Not All Of This Is Me
Sermon
Sermons On The First Readings
Series II, Cycle A
Object:
It was certainly a treat for four-year-old Tara to go shopping with her grandfather one day at the mall. Tara had many things to tell her grandfather as they went from store to store. At one point, as Tara was high upon her grandfather's shoulders, a family friend stopped to talk with them. "My, you are getting to be such a big girl," the friend remarked. With the innocence that only a child can muster she replied, "Not all of this is me!" Sometimes children are our greatest teachers without even knowing it.
Every Thanksgiving provides us an opportunity to reflect on the many blessings God has given us realizing that "not all of this is me." We pause to count our many blessings "one by one" as the hymn suggests. We could never have come this far without the grace and love of God.
"Not all of this is me" becomes a statement of faith. God is the source of life and everything we have. Without the love of God we would be nothing and have nothing. The constant temptation is to look around and think that everything we are and everything we have is a result of our own doing, our own smarts, or ingenuity. We live in a world where people live as though they are the only ones who are responsible for their achievements. It is easy to get puffed up, highlighting our jobs and promotions, the neighborhoods where we live, the cars we drive, the vacations we take and many, many other things. Do not fall into that trap this Thanksgiving as we acknowledge that God is behind all that we are and have. We are a people of faith. We belong to God. We depend on God's grace for all that we are and all that we have.
The ancient Israelites were nearing the end of their forty-year sojourn through the wilderness. There had been some anxious moments as the people fled the Egyptians and journeyed into the unknown. The forty-year journey was at times extremely difficult. Early on, the people complained about not having enough food to eat. God provided for their needs, as manna, or bread, showered down from heaven. Each morning, the people ate their fill of the bread from heaven. When the people grumbled about not having meat to eat, God sent quail for them to feast on. At another point, the people were thirsty and God instructed Moses to strike a rock with his rod. The result was that enough water flowed for all the people and even their livestock to drink. These experiences taught the people to trust God, God would continue to provide for all their needs. Imagine wearing the same garments for forty years without them wearing out. Never once did the people have blisters on their feet. God would see them through to the promised land.
As our lesson from Deuteronomy opens, the people were on the boundary about to cross over to the promised land. This was the end of the journey for Moses who would not cross over into the land, "a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey...." Earlier, Moses had disobeyed God and was told he would see the promised land but not enter it. On this occasion, Moses was reminding the people of their long journey and all that they learned along the way. He contrasted the barren wilderness where they had just spent forty years with where they were going, "A land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing." Not only would there be plenty of food to eat, but also the ground was rich in mineral deposits. The people would have everything they would need to live prosperous lives.
Since Moses would not enter the promised land with them he wanted to be certain that the people understood where these blessings had come from -- the Lord God. They were about to enter the promised land not because of their own abilities, but as a direct result of God fulfilling past promises.
Moses wanted the people to remember and never forget their journey through the wilderness and how God provided for all their needs. "Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today." The message Moses wanted them to grasp was not to forget God and assume that they had brought themselves into the promised land.
It is a natural human response to look to God for help in times of trouble. It is easy to forget or neglect God when everything is going well. The temptation is to assume that when everything is going fine, we do not need God or that God can do nothing for us. We erroneously tell ourselves we are the ones who provide for our needs; we no longer need God because we can do it all ourselves. This simply is not true. God is the source of all life and all blessings.
God would provide for the people and they would have abundance. Having surplus always seems to get people into trouble. Dot Jackson is a newspaper columnist who wrote one Thanksgiving, "Enough was a roof that didn't leak. Plenty of chairs on the porch, and at the table ... Enough was food and safety from the elements ... enough was a little help for a friend in need and debt to no one. There is something perverse about more than enough. When we have more, we never have enough. It's always somewhere out there, just out of reach. The more we acquire, the more elusive enough becomes." In our materialistic world, we never seem to have enough, we always want more, we never seem to be satisfied.
The question for us to ponder this Thanksgiving is, "How can we remain faithful when we have so much?" Most of us do not live in life-threatening situations; we never go to bed hungry, and there is plenty of food in our refrigerator. We have fresh fruits and vegetables in the middle of winter. Our closets are overflowing with clothing and all sorts of other stuff. Prosperous people might forget the gift giver and think everything they have is a direct result of their labor. Moses was aware of this problem as he addressed the people, "When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt...." Remember, do not forget.
The ancient Israelites were instructed to remember their forty-year trek and never forget their experience. We remember past Thanksgivings, perhaps when we did not have as many blessings as we do today. Have you ever noticed that we often learn the most enduring lessons from periods of struggle?
One day, Tom Maddox was cleaning out his desk when he came across a picture he had not seen for a long time. The picture showed a family Thanksgiving when he was a child. In the picture, his grandfather was about to say the blessing. Tom noticed all his cousins had folded their hands just like their grandfather. Looking at the picture, Tom recalled all the wonderful Thanksgivings he spent at his grandparents' home. "Never in my life," Tom said, "have I ever tasted such wonderful food!"
He remembered the faith of his grandparents. There was more to Thanksgiving than physical food. There was a spiritual food as well. Before the family ate, his grandfather always read from the Bible. He would discuss the passage of scripture with his children and grandchildren at the table, and then he would fold his hands to pray. His prayer was a reverent, "God, thank you for the food." "Grandfather never said a long blessing," Tom reflected, "but somehow I always felt the sincerity of his thankfulness."
"Looking at this picture of my cousins with their hands folded and heads bowed," Tom said, "I realized the importance of passing down a tradition of thankfulness to God expressed in simple, reverent ways."
What is the message we are passing down to our children and grandchildren this Thanksgiving? Sometimes we need reminders of our many blessings. Linda tells of one Thanksgiving day, when she was 3,000 miles away from home without any family or friends to share the holiday. Linda called a downtown soup kitchen to volunteer her time to help serve Thanksgiving meals for struggling families as well as area homeless. She was pleased. She had something important and useful to do.
On Thanksgiving day, when Linda arrived at the soup kitchen there was already a long line of helpers. The gentleman in charge of the volunteers told her that they had far too many volunteers and did not need her. It never happened before, he explained, but with an ad on the radio, over 200 people volunteered. The gentleman invited Linda to stay for the meal. Linda, by her own admission, had very little contact with homeless people and truthfully had no desire to eat with them. She got in line to eat, still feeling that she did not belong. "Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless you, darling," a man told her as he handed her a plastic cup of apple juice and a corn muffin.
Linda found a seat. A man introduced himself, telling her he was an alcoholic "on the road back." "That's nice," Linda politely answered. Then a pregnant woman, somehow managing to hold a toddler as well as two plates of food, slid into the end seat. "It's nice to sit down," she said. "You know how it is -- this is the first time I've been able to eat in peace in days!" Linda offered to feed her toddler so the woman could enjoy her meal. There was a father and son further down the table. She overheard the boy say, "Daddy! Mmmmm! I like this food!" The father explained that they hadn't had much to eat for several days.
The more Linda spoke with these people the more she realized they were not all that different from her. "The only barrier separating us had been the one I erected myself -- my unwillingness to see these people as what they were: people." Linda realized how many blessings she had taken for granted. This experience opened new doors for Linda.
May the words from scripture be words for us as we celebrate Thanksgiving day. "Do not say to yourself, 'My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.' But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power...." We give thanks remembering, "Not all of this is me." God has had and continues to have a hand in our lives. Amen.
Every Thanksgiving provides us an opportunity to reflect on the many blessings God has given us realizing that "not all of this is me." We pause to count our many blessings "one by one" as the hymn suggests. We could never have come this far without the grace and love of God.
"Not all of this is me" becomes a statement of faith. God is the source of life and everything we have. Without the love of God we would be nothing and have nothing. The constant temptation is to look around and think that everything we are and everything we have is a result of our own doing, our own smarts, or ingenuity. We live in a world where people live as though they are the only ones who are responsible for their achievements. It is easy to get puffed up, highlighting our jobs and promotions, the neighborhoods where we live, the cars we drive, the vacations we take and many, many other things. Do not fall into that trap this Thanksgiving as we acknowledge that God is behind all that we are and have. We are a people of faith. We belong to God. We depend on God's grace for all that we are and all that we have.
The ancient Israelites were nearing the end of their forty-year sojourn through the wilderness. There had been some anxious moments as the people fled the Egyptians and journeyed into the unknown. The forty-year journey was at times extremely difficult. Early on, the people complained about not having enough food to eat. God provided for their needs, as manna, or bread, showered down from heaven. Each morning, the people ate their fill of the bread from heaven. When the people grumbled about not having meat to eat, God sent quail for them to feast on. At another point, the people were thirsty and God instructed Moses to strike a rock with his rod. The result was that enough water flowed for all the people and even their livestock to drink. These experiences taught the people to trust God, God would continue to provide for all their needs. Imagine wearing the same garments for forty years without them wearing out. Never once did the people have blisters on their feet. God would see them through to the promised land.
As our lesson from Deuteronomy opens, the people were on the boundary about to cross over to the promised land. This was the end of the journey for Moses who would not cross over into the land, "a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey...." Earlier, Moses had disobeyed God and was told he would see the promised land but not enter it. On this occasion, Moses was reminding the people of their long journey and all that they learned along the way. He contrasted the barren wilderness where they had just spent forty years with where they were going, "A land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing." Not only would there be plenty of food to eat, but also the ground was rich in mineral deposits. The people would have everything they would need to live prosperous lives.
Since Moses would not enter the promised land with them he wanted to be certain that the people understood where these blessings had come from -- the Lord God. They were about to enter the promised land not because of their own abilities, but as a direct result of God fulfilling past promises.
Moses wanted the people to remember and never forget their journey through the wilderness and how God provided for all their needs. "Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today." The message Moses wanted them to grasp was not to forget God and assume that they had brought themselves into the promised land.
It is a natural human response to look to God for help in times of trouble. It is easy to forget or neglect God when everything is going well. The temptation is to assume that when everything is going fine, we do not need God or that God can do nothing for us. We erroneously tell ourselves we are the ones who provide for our needs; we no longer need God because we can do it all ourselves. This simply is not true. God is the source of all life and all blessings.
God would provide for the people and they would have abundance. Having surplus always seems to get people into trouble. Dot Jackson is a newspaper columnist who wrote one Thanksgiving, "Enough was a roof that didn't leak. Plenty of chairs on the porch, and at the table ... Enough was food and safety from the elements ... enough was a little help for a friend in need and debt to no one. There is something perverse about more than enough. When we have more, we never have enough. It's always somewhere out there, just out of reach. The more we acquire, the more elusive enough becomes." In our materialistic world, we never seem to have enough, we always want more, we never seem to be satisfied.
The question for us to ponder this Thanksgiving is, "How can we remain faithful when we have so much?" Most of us do not live in life-threatening situations; we never go to bed hungry, and there is plenty of food in our refrigerator. We have fresh fruits and vegetables in the middle of winter. Our closets are overflowing with clothing and all sorts of other stuff. Prosperous people might forget the gift giver and think everything they have is a direct result of their labor. Moses was aware of this problem as he addressed the people, "When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt...." Remember, do not forget.
The ancient Israelites were instructed to remember their forty-year trek and never forget their experience. We remember past Thanksgivings, perhaps when we did not have as many blessings as we do today. Have you ever noticed that we often learn the most enduring lessons from periods of struggle?
One day, Tom Maddox was cleaning out his desk when he came across a picture he had not seen for a long time. The picture showed a family Thanksgiving when he was a child. In the picture, his grandfather was about to say the blessing. Tom noticed all his cousins had folded their hands just like their grandfather. Looking at the picture, Tom recalled all the wonderful Thanksgivings he spent at his grandparents' home. "Never in my life," Tom said, "have I ever tasted such wonderful food!"
He remembered the faith of his grandparents. There was more to Thanksgiving than physical food. There was a spiritual food as well. Before the family ate, his grandfather always read from the Bible. He would discuss the passage of scripture with his children and grandchildren at the table, and then he would fold his hands to pray. His prayer was a reverent, "God, thank you for the food." "Grandfather never said a long blessing," Tom reflected, "but somehow I always felt the sincerity of his thankfulness."
"Looking at this picture of my cousins with their hands folded and heads bowed," Tom said, "I realized the importance of passing down a tradition of thankfulness to God expressed in simple, reverent ways."
What is the message we are passing down to our children and grandchildren this Thanksgiving? Sometimes we need reminders of our many blessings. Linda tells of one Thanksgiving day, when she was 3,000 miles away from home without any family or friends to share the holiday. Linda called a downtown soup kitchen to volunteer her time to help serve Thanksgiving meals for struggling families as well as area homeless. She was pleased. She had something important and useful to do.
On Thanksgiving day, when Linda arrived at the soup kitchen there was already a long line of helpers. The gentleman in charge of the volunteers told her that they had far too many volunteers and did not need her. It never happened before, he explained, but with an ad on the radio, over 200 people volunteered. The gentleman invited Linda to stay for the meal. Linda, by her own admission, had very little contact with homeless people and truthfully had no desire to eat with them. She got in line to eat, still feeling that she did not belong. "Happy Thanksgiving, and God bless you, darling," a man told her as he handed her a plastic cup of apple juice and a corn muffin.
Linda found a seat. A man introduced himself, telling her he was an alcoholic "on the road back." "That's nice," Linda politely answered. Then a pregnant woman, somehow managing to hold a toddler as well as two plates of food, slid into the end seat. "It's nice to sit down," she said. "You know how it is -- this is the first time I've been able to eat in peace in days!" Linda offered to feed her toddler so the woman could enjoy her meal. There was a father and son further down the table. She overheard the boy say, "Daddy! Mmmmm! I like this food!" The father explained that they hadn't had much to eat for several days.
The more Linda spoke with these people the more she realized they were not all that different from her. "The only barrier separating us had been the one I erected myself -- my unwillingness to see these people as what they were: people." Linda realized how many blessings she had taken for granted. This experience opened new doors for Linda.
May the words from scripture be words for us as we celebrate Thanksgiving day. "Do not say to yourself, 'My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.' But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power...." We give thanks remembering, "Not all of this is me." God has had and continues to have a hand in our lives. Amen.
