Service of Gratitude: God Is Good. All the Time.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’ When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

For years the Bethlehem children participated in a liturgy whenever they gathered.  It’s done by call-and-response, so let’s give it a go. First me, then you: “God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.” 

A simple statement that confesses a truth about God. God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good. It’s considered a form of liturgy, a communal response to and participation in what God is already doing. Liturgy is a part of our public worship and includes praise and thanksgiving, remembrance, repentance or prayer.

Tonight’s reading from the Old Testament is also a liturgy. It’s longer, not quite as pithy, but God’s goodness is at the heart of what the people say and do. 

Moses is preaching to the people Israel and it’s been a long sermon. It begins back in Chapter 5, and here we are toward the end, in Chapter 26.  He’s giving instructions for offerings and tithes around the time of harvest. There are necessary actions to take as people of faith — there’s a story to tell too. 

The liturgy begins with them taking the first fruit from the land, putting it in a basket and taking it to the priest who will lay it at the altar. This demonstrates their obedience and reverence for God. It also shows they trusted God with their future. They live with hope because God will provide. 

Along with this offering they are instructed to retell their story, to remember who they were and to whom they belong. Listen carefully and we learn about their story of being homeless, immigrants, a people who suffered greatly, crying out to God to be saved. God heard their cries and had compassion. The Lord freed them from enslavement and brought them to fertile land, a place flowing with milk and honey. 

This is the story they tell again and again — people of faith reminding each other of how God shows up. The words “to give” are used seven times in these 11 verses. This is a story grounded in gratitude. Gratitude remains a hallmark of our faith too. Israel doesn’t skip over the hard parts of their history: the suffering, being lost, feeling forgotten. Naming these realities points to the saving actions of God that stretch across all generations. The people tell this story to remember who they are, from where they come and to whom they belong. They tell it for the sake of future generations too. Their offering comes with their origin story, a liturgy that includes praise and thanksgiving, remembrance, repentance and prayer. 

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving. In many ways it’ll look different this year. Thank you for the choices you’re making not to congregate in large groups with loved ones, for their sake and for the sake of the vulnerable among us. The spread of the pandemic requires we stay apart, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t an offering to make with a story to tell.  

On Sunday we collected your donations for our local food shelf partners:  ICA and CES. The financial gifts you offer tonight will all be directed to them as well. This act is part of our liturgy tonight — it’s a connection to our history as people of faith who make an offering of first fruits. We respond to God’s blessings with individual gifts to meet the needs of people in our communities. 

The quilts that rest on the communion rail behind me are also your offering, gifts of warmth and comfort extended to people around the world. These are the offerings we make tonight. What is the story that gets told? 

I’m thinking about that question a little differently this year, recognizing the story we tell this week gets tangled up in our culture’s story of Thanksgiving — a story that is complex. One that erases the experience of some and prioritizes the experience of others. A story that includes deception and violence at the hands of our dominant European culture to the great sacrifice of indigenous peoples. There’s work to do to understand the complexity of the tradition. So we listen and learn the stories of others because we belong to each other. When this sermon gets posted on our website I’ll include links to some of the voices I’ve been listening to and learning from. 

Their stories don’t diminish ours. They contribute to a deeper appreciation around the practice of gratitude. The idea for giving thanks is central to cultures around the world and has been for thousands of years. The practice of gratitude doesn’t belong to one people or one faith. It may look different depending on the traditions of the culture, but the practice of giving thanks acknowledges the same truth:  that the Creator God is generous, that all we have and all we are is a gift from God.

Our story of why we make offerings to God isn’t changed by the history surrounding this holiday. The act is a communal response to our experience of God: God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good. Gratitude for who God is and how God loves is central to our faith in Jesus who saves, the One who restores us to right relationship with God, the One who assures us that we belong to God and we belong to each other.

In a few moments the Bethlehem Chorale and Chancel choirs will sing a German hymn that speaks of gratitude. It was written by Pastor Martin Rinkart as a table grace during the Thirty Years’ War that devastated all of Europe. His wife had died of the pestilence, and he wrote this poem for his children that in faith they would know God’s goodness and grace. 

We are on the receiving end of God’s goodness all the time, even in times of grief and heartbreaking circumstances. So now is the time to praise and thanksgiving to God, to remember, to repent, to pray and sing the story of God’s generosity so that others can join with us in liturgy proclaiming:  God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good. 

Voices I’ve been listening to and learning from: 

1. Indigenous Rights Radio: “We Are Still Here — A Message of Unity for Thanksgiving” 
2. Westminster Presbyterian Church
3. “Earthkeepers: A Circlewood Podcast on Creation Care and Spirituality”