March 11, 2007

Who You Are, Where You Came From
 

by Rev. Dr. Jim Carlson

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Swedish Skit in Covenant church

Is the experience of our ancestors of any value? Just a history lesson, or something more?

Today’s passage – raises this question.

Importance in OT. Associated with Shavuot – first fruits harvest festival.

Followed by commandment to give tenth to poor and priests every three years.

Speech by Moses – before Promised Land.

First fruit to come out of ground. Take to priest, who sets it before the altar.

Confession – not a set of beliefs; summary of nation’s faith experience.

Nomadic beginnings – negative connotation

Ancestors moved to Egypt – increased in number

Harsh oppression by Egyptians. Cried out to God.

God responds, brings them out – no mention of problems in the wilderness.

God gives them land of milk and honey.

Connection made between yearly harvest and God giving the Promised Land to the people.

All future generations claim this experience as their own experience, even though they didn’t go through it. Collapsing of time.

Odd question – How do we describe what it means to be a Christian?

Tendency to define in terms of rules followed and beliefs Christians hold.

(Slide) Apostles Creed – Christian was someone who affirmed these ideas as true.

(Slide - Creed of Deut. 26) – Rooted in faith experiences of ancestors.

Experience of oppression – Rabbi Yissocher Frand: “Anyone who is ever in the vicinity of Washington, DC should take the time to visit The United States Holocaust Museum. The museum traces the history of anti-Semitism in Germany. The anti-Semitism was based on a "hierarchy of nations". They backed up their hatred of Jews with theories and philosophies. There were "higher races"; there were "lower races"; and there were "sub-human species". They considered the Jews "sub-human species". They made us wicked, portraying us as less than human.

When I visited the United States Holocaust Museum, one picture really caught my attention. The picture depicted two Nazi soldiers (May there names be blotted out.) kicking a Jew who was laying on the street. In and of itself, that would not be novel. However the glee on their faces - that was note-worthy. Perhaps we could almost understand the scene if the emotions displayed by the soldiers were rage or anger. However, the Nazis were laughing. They were showing delight!

Such a feeling might be expected if a person has a mouse in his home and he finally gets rid of it by stamping on it. With triumph he can then smile and say "Aha - I won!" That is what they did to us. They would show their people hundreds of pictures of rats. Then they would show a picture of a Jew. Then they would show more rats and then more Jews. They continued this until the idea came across that the pictures interspersed between the pictures of the rats, were not humans - they were just mere rats.

The experience of ancestors continues in present day.

Early church did have confessions, but also identified itself in terms of liberation from oppression – at the hands of Jewish religious authorities.

Modern tendency to de-emphasize connection with past. Prior religious experiences are outdated.

Tendency to say today’s faith is more original – church traditions are corruption of “true Christianity”.

Truth is, early Christianity was very diverse – lots of places, lots of different people. No one can claim to have recovered true Christianity.

Passage reminds us of two things. 1) Our current experience of faith is and always will be rooted in the experience of people who came before us.

Positive thing – Deut Credo – benefit from gift of Promised Land.

2) Christian faith is ultimately about experiences with God, not about a set of beliefs.

What does it mean to be a believer in God? Is it something you believe or something you experience? Is it your experience, or is it your rootedness in the experience of others?

If this passage teaches us nothing else, it shows us that we still have a lot to think about.