2013-07-14 Take Care
Lily Barn Sunday
Deuteronomy 8:7-20
7 For 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, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a 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. 10 You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.
11 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. 12 When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous[b] snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, 16 and 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. 17 Do not say to yourself, "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth." 18 But 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. 19 If you do forget the LORD your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the LORD is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
Luke 8:22-25
22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side of the lake." So they put out, 23 and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. 24 They went to him and woke him up, shouting, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, "Where is your faith?" They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?"
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"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land…"
For me, this annual pilgrimage to the Lily Barn - and I consider it kind of a religious pilgrimage - reminds me that as beautiful as houses of worship are, as lovely as our church sanctuary is, God never said to the Israelites, "I will bring you into a really inspiring building." The Bible says, "For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land."
Isn't there just something holy about being "with God" in "the land"? When we're in a building, built by human hands, we're always surrounded by human invention. But out here, breathing the open air of the land, it kind of drives home the knowledge that all of this - all the land, all the sky, all the air - all of this belongs to God. And so do you, and so do I.
The Bible makes it clear: the promises of God, the covenants of God, the evidence of God all begin with The Land.
It's God's land. Period. Plain and simple, no ifs, ands, or buts. It's God's land. Whose land is it? God's land. This land is not your land. This land is not my land. From California, to the New York Island. From Jerusalem to the Palestinian territories. From Pyongyang to Seoul. From "A" cities like Albuquerque to "Z" cities like Zhengzhou. From Lillehammer all the way around the globe to the Lily Barn. It's God's land. We might have been led by a cloud of fire to the land, as were the Israelites. Our Volunteer ancestors might have paid for the rights to the land; we might have inherited ownership of the land; we might be legal residents, we might have a clear title to the land on file with the register of deeds; but ultimately, the land is not our land. It's God's land. All the good that comes from the land? That's God's good, too. All the wealth that comes from the land? That's God's wealth. We get to share it like a loan from the library. But in the end, the Land belongs to God.
This land is God's land. God wants you to know that, and remember it. Because knowing and remembering that this land is God's land will make all the difference in how you treat it, and how you live -- in whatever land God has given you.
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Way, way back in Deuteronomy, it is written:
"For 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…."
Where does that sound like? Streams, valleys, hills? It sounds like here, doesn't it? (Don't tell Israel.) We are surrounded by land whose goodness and beauty are nearly biblical. Flowing streams, springs and underground waters, valleys, hills. It's no wonder people call East Tennessee, "God's country." As if, if God could pick anywhere on earth to settle down and enjoy retirement, it would be here, with us, who were smart enough to figure it out a long time ago. "Hey, God. Wondered when you'd get here. Pull up a rocking chair. Welcome to YOUR country. (Now, could we talk about YOUR football team?)"
We take pride in our land, our place. And we should. We should care for it, and preserve it, and keep its beauty springing from every branch, echoing from every rock wall, leading future generations up the trails to adventure and joy. We should care for this land as if, well, as if it were our very own. But it's not. It's not really our land. It's God's country in the finest sense. God wants you remember that. We've just got it on loan for a few years. This is someone else's place. And remembering that makes a difference in how we treat it.
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Do you ever notice how much better behaved your kids are at someone else's house? They carry their own plates to the kitchen. They ask what they can do. And you think, "Why aren't they like this at home?" (I'm speaking completely hypothetically, here.)
Whatever it is, if it's ours, we take it for granted, don't we? Why is that? Well, part of it is, we paid for it. So we can do whatever we want with it. Plus, we see our stuff every day. It's in its place, where we put it. Kids, wanna drive your parents crazy? Move their stuff. The ceramic figures face the right direction. The tools hang where we hung them. We live in our place, every day. It's ours. It's always around, the way we built it, the way we made it. It's ours. We know it. We're very familiar with it.
They say, familiarity breeds contempt. But familiarity also breeds complacence. (And, I suppose you might say complacence is contempt lite.) When it's ours, we think it's permanent. Like we are. But when we know something doesn't belong to us, we treat it a little more carefully, don't we? Oh that's somebody else's stuff; don't break it. That's grandma's couch; don't take off the plastic. It's my dad's car; don't scratch it or he'll go nuts. Isn't that how it goes?
When do we stop taking such care? When do we stop caring about stuff? When do we stop caring about the land and everything in it?
The Bible knew when, knew it well.
"Take care that you do not forget…," it says. "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…" it says. That's when you've gotta take care. When all this FEELS like it's yours and FEELS like it's yours alone, take care. Because that's precisely when you're gonna stop caring.
The Bible speaks to these people, these lucky, lucky people, who have been led by God to God's country, to this magnificent land flowing with streams, rising up in green hills and verdant valleys, this land extending from sea to shining sea with unending wealth and prosperity and goodness.
And the Bible says, "Take care." Take care, and "do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God," forgetting that all this miraculous land is not your land. Whether it's the Promised Land of scripture, or "God's country" right over there. Take care. And do not forget. This is not your land; this is God's land. And your lease is temporary. Your title can be revoked. There is a landlord; there is a Lord of the land, and the land belongs in perpetuity to the Lord.
So, let's review. Whose land is it? (God's). Good. But don't stop there.
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In another story of the Bible, the disciples learned that it's not *just* the land that belongs to God.
They were out on a boat, and a storm came up. They were out on the lake, and a horrible windstorm bore down on them, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in terrible danger. Jesus was asleep below deck, so they went and woke him up, shouting, "Master, Master! We're all gonna die!"
And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. That's when the disciples got really scared. And they said to one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?"
It's God's land. But it's not just the land. It's the winds and the water, too. And that seems like a lot, but it's even more. It's the air and it's the sky. It's the tiniest tiny things and it's the biggest big stars and farthest galaxies far, far away, stretching out past our imaginations. It's everything. Everything. Everything around us; everything within us. Everything belongs to the landlord, the sky-lord, the water-lord, the time-lord... the you-lord.
And the Bible says, "Take care."
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Take care.
In the beginning, God created a man and a woman from the earth. And God set them in a garden and God said, "Take care." Take care of this land. Take care of the creatures. And take care of each other. Take care.
But also, take care, take care of your Spirit, take care of your attitude toward all that you have been given to take care of.
"Take care and do not exalt yourself," the Bible says. "Do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God," taking not care, but taking for granted, taking for complacency, even taking in contempt. Take care of what's been loaned you for this little while. Take care and do not forget that everything you touch, everything you see, and even what you don't -- every moment of your time, every breath of your lungs, every feeling that flits through your heart -- is borrowed.
It does not belong to you. It all belongs to God.
So take care. Take care of God's creation. But also take care of your attitude. Take care of your attitude and your actions toward all that God has created.
Take care of the land, and take care of the people who have landed with you.
Take care.
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Let's pray, as we're led in our Responsive Prayer of Care.
Based on
http://www.ucc.org/assets/pdfs/ww-earthday.pdf
Responsive Prayer of Care
One: Creator God, your Spirit moves over the face of the earth, through the waters of oceans and rivers and mountain streams. You gathered the seas into their places, and lifted the mountains toward the heavens.
People: We praise you, mighty God, for the order and beauty of nature, infinite in expanse, yet as near as our breath.
One: Preserver and Sustainer of all, keep us in your Spirit, grateful for the wonder of life, joyous in the living of our days, walking peaceably across your earth, sharing its blessings, caring for those in want.
People: May your Holy Spirit flow through our veins, making us strong, giving us purpose as stewards of your creation.
One: At every morning, make us reflections of your Son, rising in harmony with hardships and grace, facing both evil and good with confidence, trusting in your providence, praying in your hope.
People: At every sunset, let us reflect in thanksgiving, grateful for another day, resting in your hand, O Maker of all, seen and unseen.
One: Unite us in nature, guide us in service, send us as guardians of your mercy. Father, Son and Spirit, in your love and to your honor, we pray. Amen.
