FOLLOW, KEEP AND OBSERVE (Deuteronomy 8: 1-18) 11/13/11

The year was 1621.The first harvest was safely in, and the little group of pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts had made it through its first winter in the New World. It had survived in large measure because of the generosity of a tribe of Wampanoag Indians, whose leader Massasoit had donated food to the fledgling colony the winter before when the supplies brought from England had proved insufficient.  Of course at the time, it was just Plymouth Plantation. The state of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, now known to us as Boston, were just pipe dreams for the future. But on this fall day in New England, as the region was later to be called, fifty three pilgrims and ninety Native Americans joined together for a feast which lasted three days.  There was fish (cod, eels and bass), shellfish (clams, lobster and mussels), wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, turkey), venison, berries, fruit, vegetables (peas, pumpkin, beetroot and possibly onion), harvest grains (barley and wheat). And there was something known as the Three Sisters: beans, dried maize or corn, and squash. Although there were other, earlier feasts of this type, our modern Thanksgiving holiday traces its roots back to this celebration. William Bradford was a member of that group and later its governor, and wrote these observations about the day: “Thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings and incomings, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity.” Although it was primarily a church observance, Governor Bradford apparently ordered its secular recognition in 1623. That year saw a good harvest in the end, but only after the colonists had survived a nearly catastrophic drought. During the War Between the States, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed it a national holiday.  Like Independence Day, it is thought of as an American, rather than a purely religious, holiday. And yet it has clearly religious roots.

This last Friday, we celebrated Veteran’s Day. It is also a Federal holiday, and it started in 1919. President Woodrow Wilson declared it as Armistice Day, in remembrance of the end of World War 1. President Wilson actually invited 2,000 soldiers to the White House in 1919 and he helped the kitchen staff cook the main course of ravioli. It had become popular on grocery stores shelves as the age of canned goods was arriving in grocery stores. Many people still remember the day by serving ravioli. In 1953, the name was changed to Veterans Day, to remember all those who have served in our military. In all our wars, and there are many, over one million three hundred thousand have lost their lives. The most telling statistic is that we lost more men and women defending ourselves from each other in the Civil war than we did in World War 1, World War 11, Korea and Vietnam combined. We are not kind to ourselves.

In the Jewish tradition, the first five books of the Old Testament are called Torah, the Hebrew word for law. In the Book of Deuteronomy, the changing of the guard is imminent. Moses is passing the gavel to Joshua, his old friend and protégé, now probably eighty years old himself. The Promised Land awaits. The people of God are encamped in the territory of Moab where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea. Soon they will be crossing the Jordan to claim the promise made so many years before. Moses is old and no doubt tired, but he delivers a long farewell address to his people, which reads like a cautionary tale of what to do and what not to do. At the center of his address we find today’s passage, in which Moses warns his people not to forget God and to follow, keep and observe His commands.

Do not forget the Lord. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? These are God’s people. They have wandered through the wilderness for a generation to be reminded of who is really in charge. Do not forget God. Why? According to Moses, so that you may live and increase and enter and possess the Promised Land.  So follow his commands that these promises may come to pass. Remember that God leads you in the wilderness to humble you and to test you, to hone your understanding of  the importance of your obedience and to appreciate His deliverance.  In this testing, your real heart is known---will you keep his commands? He reminds the people of God that he brings us into the good land---the land flowing with milk and honey---the land where bread is not scarce and where we will lack nothing. He reminds us that when we have tasted the good life, when we have eaten off the fat of the good land that he has given us—that we will tend to forget the lessons of the wilderness—that we will feel self-sufficient---and he reminds us to praise him and continue to observe his commands. He says do not forget and he reminds us of the wilderness. He says do remember and he reminds us of the Promised Land. Moses reminds us that when we sit on the front porch in our rocking chairs after a Thanksgiving feast for the ages, that is the time to remember the manna and the quail---or the fatback and the chitlins. He reminds us that if our hearts become proud, we will forget that our existence was carved from deserts and wastelands; that our sustenance can come from a rock when the rod is guided by the hand of the Creator. He reminds us that “man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (v. 3).

Today, we observe Thanksgiving, a holiday when we take time to remind ourselves that we have plenty, that our larders are full and our cupboards are loaded and our lives are riddled with so many modern conveniences that we mark our existence with remote controls and digital thermometers and smart phones. It was not always this way. It is not this way in many parts of the world, and it is not this way for those who would defend us in foreign fields and for those who would carry the cross to lands both near and far.

I did some time in the service of my country as did many of you. I have eaten C-Rations and boiled salt water to drink a few times.  It seems perfectly normal to me now that those were in many ways the times I felt it easy to be close to God.  Now I have a son who, while perfectly safe, has spent two tours in the line of unfriendly fire. Mt wife spent many a holiday without her father as he did not one, but two tours in Vietnam. I cannot begin to do justice to thanking every single man and woman who have served this country in its military. They did not forget us and we should never forget them.

But I worry about myself and I worry about God’s people in America. We really are the fat cats. Even when we go through job loss and unemployment, we have the resources to recover. It is not so in many areas of our planet. We say the world has gotten smaller, because we have almost instantaneous communication all around the world. Yet, we continue to watch people starve. We continue to witness disease and malnutrition and unfit drinking water in epidemic proportion in many areas of the world in spite of staggering wealth and knowledge and food that could be put to use to remedy these sad situations. We are not kind to ourselves.

Let me offer you a Thanksgiving thought from someone who won’t be home this Thanksgiving. She is spending her fourth year in Africa. This year sher is Kigali, Rwanda taching school and doing mission work in and out of her school environment.  Her name is Emily Griggs and she is my daughter. Much more importantly, she is a child of God. Here is what she had to say about Thanksgiving last year in her blog:

I miss spending this holiday at home, with family and friends, and fun times. But we’re celebrating here too! I’m headin’ down to a friend’s house tonight, where all of us are gathering and enjoying a huge feast of foods from all over…As I get excited about celebrating this holiday of Thanksgiving, I can just look around me, as we all can, and see others that are not as blessed as we are. And we can see MANY reasons to give thanks, and many opportunities to give to others. Let’s give thanks to God, our Creator today! Thank Him for ALL things. Thank Him for the clean water that runs out of your sink today that you can drink. Thank Him for your car today. Thank Him for your grocery store. Thank Him for your health. If you’re sick, STILL thank Him…thank Him for giving you the time to rest and be in His presence. Thank Him for medicine, and the money to buy it. Thank Him for hot water that comes out of your shower. Thank Him for supplying ALL of your needs! Even the ones you aren’t even sure about right now! Let’s thank Him for All things today!

As Emily reminds us from a place where she does without much, she knows that she still has so much for which to be thankful. There is no place on earth where God’s grace and blessing cannot reach us. He led you through the desert, and if you are still there, he will lead you out. He gave you manna to eat when there was nothing else and he will do it again whenever you call faithfully for him. He wants it to go well for you. But remember that it is not your hands or your power or your strength that produce the wealth that is there for you. It is God’s grace that does that. He gives you that ability. In doing do, he confirms his covenant made long ago to his people. Today, by God’s grace, by the blood of his son, by the saints that walked this ground before you, you and I can give thanks.  As Moses reminds us, follow, keep and observe God’s commands…and do not forget the Lord.