1st Sunday in Lent
March 10, 2019
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Today
is the first Sunday in Lent. Lent is typically a season of pruning. Yet as I
was thinking about this for us for this year, a season of pruning is not good
news to a people who have recently been pruned. We are ready to move past
pruning and the wilderness and into rebuilding and new growth. Nehemiah is one
of the stories of rebuilding in the Bible. He is a Jewish exile in Babylon and
learns news about the remnant left in Jerusalem. The city wall is broken down
and the gates have been burned. Nehemiah’s first response is to sit down and
weep. For some days Nehemiah mourns and fasts and prays. The words to his
prayer are what we’re using as our Call to Worship this Lent. You probably noticed
his prayer is a prayer of confession. The city wall is broken and the gates are
burned and Nehemiah begins by confessing. He praises God, that first sentence
of our Call to Worship, and then asks God to listen to his prayer, and his
prayer is a confession, not just for him, but for his family and his people. I
and my family have messed up. Your people messed up. We acted wickedly. We
didn’t keep your commandments. We’re sorry and we humbly repent. And then
Nehemiah asks God’s blessing when he goes to ask the king for a favor. You see,
Nehemiah was heartbroken, but he didn’t stay there. After a period of mourning
and prayer, he was moved to action. Nehemiah set out to rebuild the wall, with
the blessing of the King of Babylon, and he was successful.
A
blog post made the rounds among my female clergy friends on social media this
past week titled “A Letter from God to Her Daughters Who Observe Lent.”[1]
One of the beautiful things said in this letter was broadening the definition
of sin. What if sin does not strictly mean breaking God’s rules, but also “when
you refuse healing and cling to brokenness”? What if sin means you refuse to be
healed and you insist on staying broken? Israel went into exile because they
broke God’s commandments and had been warned time and again by God of what
would happen. Then, God tells those in exile to settle down and build houses
where they are, to seek the prosperity of the place where God has put them. I
don’t know if we’re ever told what God said to that remnant who didn’t go into
exile but stayed in the ruins of Jerusalem. What about them? Why did they stay
and why didn’t they work to rebuild? Why did they stay in the city whose walls
were torn down and gates burned up? It takes Nehemiah to come back from exile
to start the rebuilding process. No wonder Nehemiah confessed his and his
people’s sins first. They had royally messed up, both those who went into exile
and those few who stayed. It’s important when rebuilding to know, and own, your
story. When rebuilding, you cannot ignore what happened. What happened is now
part of your story of redemption. Make sure you know it and tell it
appropriately, because how you tell
it matters, too. I’ve shared that at my previous church in White Marsh, the
pastor before me committed suicide. That little tidbit was something I made
sure to mention to the new members who joined the church. We talked about the
membership vows and what they mean, and I gave a brief history of the church,
so that they wouldn’t suddenly be surprised by it one day and then wonder what
other secrets and skeletons the church had. You have to be upfront about your
past.
One
of the leaders at the church I served as an associate in Chapel Hill would
often quote to me this phrase we read from Deuteronomy, “My father was a
wandering Aramean.” In other words, here is the beginning of our salvation
history. “My father was a wandering Aramean,” refers to Jacob. Jacob had 12
sons, and that was the crew that moved down to Egypt when invited by Joseph,
the second youngest son. If you remember, there was a famine everywhere except
in Egypt because Joseph had obeyed God’s dream and stored up grain in Egypt
during the seven bountiful years in order to be ready for the seven lean years.
Jacob’s family grew and became known as the Israelites, Israel being the name
given to Jacob after he wrestled with an angel. Then, a new Pharaoh arose who
did not know Joseph and instead saw this huge family as a threat and enslaved
them. They cried out to God, and God delivered them from slavery and brought
them through the wilderness to the Promised Land.
And
so when you’re in the Promised Land, and you go to the priest with your
offering, you are to tell story of your salvation and what God did for you. It
begins back with “My father was a wandering Aramean,” and you tell about the
story of how you got from there to where you are now. You don’t forget it or
ignore it. It is important to remember what God has done for you, what God has
brought you through. Probably not slavery, but sickness, accidents, death,
fire, natural catastrophes, divorce, betrayal, injustice, addiction; what else
would you add to the list? [Pause for answers.] God has brought you through all
that! Isn’t that amazing? Don’t ever forget all that God has done for you! God
brought you from darkness into light. God was with you through the valley of
the shadow of death. Once you were no people but now you are part of God’s
people. Keep telling the story.
Second,
by remembering our origin story, by remembering what God has brought us through,
we become extremely thankful people. It helps us cultivate an attitude of
gratitude and research shows that grateful people are happier and healthier.
When we celebrate communion we tell its origin story of Jesus’ last supper with
his disciples, on the night when Judas betrayed him, and we call it the Great
Thanksgiving. Thank you, Jesus, for instituting the Lord’s supper with bread
and the cup. It was in the middle of a very painful night of betrayal and
agony, and look how God used it.
Furthermore,
we give our offerings out of gratitude. In thanksgiving we return to God the
things that are already God’s in the first place. And as Deuteronomy notes,
these shouldn’t be just any offerings, but our firstfruits. After payday, the
check to the church should be the first one you write. God doesn’t want your
leftovers after you’ve made sure you have enough for everything else. Give to
God first, and God will make sure you have enough for everything else. I have
tithed my entire life, with the exception of the first two years of marriage,
because my husband asked for incremental increases to adjust to giving 10% to
the church. We’ve had a few seasons where money has been tight, but we still
made sure to tithe. If you’re not, then I suggest you figure out what percent
you are giving and perhaps increase by one percent. Go from 2% to 3% or from
4.5% to 5.5%. Give it a try for the rest of the year, remember you’re doing it
out of thanksgiving for all that God has done for you, and see how it goes.
Finally,
there was a song I learned at the Hispanic church I served whose refrain went
something like, “God has brought you too far to leave you now.” Part of why you
need to remember all that God has brought you through in the past is to have
confidence in tomorrow and all that may come in the future. We don’t know the
future, but we know who holds the future, and that’s God. God has brought you
through times and troubles, disease and famine, what makes you think he’d leave
you now? Why would God not continue to see you through and walk with you?
The
church I went to in high school sang the Lord’s Prayer. One time in college we
thought I might have broken my hand so I had to drink the “Kool-Aid” and then
sit still while a machine scanned my hand, bright lights popping up where there
was new growth. Throughout that test, I sang the Lord’s Prayer over and over. I
did it again this past week when I had an MRI for my head, making sure there’s
no lingering damage from my concussion last year. It was interesting, they give
you ear plugs and ear muffs and the noise of the machine is still really loud.
But I just kept singing over and over again the Lord’s Prayer and I realized
the truth about the psalm we read today. “A thousand may fall at your side, ten
thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you” (Psalm 91:7). The sounds were
loud and coming from different sides, but nothing touched me. And if I kept my
focus on singing the Lord’s Prayer, then I didn’t get freaked out by all these
weird noises. Nothing touched me. Nothing harmed me. And I just kept singing. I
remember talking about the test of a good hymn is one you can take to jail with
you. Well, for those of us who don’t go to jail but do have medical
appointments and tests, I think the test of a good hymn is one you sing during
medical tests. God has brought me this far. My hand wasn’t broken back in
college, just a bone bruise. I have two chronic diseases. I don’t know the
results of the MRI yet, and if they’re normal, then the doctor’s not going to
call me. No news is good news.
Remember
where you have been and where you might be without God’s grace. Remember and be
thankful. You didn’t get here on your own but by God’s grace. Know your origin
story and how God delivered you. Be assured that God didn’t bring you this far
to leave you now. God has not and will not abandon you. For the Lord “will
command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift
you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” This
is our story, this is our song. This is part of our past, and we build on that
going forward.
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