Sermon for May 4, 2008

Deuteronomy 30: 11-20

“Choose Life - Like we have a choice!”

Rev. Shannon Mang

The children of God, the Hebrews, the rag-tag collection of ex-slaves who have spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness are standing at the very edge of the Promised Land. There is the long standing joke asking why did it take Moses and the Hebrews 40 years to cross a little strip of land less than 400 km across?... the men were in charge and they refused to stop and ask for directions…. if Miriam and women were in charge….

Now, when we look at the theological importance of the time spent in the wilderness we see that it took this long for this bunch of ex-slaves to become the children of God. It is intriguing that those slaves who suffered the most in Egypt, and who cried out for deliverance were the ones who started the complaining about the conditions of the trip almost immediately. The story tells of how God established a powerful presence with the people of God- recruiting and sending Moses in response to their cries for help along with the 7 (or 10) plagues to convince Pharaoh to release them; then creating a path through the Red Sea (or Reed Sea) and allowing the Hebrews to escape the Pharaoh’s army; witnessing the presence of God at Mt. Sinai, yet they created their own golden calf before Moses came down to deliver the 10 commandments. The story of the Exodus is one episode after another of the people complaining, God getting angry with their insolence and disobedience, Moses interceding and saving the people over and over from the wrath of God and ultimately, God taking care of the people in spite of their never-ending complaining. It took 40 years to create a people- 40 years of close, intimate contact with Yahweh for the children of the slaves and the grand-children of the slaves who escaped from Egypt to die to their slave identity and accept their identity as the children of God in order to enter the Promised land. It was 40 years of death and new life as they died to their old ways and found new life in trusting God.

Deuteronomy places 3 farewell sermons in the mouth of Moses, since he will not be entering into the Promised Land with the children of God. It is a book of the heart, pleading with the children of God to live torah. If they love God with their whole being, then the result of that relationship will be life- life abundant; and with the plea there are also warnings of the consequences of choosing to be distracted by false gods.

The commandment is not far – as near as our tongue

-as near as our heart

Love God- Walk in God’s ways

-Keep God’s commandments that you might live….

And live exuberantly!! Blessed by God.

The warning!- do not have a change of heart!

-do not refuse to listen obediently

-do not wilfully serve other gods

If you follow these distractions, you will die.

So- choose life that you and your children will live

Live and enjoy the gift of life settled on the God’s promised soil

What is torah? … “the ‘way of torah’ is not primarily a book to obey or rules to follow; it is a path to walk, a way of life to lead that authentically reflects the character of the God who has called people to walk it. The OT concept of torah is a lifestyle of nurtured and nurturing relationship with God and others, subsuming every facet of life to a dynamic (growing) and joyful acknowledgment of God as supreme Sovereign and Lord of the earth. It is this relationship that brings life, and the lack of it that brings death.” – Dennis Bratcher

There is the invitation to live abundantly… exuberantly!! But alongside of the invitation to live abundantly and exuberantly in the way of God there are the warnings of the consequences of being distracted by false gods. False gods appear to give life but they don’t—the life they offer is all tinsel and glitter… it isn’t real. The promises are empty.

As St. Andrew’s lives through its 50^th year as a congregation, we’re taking opportunities to ‘live’ Jubilee- to pay attention to the God’s commandment of Jubilee to the children of God in the Promised Land. In Jubilee time we intentionally look at those things that get in the way of our relationship with God and we say ‘no’ to them and let those things go. We also look for ways to enhance our relationship with God—to those things we say ‘yes” – we are being called to choose between death-dealing forces in our lives and life-giving forces. We have before us Life, and Death- just like the Hebrews on the doorstep of the Promised Land.

At the Lunch and Learn visioning times we’ve already looked at our history- creating a time-line of the past 50 years (which can be added to at any time!) and we’ve had some fun looking at who are right now. The process today will bring us to the question “What is God’s dream for us?”

To begin this reflection I would like to have all us here in worship begin to look at what it is that we have to let go of to really live? What are our false gods that we cling to and that separate us from enjoying the fullness of life in God. Of course we want to choose life, but in order to really get there we have to first name those things that get in the way of that choice. We’re going to have a neighbour nudge time- for about 3 mins I’d like you to find a partner- preferably someone that you didn’t come with this morning- and speak briefly about these questions: What are the false gods that distract us from choosing life? What gets in the way of choosing life?

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Today we can practise Jubilee- we have before us a choice: “Life and Death” – so choose life- choose to say no to those things that get in the way of life in God and say yes to those things that enhance our life in God.

And today we are nourished by another Jubilee practise- a feast- a celebration of life at the Table of Life. The table reminds us of the core of our identity as followers of the Way of Jesus. We gather to be nourished at this Table and remember that we are named and claimed by the Risen One. At this table, it is not all about us- our needs, our fears, our insecurities… all these are embraced and transformed in the presence of Christ where we meet the saints of our faith – from our past and our future- here at the table we collectively say YES to Life.

Placed before us this day is Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life!

May it be so!