signs and wonders. Bring us into the promised land flowing with milk and honey. And with our ancestors, we offer you the first fruits of our bounty and our thanksgiving, forever and ever, Amen.
Scripture: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 (NRSV)
When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. 3You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” 4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, 5you shall make this response before the Lord your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.” You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. 11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.