Giving Thanks (Deuteronomy 26:1-11)

1. A Long Road

For I-don’t-know-how-many generations, the Hebrews were in slavery in Egypt. Eventually they cried out, and God heard their cry, and God liberated them by commissioning Moses to be a prophet and their deliverer.

But the road to freedom was long and hard. It took them forty years of wandering in the wilderness before they reached the promised land. 

The road we travel on today often feels long and hard. There are so many struggles and challenges that people are facing - that many of you are facing. 

It’s tempting to say, “Well, when things get better…;” or, “When I reach my destination…;” or, “once I get through this difficult time I’m in…”

“... then I will celebrate…then I will rejoice…then I will give thanks and praise to the Lord…”

2. Never Forget

Things weren’t better, yet for the Hebrew people. They were getting close, but they hadn’t yet reached their destination. Their difficult journey wasn’t quite over, yet…

And yet, knowing that they were almost there, and knowing that God would fulfill God’s promises, Moses called the people together, and said to them:

“Never forget. Never forget all the promises God has already fulfilled. Never forget all that God has done for you. Never forget all the blessings you have received from God. 

“Yes! Even in the midst of a journey that is long and hard, and filled with struggles and challenges, never forget that you have so many reasons to be thankful to God.”

It’s hard to be thankful when times are tough. I’m particularly aware of that this morning, when the first news headline I read is about another mass shooting in Colorado targeting the LGBTQ community. Five people died overnight, and eighteen were injured. 

It’s hard to be thankful when times are tough. I’m particularly aware of that on this Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we remember the countless lives lost due to acts of transphobic violence.

It’s hard to be thankful when times are tough.

Maybe that’s why the Hebrew people needed to hear what Moses had to say at that particular point in their journey. Maybe they needed to know that, no matter how tragic or difficult things are, there are still reasons to be thankful. 

It’s not that we have been spared difficult times… That is what some of us wish, that these difficult times would never have happened, would never have come to us. 

But it’s that, through everything, God has been present. Through everything, God has been with us. Through everything, we have been loved - just as those who are waking up to tragedy today are still, in spite of everything, loved deeply.

Moses’ instructions to the people were that when they did finally enter the promised land, they were to remember their story. They were to remember their long journey - and how God was with them the entire way. 

Oh, there were times when they wanted to give up. There were times when they wanted to return to Egypt - that’s how difficult the journey was. There were times when they felt that God had abandoned them, and times when they wanted to abandon God.

But somehow, through it all, God never gave up on them, and the people learned to not give up on God. 

This is what they needed to remember. This is what they needed to give thanks for.

3. First Fruit

Moses told the people to make an offering of the first part of the harvest - a “first fruit” offering. 

Before you decide how to divide up the harvest, take a portion, and offer it to God.

And when you make your offering, be sure to tell the church why you are making your offering. Be sure to tell your children why you are making your offering. 

Tell them the story of what God has done for you, and how this is your way of showing gratitude to God. Tell them the story of how God has been present in your life, and how God has been with you and strengthened you on every difficult journey.

Do you do this? When you make an offering, do you tell anyone why? Do you tell the story of what God has done for you, with you, through you, and why you are grateful for that?

I admit, I do not do this very well. I write a check to the church, but I do it very quietly. When they were growing up, I don’t even think my children knew I did this. Maybe they still don’t. Because, you know - who really wants to talk about money?

But it’s not about money. Not really. It’s about showing gratitude to God. It’s about living a life of gratitude; a life of thanksgiving.

4. Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.

You may be familiar with the studies that have been done, which show how practicing gratitude helps improve your life. 

I’ve read books and articles that say things like, Before you go to bed, make a list of things you are thankful for. Write these down in a “gratitude journal.” If you have children, ask them at the dinner table to name three things that happened that day that they are thankful for…and maybe one thing they wish had been different - one thing they struggled with. 

Don’t overlook the bad, the struggles, the hardships, but be sure that the number of things you’re grateful for outnumber the things you wish were different.

Someone I follow on Twitter decided to make November a month of thankfulness, to tweet thanks and gratitude all month long. That sounded great to me! At the beginning of the month, I said “I’m in!” and I started doing the same. And it felt good.

But then, you know, we had the election, with too many people giving their opinions about why certain things happened or didn’t happen on Election Day, without really knowing what they’re talking about; and simultaneously, Twitter started imploding (thanks to Elon Musk’s changes); and I realized it was not good for my mental state to be spending time on Twitter. 

Fortunately for me, I still have my sermons; and spending time here is a much healthier environment for me than spending time on Twitter. Don’t you agree? 

And I hope you noticed, last week, that my sermon was filled with gratitude and thanks for what God is doing in the life of this congregation. I’m going to continue that today.

Because the more we are able to feel gratitude and harness gratitude, the more joy we will have; even in the midst of difficult, tumultuous times! And the more joy we have, the more gratitude we have. They both keep building each other until joy and gratitude are overflowing!

And joy is contagious. It’s what attracts people to the good news of Christ. I think joy might be good thing for us to work on in 2023. Our world needs more joy. We need more joy.

And more joy can be ours, if we learn to practice gratitude in the good times and the bad times.

Yes, ministry in the 21st century is challenging. This is the most tumultuous time in Christian history since the reformation 500 years ago. We are on a difficult journey. Carrying out this ministry is a struggle.

But even in the struggle, and even in the midst of all the challenges we face, we have been blessed, and we have so much to be thankful for.

When we offer thanks and express gratitude, we don’t ignore the struggles and the challenges. But we do it, because we have been blessed; and also, expressing gratitude and developing hearts that are grateful hearts, actually helps us more successfully face our current and future struggles and challenges.

And let us remember that Moses’ instructions to remember and be thankful is in the context of offering. We collect an offering every Sunday. Every Sunday, we are invited to place our offering in the cross in the back, or to mail in our offering, or to contribute online via our website…

So when you make your offering, remember why. Remember what you have to be thankful for. Remember the ways God has blessed you in your life, and through the ministry of the church.

For me, as I look out at those of you gathered here in person for worship: I see you, and I am thankful for you. For your presence and participation. For your prayers. For the gifts you offer to this church.

And for the way you continue growing in love, always extending God’s love to those who are hurting, always extending God’s love to every single person God created.

I see you, and I’m thankful for you. Each and every one of you.

And those who worship with us online - it’s harder for me to see you, at least in a literal sense. But I do see you, and I’m thankful for you - for your presence and participation, for your prayers, and for the gifts you offer to this church.

I see you, and I’m thankful for you.

Turn to someone and say: “I see you, and I’m thankful for you.”

And I know we each have a story to tell, about how we have been blessed by the ministry of this church - but we don’t have time to share all that. So turn back to that person and just say one thing about this church that you’re thankful for, or one way that you have been blessed by this church.

Caught in the Current (Deuteronomy 26:1-11)

The season of Lent has the potential to be the most spiritually significant time of year for Christians who are serious about growing deeper in faith.

We began the season of Lent this past week, on Ash Wednesday.  A group of us gathered here on Wednesday evening to mark the occasion, to have ashes placed on our foreheads, and to be reminded of where we have come from.  We took notice of which direction our lives are facing, and then made a commitment, over the next 40 days, to figure out what changes we need to make, what course alterations, so that we may get back to moving in the direction that God would have us travel.

It is a season of paying attention.  I mentioned Wednesday night that life has a way of pulling us along, and we’re not even aware of it… like a leaf floating down a stream:  the leaf isn’t doing anything.  It is completely passive; and yet it is moving on a journey that can take it very far from where it began, and possibly, very far from where it wants to go.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like this is how my life goes.  I’m not really paying attention, I’m not intentional about where I’m going, and so the current of the stream just pulls me along where it wants to go.  And I don’t realize where I’m going until, hopefully, I wake up, look around, and say, “hey, wait a minute; this isn’t where I want to be.”  And I realize that I have to work to get back to where I want to be.

That’s what Lent does for me.

How about you?  As life pulls you downstream, do you even know where you are going?  Do you know where you are right now, and how you got there?  Are you actively charting your course, or are you as passive and unaware as that leaf?

The season of Lent is 40 days long.  The number 40 is significant.  For 40 days, Jesus was alone in the wilderness, separated from society.  You could say that, for those 40 days, he pulled himself out of the stream, in order to figure out what direction the stream was flowing, and what direction God was calling him to. 

In those 40 days, he learned that the stream of humanity tends to pull ambitious men toward wealth and power.  By stepping out of the stream and reflecting on where he was and where he was going, Jesus realized that wealth and power are false gods, that they are, in fact, tools of Satan, at least when they are pursued for their own sakes.  By spending 40 days in contemplation, Jesus was able to identify those temptations, resist them, and become more intentional about moving in a different direction, toward different goals, following the path set for him by God.

The 40 days of Lent also bring to mind the 40 years which the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness as they journeyed away from slavery in Egypt and toward freedom in the promised land.

There is a reason why it took them 40 years.  No, they weren’t lost.  They needed 40 years to figure out where they were mentally, and to figure out – mentally – where they were going.  They needed 40 years to figure out who they were, and who they were called to be.

Think of the journey African Americans took in this country from emancipation to true freedom.  The journey from civil war to civil rights took 100 years or more.  The journey from a nation of slave and free to a nation of true equality took a century … and in some ways that journey is not over yet.  That the Israelites were able to take the journey from emancipation to a new nation in just 40 years is actually quite remarkable.

The Israelites may have left Egypt in body, but their minds were still there.  Their minds were still being held captive.  They were still swimming in an Egyptian stream of thought.  They saw the journey ahead of them, saw that it was a long, hard road, and they realized that it was so much easier to be a leaf floating down a stream, just going with the current, not fighting against it.  It required no effort at all to just go with the flow; and, mentally speaking, their minds were still doing just that.  Their minds were still stuck in Egypt, and Egypt was still stuck in their minds.

It didn’t take 40 years to get the Israelites out of Egypt.  It took 40 years to get Egypt out of the Israelites.

When those 40 years were over, the Israelites were finally ready to enter the Promised Land.  But before they did, Moses had a few words to say.

Basically, what Moses said is this:  “You have spent the last 40 years remembering who you are, where you’ve been, and where you are going.  Now, as you enter this NEW land and become a NEW nation:  don’t forget!”

Then Moses gave them a ritual, a liturgy, designed to help them remember.  Moses told them to start by taking the first fruits of the harvest, and making it an offering to God.  The offering was to be presented to the priest, and when the priest took the offering and placed it before the altar, the one who was offering his gifts would recite these words:

“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.  When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.  The 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; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  So now I bring the first fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.”

It seems like a lot of attention to give to the offering.  The offering seems almost like the main event.  By contrast, most congregations that I’ve been part of do their best to slip the offering in with as little fanfare as possible.  Maybe if they do it well enough, you won’t even know that it’s there.

The congregation in which I grew up went a step further.  That congregation took great pride in the fact that it never collected an offering during worship.  Instead, tithes and offerings were placed in wooden boxes at the back of the sanctuary as people entered or exited.  That way the worship service itself remained holy, untainted by the necessary evil of money.

That’s how they saw it, anyway.

But I think they were wrong to do it that way.  When I worship now, I actually look forward to the offering as an essential celebratory part of the worship experience.  I look forward to the opportunity to show my gratitude to God in a real, tangible way.  What other part of the worship service allows you to do that, to show your gratitude in a real, tangible way? 

In recent years I have made it a point to contribute some amount, no matter how small, every week.  I used to try to lump it all together once a month.  That works for a lot of people.  It doesn’t work for me.  I want – I need – to participate to the fullest extent possible when the offering is taken.   I need that opportunity to show my gratitude to God.

But it’s about even more than that.  The offering is also a moment of sobering conviction for me.  Many weeks, I (like many of you) make purchases after worship at the scrip table.  For me, that means that, every week, my check register shows how much I give to the church on one line, and then on the very next line it shows how much I spend on things like ARCO gas cards. 

Comparing those two lines shows me just how much I still live my life as a leaf floating in the current.  It shows me that I’m still caught in the current of a society that believes it’s perfectly alright to spend a major portion of my personal budget on fossil fuels and the corporations that distribute them.  If I were truly in charge of my own life, choosing my life’s direction rather than just going with the flow, I would certainly find a way to give more to the church, and less to Big Oil.

This weekly reminder is also a part of why I NEED the offering to be a part of my weekly worship.

How we spend our money – how we use our personal resources – shows who we are and what is truly important to us.  Moses knew how vitally important it is to remember who you are and what’s most important, and so he made sure to include this liturgy of the first fruits, this offering liturgy, and to instruct the people to observe it in worship.

Even with this liturgy, the Israelites found it hard to remember.  As they formed a new nation, they did not always practice hospitality to foreigners and immigrants, forgetting that they themselves were foreigners and immigrants, descendants of a wandering Aramean who lived as an alien.  They forgot to care for the poor among them.  They forgot that all they had was from God.  They forgot that human life is more precious than gold, and they neglected to show justice and compassion.

One prophet after another had to remind them of these things.

As I live my life, caught by the current, the offering grabs hold of me, pulls me out of that current, points down to where I was and says, “look at where you are.  Is this where you want to be?”

On a larger scale, the season of Lent does the same thing.  That is why it is such a gift to us.  We’re caught in the stream, and we don’t even know it.  There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong, because everyone else is caught in the stream as well. 

But downstream, there is a waterfall, with sharp, jagged rocks at the bottom.  That is where our life is headed … until Lent comes along, pulls us out of the stream, and makes us aware.