Remember Deuteronomy 8:11-18

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1 Remember Deuteronomy 8:11-18 Rev. Michael D. Halley November 1, 2015 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost Founders Day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Memory. It s a great thing, right? But as some of us are experiencing, it becomes harder and harder to remember. But our text for today warns us, Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God. Great advice for us on this Founders Day. It was in November, in the year 1860, that our church was officially founded. Our founding mothers and fathers passionately believed in connectivity, and so they were received into the Virginia Christian Conference at a meeting in November, 1860, held at Cypress Chapel Christian Church, here in Suffolk. And thus began the ministry and the mission of our church. Was it easy? Of course not. They had built a nice church building, which stood right here on this same ground which we occupy today. But there were clouds of war hanging over this new congregation and the future was a bit uncertain, due to the prospects that the North and the South of our nation would soon be at war with each other. When the Union forces came to town and occupied Suffolk, this new congregation tried to keep the ministry going, but soon realized they could not. Our founding pastor, the Rev. Dr. William Brock Wellons, left town and headed west to minister as a chaplain in the Confederate army. Soon thereafter, services in the church building ceased. 1

2 Upon cessation of hostilities, Dr. Wellons returned to Suffolk and I am sure his heart was broken. His flock was scattered and the original church building which stood right here where we are today was in disarray. But Dr. Wellons was a builder, so he started all over again, re-gathering his flock and rallying the members to continue their ministry here on Main Street. Page 2 It is very possible that this passage from Deuteronomy was an inspiration to Dr. Wellons and the Christians of this church. I am sure that he reminded his people of the struggles they had just experienced, struggles not unlike what the Israelites endured in Egypt and in their long journey to the Promised Land. No doubt Dr. Wellons cautioned his people not to be too proud of themselves and their own abilities. He may have read to them from this passage from Deuteronomy where it says, You may say to yourself, My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. (emphasis added) Yes, there is the temptation to take personal credit for what has been accomplished, isn t there? But we know better, don t we? So Dr. Wellons would have read further when the text says, But remember the Lord your God, for it is he [it is God!] who gives you the ability to produce wealth. I am sure that many of you have read John Steinbeck s novel, The Grapes of Wrath 1. In this novel, the Joad family is migrating from Oklahoma to California to seek work. As they were packing their meager possessions for the trip, someone told them not to waste vital packing space on photographs and other items of family history and memories. But one of the family members responds, How will we know it s us without our past? 2 How will we know it s us without our past? That s why remembering our past is so important. Now it occurs to me that there is a fine line between remembering our past and living in our past. I don t think that the book of Deuteronomy is saying that we should be living there, but it does say that we remember the struggle that brought us where we are today.

3 Over and over in the Bible, as God s people would forget who they are and where they came from, they would be reminded that God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. In fact, the night before they made their escape, God instituted a very special feast of remembrance, the Passover. Page 3 Every year, as faithful Jews observe the Passover, they are reminded of the Lord s deliverance of their people from Egypt. The story is retold of how their ancestors hastily prepared their final meal and then escaped from Egypt. No, they don t live in the past, but they do honor their past as a vital part of who they are today. The story is told 3 of a young man who meets and falls in love with a beautiful young lady. He asks her to marry him and she gladly accepts his proposal. However, she comes from outside our solar system and asks if she can go to her home planet one more time before they set up their new home and life together. When she comes back, she has with her a rather large box, and she says to her fiancé, We ll get married and I ll live here, but this box must remain in our home and you must never look in it. Her fiancé agrees. The days went by, and you know what happened. One day she was away from the house and he was there by himself. It was as if that box kept saying, Come and look, come and look. Finally, he went over to the box and got the nerve to open it up. When he opened it up, it was empty, and that made him angry. When his wife came in, he said to her, You told me not to look into the box. The box seemed to be special to you. I made a special place in our home for it. Then when I opened the top and looked in, it was absolutely empty. How could you pull a fraud like this on me? Tears were coming down her cheeks as she said, You ve missed the whole point. You remember when I went back to my planet? I went to get this

4 Page 4 special box and I filled it with all the aromas of the crops and the homes, the aromas of the people, of the streets, all of them are in this box. And when I get terribly homesick, I go and breathe deeply of the memories that are in that box. Now you have called what is very special to me unholy. Memories should never be unholy or profane. They can be sacred. One writer 4 called memories a powerful perfume from the past which helps us keep our connection with the mighty saving acts of God in history. And the Lord s Supper is one such powerful memory. In this Supper we are reminded of the tremendous sacrifice of Jesus, who gave his life because he loved us and because he wants us to be a part of God s forever family. None of us is worthy in any sense to come to this table. We come only because of God s gracious invitation to us. Therefore, pray with me as we confess our many and various sins: Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more into your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen. 5 And in the words of Psalm 103 (verses 8,10-12), hear these words of assurance: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. It was the night before Jesus crucifixion and he sat with his disciples at a traditional Passover meal. During the meal Jesus demonstrated to them what

5 Page 5 was about to happen to him. He took bread, broke it, and passed it to his disciples and said, This is my body given for you. Eat this in remembrance of me. After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine and said, This cup is my blood of the new covenant God makes with you. Drink it in remembrance of me. This meal is for all of you. Draw near with faith, receive the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which He gave you, and His Blood which He shed for you. Eat and drink in remembrance that He died for you and feed on Him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lord God, we thank you for this bread which sustains our life, a symbol and a reminder of the punishment our Saviour Jesus endured to secure our salvation: The body of Christ, given for you. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this cup and for the symbol and reminder of the blood of Jesus shed for the free pardon for our sins: The blood of Christ, shed for you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you with all our heart for your mercy and grace. Give us now and in the days to come a living hope in you; and as we serve you in the world, help us look and work for that day when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that you are Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Amen. 6

6 Page 6 +==+==+==+==+==+==+ All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. Published by The Viking Press-James Lloyd, in The entire book can be read online, at 2. This quote is from chapter 9 of the book. 3. I read this story in Do Not Forget, the 110th Founders Day Opening Worship Sermon at Silliman University (located in Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, Philippines), preached on August 7, 2011, by the Rev. Jonathan R. Pia. It is found at Rev. Pia attributes this story to Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People (Random House, Inc., 1978), but I was unable to verify it. 4. Rev. Pia, cited above. 5. From the Presbyterian Church, USA, Book of Common Worship, Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1993, p From an order for communion prepared by the Rev Donald Glenny for some New Zealand elders leading communion, found at union/chapter-4-some-sample-commun-3.