A sermon based upon Deuteronomy 26:1–11
In the name of Jesus; amen.
From our bulletin’s introduction today:
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle. In the confession of sins we acknowledge that we struggle and seek God’s strength. Jesus struggles with us, and so we are sustained. Help is as close as a prayer and a confession that we cannot do it on our own. God gives life and its fruit, and so all we offer in worship is giving back what was first given us by grace.
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle. We begin with Ash Wednesday where we are reminded of our death and sin and as the week begins anew we hear about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.
Lent always begins this way as if the readings are trying to discipline us into the season. We are mortal, sinners, and we are tempted they tell us.
Lent can feel like it is a real drag and the traditions that go along with this season are an equal drag. Traditionally Lent is a time of purging. We give things up for Lent; we stop eating meat and chocolate and we pack up the “A” word in a box to be opened at Easter. Our spiritual struggle takes on physical attributes.
Lent is a time of giving things up and depriving ourselves of those things we really enjoy… at least that’s what people say.
To be honest I’ve never been fond of the idea of giving something up for Lent. After the noon worship service on Wednesday I walked through the hall downstairs, ashes all over my forehead, and was bombarded by questions from some of the day care children. “Why do you have marker all over your face?” I was asked. Edwin, one of the teachers explained that I had ashes on my face, not marker. “Why do you do that? What’s Ash Wednesday?”
“It’s the first day of Lent,” I told them. “And we put ashes on our face to remind us how much we need God.”
Edwin then joked with me that he was giving up work for Lent. “Can’t do that,” I told him. “Ok,” he said, “then I’ll give up school.” (Edwin is studying to become a teacher.) “Instead of not doing something,” I suggested. “Why not do something positive and good for Lent?” He smiled and went back to playing with the kids in the hall.
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle, but it has tangible consequences. It doesn’t matter if you struggle with giving something up or adding a new discipline; the practices of Lent are meant to test us until we understand that without God we can do nothing.
In our first reading this morning from Deuteronomy I am struck by the amount of times that the reader is reminded of what God has given. Six times some form of the word “give” is used in the eleven verses we read. And each time it refers to what God has given the people.
It is an interesting coincidence that this is our first reading because throughout this Lenten season we will be talking about stewardship and stewardship begins with the understanding that all we have comes from God.
The ancient people, including those Hebrews who celebrated the rituals explained in Deuteronomy, would take a portion of their first crops and sacrifice them to the gods, or in the case of the Hebrews… to God.
If you’ve ever heard the term: “First Fruits” this is where it came from. It was the practice of giving to God the first of their abundance. Even more ancient cultures would take this practice so far as to sacrifice their first born son. (Do you remember the story of Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac?)
It was an act of pure, unadulterated faith to do something like this. To sacrifice your first crop, even a portion of it meant that there was that much less for the rest of the year. What if there was a famine? What if some natural disaster took place and destroyed all the rest that they counted on?
And yet, they did it. They did it because ultimately they knew that the land they lived on had come from God. It was God’s and all they received from it was from God.
In grade school I had a teacher who told us a story about how her daughter wanted to run away from home. She told her that if she wanted to run away that she could go right ahead, but that she couldn’t take anything with her… no toys, no clothes, no nothing, because everything that her daughter had belonged to her. Yes, she had given those things to her daughter, but ultimately they belonged to her because she had been the one to go shopping and to pay for them.
Yes, those crops were the peoples’ but ultimately they belonged to God because God had been the one to give them to the people.
When we talk about stewardship, we are following the model of first fruits; understanding that all we have really ultimately belongs to God and so we give God the first of our gifts, trusting that God will provide us with all that we need.
I want to read to you again that little introduction from your bulletin:
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle. In the confession of sins we acknowledge that we struggle and seek God’s strength. Jesus struggles with us, and so we are sustained. Help is as close as a prayer and a confession that we cannot do it on our own. God gives life and its fruit, and so all we offer in worship is giving back what was first given us by grace.
Stewardship is also a spiritual struggle and it’s easy to mistake stewardship as similar to the practice of giving something up for Lent. It can be a real drag when we think of it that way. But stewardship is not about giving-up something or depriving ourselves. Rather it is a struggle to understand that God has given us so much, but that ultimately it still belongs to God.
After the people sacrificed their first fruits to God they celebrated. Verse 11 says, “Then 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.”
The practice of stewardship resulted in celebration.
Lent, for as somber as it is, is not a season of mourning, but a process that takes us to a celebration of the gifts that God has given us.
All we have comes from God, all we have is God’s. As we struggle with this, may we also find reason upon reason to celebrate it.
Amen.
In the name of Jesus; amen.
From our bulletin’s introduction today:
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle. In the confession of sins we acknowledge that we struggle and seek God’s strength. Jesus struggles with us, and so we are sustained. Help is as close as a prayer and a confession that we cannot do it on our own. God gives life and its fruit, and so all we offer in worship is giving back what was first given us by grace.
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle. We begin with Ash Wednesday where we are reminded of our death and sin and as the week begins anew we hear about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.
Lent always begins this way as if the readings are trying to discipline us into the season. We are mortal, sinners, and we are tempted they tell us.
Lent can feel like it is a real drag and the traditions that go along with this season are an equal drag. Traditionally Lent is a time of purging. We give things up for Lent; we stop eating meat and chocolate and we pack up the “A” word in a box to be opened at Easter. Our spiritual struggle takes on physical attributes.
Lent is a time of giving things up and depriving ourselves of those things we really enjoy… at least that’s what people say.
To be honest I’ve never been fond of the idea of giving something up for Lent. After the noon worship service on Wednesday I walked through the hall downstairs, ashes all over my forehead, and was bombarded by questions from some of the day care children. “Why do you have marker all over your face?” I was asked. Edwin, one of the teachers explained that I had ashes on my face, not marker. “Why do you do that? What’s Ash Wednesday?”
“It’s the first day of Lent,” I told them. “And we put ashes on our face to remind us how much we need God.”
Edwin then joked with me that he was giving up work for Lent. “Can’t do that,” I told him. “Ok,” he said, “then I’ll give up school.” (Edwin is studying to become a teacher.) “Instead of not doing something,” I suggested. “Why not do something positive and good for Lent?” He smiled and went back to playing with the kids in the hall.
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle, but it has tangible consequences. It doesn’t matter if you struggle with giving something up or adding a new discipline; the practices of Lent are meant to test us until we understand that without God we can do nothing.
In our first reading this morning from Deuteronomy I am struck by the amount of times that the reader is reminded of what God has given. Six times some form of the word “give” is used in the eleven verses we read. And each time it refers to what God has given the people.
It is an interesting coincidence that this is our first reading because throughout this Lenten season we will be talking about stewardship and stewardship begins with the understanding that all we have comes from God.
The ancient people, including those Hebrews who celebrated the rituals explained in Deuteronomy, would take a portion of their first crops and sacrifice them to the gods, or in the case of the Hebrews… to God.
If you’ve ever heard the term: “First Fruits” this is where it came from. It was the practice of giving to God the first of their abundance. Even more ancient cultures would take this practice so far as to sacrifice their first born son. (Do you remember the story of Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac?)
It was an act of pure, unadulterated faith to do something like this. To sacrifice your first crop, even a portion of it meant that there was that much less for the rest of the year. What if there was a famine? What if some natural disaster took place and destroyed all the rest that they counted on?
And yet, they did it. They did it because ultimately they knew that the land they lived on had come from God. It was God’s and all they received from it was from God.
In grade school I had a teacher who told us a story about how her daughter wanted to run away from home. She told her that if she wanted to run away that she could go right ahead, but that she couldn’t take anything with her… no toys, no clothes, no nothing, because everything that her daughter had belonged to her. Yes, she had given those things to her daughter, but ultimately they belonged to her because she had been the one to go shopping and to pay for them.
Yes, those crops were the peoples’ but ultimately they belonged to God because God had been the one to give them to the people.
When we talk about stewardship, we are following the model of first fruits; understanding that all we have really ultimately belongs to God and so we give God the first of our gifts, trusting that God will provide us with all that we need.
I want to read to you again that little introduction from your bulletin:
The Lenten discipline is a spiritual struggle. In the confession of sins we acknowledge that we struggle and seek God’s strength. Jesus struggles with us, and so we are sustained. Help is as close as a prayer and a confession that we cannot do it on our own. God gives life and its fruit, and so all we offer in worship is giving back what was first given us by grace.
Stewardship is also a spiritual struggle and it’s easy to mistake stewardship as similar to the practice of giving something up for Lent. It can be a real drag when we think of it that way. But stewardship is not about giving-up something or depriving ourselves. Rather it is a struggle to understand that God has given us so much, but that ultimately it still belongs to God.
After the people sacrificed their first fruits to God they celebrated. Verse 11 says, “Then 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.”
The practice of stewardship resulted in celebration.
Lent, for as somber as it is, is not a season of mourning, but a process that takes us to a celebration of the gifts that God has given us.
All we have comes from God, all we have is God’s. As we struggle with this, may we also find reason upon reason to celebrate it.
Amen.
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