remembering our gifts

Good morning sisters and brothers,
This week we're focusing on money and our anxiety about having enough. Our passage today is part of Moses' farewell sermons as he prepares the Israelites for their new life without him in the promised land. He knows that having enough can be dangerous spiritually, because we often give ourselves the credit. He tells them to remember that that everything they have comes from God. That's always a good thing for us to remember. Even though we work hard for what we have, it comes from God, who gives us the strength and ability to work. We tend to worry about having enough, but God calls us to be grateful for what we have. That's a good place to start.

God bless,
Sam

Deuteronomy 8:12-18

¹²When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, ¹³and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, ¹⁶and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. ¹⁷Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” ¹⁸But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

Deborah judges Israel

Good evening sisters and brothers,
Judges is a book we don't read from often, but there are some great stories in it. The book takes place soon after the people of Israel came into the Promised Land. Joshua, who led them in has died and the book tells the stories of the struggles the new people had. It seems that the tribes had some organization, but the the nation wasn't really unified. Time and again the people turn away from God, often to the gods of the other inhabitants of the land. When they turn away God allows them to be defeated by their enemies for a time. Before long, God can't bear seeing them oppressed and raises up a leader, called a judge, to lead Israel back to faithfulness and to victory.

Tonight's reading begins the story of the only woman judge, a woman named Deborah. Deborah is also the only judge who also acted as a judge in the way we think of it. This passage tells us that she settled disputes for the people before becoming a leader in the political and military sense. It's an interesting story, so I hope you enjoy it.

God bless,
Sam


Judges 4: 1-9
The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. ²So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. ³Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly twenty years.

⁴At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. ⁵She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.

⁶She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. ⁷I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.’” ⁸Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” ⁹And she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh.

be strong and courageous

Good evening friends,
Since I'll be on the church camping trip this weekend, I figured I'd send tomorrow's reading early and Sunday's late. I'll be out of email touch the next couple of days, but sporadically reachable by phone. As I hope I mentioned, Deuteronomy is sort of Moses' long good bye to Israel. He is saying final things to get them ready for life in the Promised Land without him. In our reading for today, Moses is dead and the torch of leadership has been passed to Joshua. 

It would be easy for Israel to feel really stuck now since they had gotten used to following Moses. It's always easy to look back on the past and think how much better it was. Instead, the leaders of Israel consistently encourage Joshua as he steps up to lead. Over and over they promise to follow and support him as long as he is "strong and courageous" as he follows God and leads Israel. Maybe that's a good mantra for all of us as we face the future. There will be challenges, but we are not alone. So trust in God, and be strong and courageous.

God bless,
Sam

Joshua 1:1-9

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ²“My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. ³Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. ⁴From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. ⁵No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. ⁶Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.

⁷Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. ⁸This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. ⁹I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

final blessings

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Today's reading comes from the closing section of Deuteronomy and summarises the blessings God will give Israel if they follow and obey. Tomorrow's passage is the mirror image curses they will face if they turn away from God. As Moses prepares to die he wants to get Israel on a firm foundation for their new life in the Promised Land. He wants to make it clear that they will find amazing blessings as God's people if they stay faithful.

God bless,
Sam

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; ²all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God: ³Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock. ⁵Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ⁶Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. ⁸The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ⁹The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. ¹⁰All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 

¹¹The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you. ¹²The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. ¹³The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them, ¹⁴and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I am commanding you today, either to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them.

supporting each other

Good morning sisters and brothers,
We still have some spaces available in our prayer vigil for tomorrow through Thursday. The available times are 7-8pm tomorrow and 1-5am, 8-9am and 10am -noon on Thursday. This is a great opportunity to lift your prayers for our city and world. Please email or call me with questions or to sign up. THere will be someone in the building all night, so you won't be alone.

Today's reading comes from Deuteronomy, a book of sermons and final instructions for Israel before they entered the Promised Land. The topic today is care for the poor, which generally happened through loans from their neighbors. Those loans had no interest attached and all debts were to be cancelled every seven years. How does God call us to care for the poor among us today?

God bless,
Sam

Deuteronomy 15:7-11

⁷If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. ⁸You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be. ⁹Be careful that you do not entertain a mean thought, thinking, “The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,” and therefore view your needy neighbor with hostility and give nothing; your neighbor might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt. ¹⁰Give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so, for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. ¹¹Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”

Thanksgiving

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Today's reading is a Thanksgiving reading from Deuteronomy. As we start the day with this reading I'd like to remind you of our ecumenical Thanksgiving service at Laurelton tonight at 7pm with our neighbor churches. The point of Deuteronomy is to remind Israel of their past and prepare them for their future in the land God is giving them.

One of our leaders put it well last night in a discussion about prayer. She said it's sometimes hard to pray when things are going well. That's one of Moses' main concerns for the people of Israel after he dies and they settle into the land. He worries Israel will forget that all the good things they have come from God. They'll give themselves too much of the credit for what they have and become arrogant and complacent in their faith. Keeping this book with them would help Israel remember that God gave them everything they have.Thanksgiving does the same for us. Thanksgiving reminds us of all our blessings and reminds us that those blessings are a gift from God.

Blessings on your Thanksgiving week and on living a grateful life each day,
Sam

Deuteronomy 8:7-18

⁷For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, ⁸a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. ¹⁰You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

¹¹Take 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. ¹²When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, ¹³and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions.

He made water flow for you from flint rock, ¹⁶and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. ¹⁷Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” ¹⁸But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

gifts of God

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Joshua continues his review of how God has led and blessed Israel. He focuses this section on how God led the way. Israel only needed to follow; they didn't need to earn God's blessings. This way of telling the story, especially the last sentence, fits very well with Deuteronomy, which comes before this book. God's grace is a free gift that comes to us before we do anything to deserve it. We can't earn grace and we don't need to, but we are called to respond by following God faithfully and loving our neighbors as ourselves.

blessings as you follow today,
Sam

Joshua 24:8-13

⁸Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. ⁹Then King Balak son of Zippor of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent and invited Balaam son of Beor to curse you, ¹⁰but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I rescued you out of his hand.  

¹¹When you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I handed them over to you. ¹²I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove out before you the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. ¹³I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and olive yards that you did not plant.

reviewing our history

Good morning friends,
This morning I would ask your prayers for the Western New York NEXT conference. The conference will be held at Third Presbyterian today and will focus on empowering the church for effective and faithful ministry today.

In our reading for this morning Joshua gathers Israel together to give a farewell speech. He reminds them of where they have been and how God has led them. His goal is to prepare them for life without him, since he is coming to the end of his life. He also wants to encourage them to be faithful to God. It's a good review for us of the Old Testament story. The context is always changing, but our calling is still to follow where God leads us.

God bless,
Sam

Joshua 24:1-7

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. ²And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. ³Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac; ⁴and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt.

⁵Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst; and afterwards I brought you out. ⁶When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. ⁷When they cried out to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did to Egypt. Afterwards you lived in the wilderness a long time.

spying out the land

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Forty years earlier, when the Israelites arrived at the border of the Promised Land for the first time, Moses sent spies into the land to see what it was like. Ten of the twelve spies reported that the people were too scary to fight and the Israelites lost their courage. That led to forty more years of wandering in the desert. Joshua was one of the two spies who brought an encouraging report. Now Joshua is leading the people of Israel, and he decides to send spies as well. The spies go specifically to Jericho, which is the first town they will attack. This time the outcome will be very different as Israel begins a new phase in their life.
blessings,
Sam

Joshua 2:1-7

Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. ²The king of Jericho was told, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.” ³Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.” ⁴But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. ⁵And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.” ⁶She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. ⁷So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

legacy and disapointment

Good morning sisters and brothers,
This is a hard part of the story of Moses because Moses has this incredibly intimate relationship with God and has devoted his life to leading the people out of slavery into the Promised Land, but he does not get to enter the land himself. I'm grateful he got to see it, and I'm sure that meant a lot to him. Still, I'm also sure he was sad not to complete the journey. The word this passage has for us, and one we'll explore in more depth on Sunday, is that most of us are in a similar situation.

We won't see the completion of most of the things we care most about. We probably won't see poverty and injustice eliminated in our lifetime, though we may see progress in that direction. We probably won't see everyone come to know Christ. We often won't see our children or grandchildren develop their gifts to the fullest before we die. We are still called to commit our life and work and prayer to making the world better, to share the gospel and to raising our children well. We are called to trust that God's purposes continue beyond our lifetime and that our work and legacy are in good hands when we are called home.

God bless,
Sam

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

1Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the LORD showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3the Negeb, and the Plain — that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees — as far as Zoar. 4The LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” 5Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. 6He was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his burial place to this day. 7Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated. 8The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.



9Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses.

10Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. 11He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, 12and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

temptation

Good morning brothers and sisters,
God warns Moses about the people who live in the Promised Land now. God commands Israel to drive them out completely because otherwise they will be seduced by their worship and go astray from God. As things happen, foreign gods are a snare for Israel, but more in the temptation King Solomon faces because of his many marriages. The lesson here is not about warfare, but more about the risk of conforming to the culture around us. Christians are in danger today of following the gods of our culture (greed, security, success) instead of following the true God. That's a danger we always need to be aware of so we can stay on the right path.

God bless,
Sam

Exodus 34:10-17

10He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord; for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.



11Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. 13You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred poles 14(for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God).


15You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. 16And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods. 17You shall not make cast idols.