Rev. Sharon Benton Feb. 16, 2014 Plymouth UCC. Words to Live By Deuteronomy 30: Introduction to the Scripture

Transcription

1 Rev. Sharon Benton Feb. 16, 2014 Plymouth UCC 1 Words to Live By Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Introduction to the Scripture I d like to set the scene for this morning s reading. In it we hear Moses giving his farewell address to the Hebrew people. They ve wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and they ve finally come to the edge of the Promised Land, milk and honey, the culmination of what they ve longed for. And Moses is dying. So he offers them his last bit of guidance. His last words. That s the story. But the real context of this passage is much different, making this a wonderfully multi- layered reading. You see, the author of this particular section of Deuteronomy was writing centuries after the events he describes here. The writer and his hearers were later Israelites whose ancestors had lived in the Promised Land (Israel) and are now in exile, scattered among the nations, and once more longing to return from captivity from the wilderness to the land of Israel. This text about Moses and his followers is an insightful comparison the author is making to his own situation centuries later. Moses death speech is wonderful rhetoric, meant to move his hearers to hope. And while it s actually 2 whole chapters long, we re going to hear just the very end. So listen to these words of a 6 th century BCE writer hoping to remind a downhearted people of their ancestors precipice moment of choice; and relate it to his own time and circumstances. (And perhaps to ours, too.) [SCRIPTURE]

2 Words to Live By Deuteronomy 30: It began with his ancestors: Jacob, renamed Israel, and his twelve sons, one of whom was Joseph. Joseph became the wise counselor to a Pharaoh in Egypt, and when drought forced his brothers out of Canaan (the Promised Land of Abraham and Sarah), Joseph welcomed his tribe/the Hebrew people into the safety of Egypt. You remember they thrived there; and built families and strength until generations later a new ruler arose who didn t remember Joseph but became fearful of his populous descendants: strong Hebrew women and men so the Pharaoh enslaved them. Still they thrived: strong, hopeful, blessed despite captivity and Pharaoh s fear grew. So every male born to the Hebrews was killed thrown into the Nile. His mom hid him in a reed basket, and his older sister watched over him as the infant floated in the river. Pharaoh s daughter found him, adopted him, raised him. You remember Moses as a grown man Hebrew yet privileged in Egyptian society. He killed an overseer whom he d witnessed beating one of his own people. He escaped to Midian, where a burning bush told him the name of the Hebrew God and called him back to Egypt. You remember the 10 plagues, Moses leading God s people across the Reed Sea, into the desert where they wandered for 40 years: pillars of cloud and fire; manna from heaven; water from a rock; Mount Sinai; a golden calf; 10 commandments. Well this is where it ends. All that he d suffered, all that he d celebrated, all the whining he took from the people he d freed, all of it and here is the culmination: Moses, overlooking the Promised Land finally. But he never gets to enter.

3 Do you ever fear that a long- time endeavor or desire won t be fulfilled in your lifetime? Maybe it s something as basic as happiness or having a real home. Or maybe it s bigger will we ever figure out how to live in balance with the environment? Or perhaps a dream you d been living begins to crumble through accident or death of a beloved 3 You work hard, you follow the rules, then NO! You re left in the wilderness (like Moses). If we read this text only on its surface level, we read a conditional theology, a theology of reward and punishment that tries to explain our life s difficulties: follow the commandments and you ll prosper; break the commandments and you ll suffer. Terrible theology. Because we know that bad things happen to good people and suffering really is a part of living. Your sister didn t die because you didn t pray enough and you re not laid off because you ve been a thoughtless spouse and no matter what the Bible stories say Moses didn t die on the wilderness- side of the Jordan because he whacked a rock with his staff when God told him just to talk to it. [Look it up J ]. Yes, conditional theology was one way the Israelite people understood their relationship with God. But in these same Hebrew Scriptures we find the story of Job. The teaching of that entire book undermines a rigid reward and punishment model of faith; so we know it s not the only way of relating with God. And yet, we also know that when we lie, when we cheat when we break God s commandments of love then life is diminished. Not just our own lives, but others too perhaps for generations, as the effects of our actions ripple out. [Choose life so you and your descendants may live!] It s important to remember the centrality of the commandment to love love God with your whole being, the Jewish Sh ma: this is God s greatest and first commandment. This is what Moses is trying to convey to God s people as he prepares to leave them. Multiple times in his long sermon, Moses invokes loving God with all your heart and all your soul and we know Jesus described loving neighbor as self as a way that love for God manifests. So it seems we re back to that same old sermon about love in action. Loving God with all you heart and soul living that: this is what Moses means when he says, Choose life. Choose the way of God s love. Sometimes I have wondered how Moses can speak of choosing life when he s here on his deathbed. How can he preach hope for the future when all that he s worked for over half a century of his life will end here never reaching his goal? And more: while his people are on the verge of crossing to home, they are in no way home- free. There is still much to go through when they cross into Canaan.

4 Like any time you feel like you ve finally made it. You finally get a promotion but now you need to learn the new job. You finally have a longed- for child and the parenthood learning curve is steep. Retirement has finally arrived!... But who am I now that I don t have a title? High school is finally over and now I have to navigate adulthood. 4 These are all wonderful things arrivals at the Promised Land as scary as they may be sometimes. And the boost that comes with accomplishment can carry us through the learning and growing, despite any challenges that lay ahead. It s easier to choose life in moments like these. But there are others who haven t yet made it to the Promised Land. Like Moses. And like those later Israelites for whom this text was actually written. Like many people today, on the edge of choosing life or death. They are in the wilderness still, exiled and wandering in spirit. And here comes Moses insistence on instilling hope for the future: Choose life! So you and your descendants may live. Several years ago syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better. The It Gets Better Project has become a worldwide movement, inspiring more than 50,000 user- created videos viewed more than 50 million times. To date, the project has received submissions from celebrities, organizations, activists, politicians and media personalities, including President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, Anne Hathaway, Colin Farrell, the staffs of The Gap, Google, Facebook, Pixar, and many more. For [the Project founders], every video changes a life. It doesn t matter who makes it. i Plymouth s ONA committee at the time made up of 30- somethings through 80- year- olds created one of these videos to share their experience that God is bigger than bullying; that faith communities need not use their faith to exclude, but rather to share God s love. This was one example of choosing life, choosing God s way of sharing love with those who need it most those still in the wilderness. And it s only one way. Remember: Moses message is spoken to those who have achieved a brief reprieve, a sense of hope already building up because finally (granted, amidst much pain in the journey, but finally) they re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, the Promised Land. And because they have hope he s instructing them in how to live to share their hope with others.

5 Moses dying words are telling the people to live so others will also know life, know hope, know God, through loving with all their heart and all their soul: love in action as well as word. 5 He s telling them to leave a legacy: Choose life, so that you and your descendants may live. What do you want your legacy to be? Live it now. Choose it in every moment. Right now, I know that some of you in these pews have found your Promised Land at least for the moment. Life is good, and faith is strong, and joy is easy. And I know there are others among us who are in the deepest wilderness possible. Moses speaks to all of us but his sermon is calling out especially for the hopeful ones to be hope for the wilderness ones. Remind us it gets better. And make it better, too, through actively loving God with all your mind, and heart, and strength, and soul. Choose life for those around you. We enact the beloved community, the kingdom of God right here; with those sitting right besides us: wilderness wanderers like ourselves Because, you remember Moses story that it began with certain death in the Nile River, floating in a reed basket. And then life as Pharaoh s adopted grandson. You remember Moses again facing death for the murder he committed. Then finding life as God s chosen instrument to lead the people to freedom. You remember Moses story of death and life and death and life again it is our story, too. And in his final dying, you remember that he urges all God s people to choose life. Even in the midst of death, choose the way of love, so others may live. This is God s commandment spoken through Moses, remembered in exile, passed to us: Choose life. Amen. i What is the It Gets Better Project? it- gets- better- project/ (note: while not currently Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton was in that role at the time she made the video)