Dorothy Churn LaPenta
Hope Presbyterian Church
Mitchellville, Md
1st Sunday in Lent
February 21, 2010
Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
FIRST FRUITS
“Deuteronomy knows that when a people forget their past they lose their present and future”[i]
Dr. Craig Barnes of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary tells of a student inquiring as to the reason behind the seminary’s insistence on these core courses in theology, biblical studies, Greek and Hebrew and church history. “When do we get to study something relevant?” Dr. Barnes thought, “Ah, it’s the old ‘what do thousands of years of inherited tradition have to do with me?’ argument.” Barnes asked the student to have a seat. Here’s the thing. The seminary requires core courses because it wants pastors to be scholars of the inherited Christian drama and your future parishioners will count on you to be well trained as a holy story teller.[ii]
When a people forget their past they lose their present and future.
Last week at our session meeting, I held up a copy of the second part of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church USA, the Book of Confessions. I told the session we would be using this in our reflections for this coming year. The book contains confessions of the Reformed tradition, written by people of faith who have walked the journey before us, placing faith and time and place in conversation through these confessions.
When a people forget their past they lose their present and future.
February is celebrated as Black History Month because for so long African Americans and their role in the development of this nation had been left out of history books. In 1926, Carter Woodson started a movement for the purpose of remembering African Americans. The month of February was selected because it marked the birthdays of two Americans who greatly influenced the lives and social conditions of African Americans in this country, Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.
When a people forget their past they lose their present and future.
Gail Collins, a New York Time Op-Ed columnist has a new book about the journey of American women from 1960 to the present called “When Everything Changed.” She begins the book by telling the story of a secretary who went to traffic court in 1960 to pay her boss’s speeding ticket. When she approached the bench, the magistrate exploded and had her ejected from the court for wearing slacks. Collins ends her book by telling about a woman who in 2007 was fired for refusing to wear slacks in her job as a New York City bus driver. The stories in between chronicle 40 years beginning with women needing to get their husband’s signature to have a credit card and ending with a woman candidate for president.[iii]
When a people forget their past they lose their present and future.
So….
“What does a wandering Aramean have to do with us?”
The Book of Exodus gives the people of Israel the law and just to make sure they get it, the Book of Deuteronomy does it again. Scholars believe that Deuteronomy was written over several centuries, probably sometime between the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel and the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. That would cover the time from about 727BCE to 535 BCE. The book concerns itself with the early history of the people of Israel, arriving and settling in the Promised Land. Maintenance of the covenant relationship between Israel and God through the rule of faith and law is the primary concern of Deuteronomy.[iv]
The season of Lent focuses on the examination of our lives in the humble acknowledgment of our need to come before God, to repent and to see our lives in the light of what God wants for us and all human kind. Lent turns us away from human agendas. We engage in this self-examination, not in isolation, but as we journey to the cross with Jesus and come to understand once again exactly what it was that was done for us on that cross.
But it is not intended that the season of Lent be void of praise and thanksgiving for all that God has done for us. The texts from Deuteronomy this morning are some of the most beautiful and meaningful words in scripture, commanding the people in praise and thanksgiving. The text instructs us in worship.
Take the first fruits that you harvest from the land you possess because God gave it to you, and don’t sit down at your table and start eating, but place those very first fruits in a basket and take it to the place where God dwells (the place of worship), give it to the priest and when the priest lays it on the altar you. And as you give your offerings
Repeat the story of your deliverance. Repeat the story of your salvation. Describe those events rooted in your memory that brought you to this land of milk and honey after a long journey in the wilderness. And name the One who did forsake the people in the middle of the journey. Repeat the story of your deliverance. Repeat the story of your salvation.
Because when people forget their past they lose their present and future.
Then after you have given your offering and repeated the story, bow down to God and celebrate not just with those who came with you, but with all the Levites and the aliens who reside among you. Celebrate with all the bounty the Lord God has given you and your house.[v]
A wandering Aramean is also OUR ancestor. We are marked by the same journey and shaped by the same faithfulness; God’s faithfulness to us; “Great is thy faithfulness!” We belong to the same God who never forsakes a people in the middle of the journey.
In this act of worship of worship written in Deuteronomy, we learn worship:
Worship is based on the experience and expression of gratitude before God.[vi] In the season of Lent, we often engage in spiritual disciplines to help us become closer to that journey to the cross which Jesus took, to help us become closer to God and aligned with God’s will.
Expressing gratitude is a spiritual discipline. We bring our offerings out of thanksgiving and gratitude and these are to be the first fruits, before we even tend to our own needs and responsibilities, we offer thanks and praise and remember the story of faith God has given to us.
Worship is based on remembering this story, recalling those who have gone before us in the faith and remembering what has been done for us in this inherited Christian drama; remembering the past so that we can learn and hold onto what is of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit work for changing what is not God’s will and ways.
What happens to our sense of self when our priorities are only based on what we think is relevant to us? The assumption behind the relevance agenda is that we are on our own to construct life as best as we can. Our choices depend only on what is relevant to our cherished selves.[vii] What happens to our sense of self when we forget the cross and the journey which led to it?
With thanksgiving, offerings and praise, we remember who we are and to whom we belong. We remember who created us, who came to be with us and for us, who has been with us on the journey and who will not forsake us. We remember the one who delivers and saves for we cannot do that for ourselves.
So, in this season of Lent, remember that God is the true owner of all that we have, so give back to God what is God’s to begin with, praise God and repeat the story, remember the past so that we can be prepared to receive the present and the future that God has planned for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit Amen!
[i] Archie Smith “Feasting On The Word” Year C Volume 2, Lent through Eastertide
[ii] Craig Barnes, “Our Life Story” Christian Century, February 9, 2010, p 33.
[iii] Gail Collins, “When Everything Changed:The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present” Little, Brown and Company, 2009
[iv] Eugene March “Feasting On The Word”
[v] Thomas Currie “Feasting On The Word”
[vi] Archie Smith “Feasting On The Word”
[vii] Craig Barnes “Our Life Story” Christian Century, February 9, 2010, p.33