Teaching Since we began reading The Story, an unnamed character
has been present in every story – “Land”. In the gifts of Creation,
God gave us the gift of Dry Land. And the Land – moving from one
land to another, and God promised God’s people a Land flowing with
Milk & Honey – the Promised Land. The people wander in the land of
the Desert for 40 years, and this week the Promised Land is in sight.
The idea of the Promised Land led God’s people to wander in the
wilderness for forty years.
Fastforward to today, a theology of a Promised Land is still present
in international politics and diplomacy now. There are some who
believe that the establishment and support for the state of Israel is
seen as a fulfillment of the promises made to Abraham. Included in
this group are Christian Zionists who believe that “Israel owns all
the land of ancient Palestine (including the land known as the West
Bank) as part of an eternal covenant between God and the
descendants of Abraham; that the establishment of modern Israel
came as the fulfillment of God’s promises in the Bible and as a sign of
the imminent return of Jesus.”1 The idea of the Promised land
creates a barrier for justice and peace between Israelis and
Palestinians, especially Palestinian Christians. This interpretation of
God’s promise has been rejected by church leaders in Jerusalem, but
is still pervasive among fundamentalist North American Christians.
We all know that the situation is Israel and Palestine is messy. As a
United Church, we uphold the legitimacy of the state of Israel.
However, we yearn for peace between Palestine and Israel. We pray
for this peace. The theology of the Promised Land complicates this
quest for peace. It complicates the quest for love, justice for
reconciliation. And it raises bigger questions about our value of
Land, and the power of those who have it.
The United Church of Canada. “Report of the Working Group on Israel/Palestine Policy”
2012. http://www.gc41.ca/sites/default/files/reports_79-108.pdf
1
1
Biblical scholars of the 20th century wondered about what it was like
for the people already in the ‘promised land’ when the Israelites
finally entered it. What was it like for the Canaanites for the
Israelites to take over? This story connects to our own story in
Canada. It speaks to the situation that First Nations peoples in
Canada who continue to feel the effects of Europeans taking over
their land. While our country pursues Truth and Reconciliation, we
in the United Church recognize that they were here first. We’ve also
honoured the Land that our churches stand on by the adding the
Mohawk to our Crest, “All My Relations” and acknowledging in our
meetings that this Land was important to them & is important to us.
Sermon The Story Chapter 6 – Wandering
Prayer:
Holy One, your word is a light in the darkness
and a source of blessing.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us;
enliven our hearts and minds
as we hear your word for us today. Amen.
Road trips have a special significance for many of us, whether it is a
family road trip across Canada or a trip to visit grandma. What we
remember about these trips are not the uneventful ones, where
nothing exciting really happened. The road trips we remember are
the ones where things didn’t go according to plan – the car breaks
down, you ran out of gas, you got stuck in a snow storm, someone
read the map wrong and you got lost, maybe a short trip became a
long adventure. Regardless of what exactly happened, I bet that
during these memorable trips, there was some complaining – “I’m
2
hungry, can we stop for a snack”? Maybe you were fighting with
your sibling, “Mom, he hit me”, or someone nagged, ‘Are we there
yet?’ or constant complained about getting lost. On a road trip,
when things go wrong, it seems so easy to complain about anything
and everything. In fact, in all parts of life today, we like to complain a
lot.
The experience of the people of Israel in the wilderness was
much like a road trip. They ran into trouble along the way and often
complained. The chapter this week provides many examples of the
Israelites encountering trouble in their road trip to the Promised
Land and complaining about it. They left a hard life of slavery. God
is leading them to freedom. But things aren’t going so well. They
are in the barrenness of the wilderness. There are no springs for
water. They are thirsty and hopeless. The whole group together
protests to Moses and Aaron. Like an angry mob, they gather before
their leaders to whine and lament. “Why did you do this to us? Why
were we brought out to this place to die? There’s no fruit and
nothing to drink.” And, someone is to blame for this dire situation.
They seem blame to Moses for the impending genocide. They think
that death is nearly upon them all. They appear to be complaining
to Moses, but they are really complaining to God. They are
misdirecting their anger for God, at Moses. It is like being mad
about work, but coming home and taking it out on your spouse. The
3
blame is misdirected. God is to blame because it was under God’s
power and leadership that they escaped Egypt. God was the one
who had led them into the wilderness. God had guaranteed to lead
them to the Promised Land, but now was forcing them to nearly die.
The people of God have hit a snag. The road trip was going along
well and now there is no service station anywhere, so they start to
complain and blame.
Complaining isn’t an ancient attribute of people found in
biblical stories. Complaining is ever present in our own world. We
complain about money. We complain about our jobs. We complain
about our significant relationships or lack there of. We complain
about our own decisions and the choices of others. We complain
about the state of our lives and the world. We complain about
politicians and politics. And we, in the church, are not immune from
this complaining. Sometimes we complain about the declining
membership numbers or we complain about the new hymn that we
don’t like. At certain times of the year, we complain about not being
able to meet our budget. In some churches, we complain about the
noise of children in worship. A culture of complaint is present in our
church and our society.
Just like the people of Israel, blame is often present in our
grumbling. In our protesting, we often blame others. We complain
about not having enough money and blame our spouse for spending
4
too much. We complain about our jobs and blame our boss. We
complain about climate change in our world and blame polluting
corporations. We complain about our shrinking church and blame
the absent young people. Blame is a key element of the culture of
complaint. But, are we like the Israelites who blame Moses, as a
smoke screen laying our true blame on God? I think that sometimes,
this can be the case. Sometimes we can blame others, but in our
hearts, we misdirect the blame because we are really pointing the
finger at God. We are blaming God for the situation that we are in.
We are blaming God for appearing to be deaf to our pleas. We are
blaming God for seeming not care about us. We are blaming God for
seeming to be absent.
But, God hears and provides. God, who brought the Israelites
out of Egypt, has not abandoned them. As they continue on their
road trip, God has not forgotten them. God cares about the people of
Israel. God hears their cries. Through divine action, God affirms
God’s presence with them. God is with them at the Tabernacle. God
tells Moses how to make water flow from the rock. God heard the
hungry cries for food and provided more quail than the people could
eat or gather. God does this so that the people know that God is God.
God hears and provides for the people. God’s actions stop the
people from complaining. These actions show that God is the one
who brought them out of Egypt and has not abandoned them. God
5
provides to show that God has not forgotten them. God cares about
the people. God hears their cries. God affirms God’s presence with
them. As the people of Israel continue the road trip, God hears their
complaints and provides for them. In the midst of the wilderness,
God provides the people with the fullness of life.
Just as God’s love was shown to the people of Israel through
the simple and ordinary things of life – quail and water, God’s grace
is shown to us today through the ordinary things of life – bread for
the journey. In the ordinary things of the road trip of life, God’s love
is apparent. God is with us here and now. God hears us too. God
listens to all of our complaining and blaming. And God loves us
through it all. Through Christ, God continues to provide us with the
fullness of life wherever the road may lead.
6