“An active kind of remembrance”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Friday, June 9, 2023

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 (Forward, p. 42) CEV p. 195

Repeatedly throughout the book of Deuteronomy, and elsewhere as well, Israel is called to remember, to remember what God has done for them, and interestingly, Israel is told to remember in very specific and particular ways:

They are to bring to the Lord the first, and the best, of the year’s

harvest—that is, before they have discovered what the rest of the

harvest is like, and before they have safely brought it in—which is

always, at least from a Prairie perspective—somewhat risky. And

they are to give it to the Lord before partaking of it themselves.

I wonder, do they do this with each of their crops, or just once.

I ask this because my guess is that different crops almost certainly mature at different times.

They are to acknowledge that it is the Lord, not themselves, who has

provided this bounty, and this land. In other words, it was not just

‘something that they had coming’, or that they obtained by their own

diligence, intelligence and plain old hard work.

They are to eat a meal together at that place of worship, and rather

Interestingly, and revealing, they are to invite the Levites & foreigners

Who live in their town, people like the Levites who had no land to call

their own, and foreigners, who might be ‘in the same boat.’ In

other words, they were to acknowledge and care for the less

fortunate among them. And so, in a sense, their bounty was not

something that they were to hoard or squirrel away for themselves

but something to share. In other words, they were to be stewards

of it.

All of this raises certain questions for me. Firstly, do we always give God our first and our best of everything? I suspect not. And, secondly, do we really believe that it is all because of God—or, do we secretly & inwardly congratulate ourselves that we have earned this or worked for it, that we somehow ‘had it coming’? And finally, do we see ourselves as stewards of

God’s bounty with an obligation to share it with others who may be less fortunate? Surely, some things to think about in terms of having a more ‘active’ type of thanksgiving.

Forward notes: “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” (verse 11).

“Regardless of what I order or how good it is, I often find myself coveting what’s on my friends’ plates. I know that if I just wait long enough, they’ll get full and won’t mind at all when I ask for a bite. Like the ‘poor and the alien’ in Leviticus 19, I go behind the reapers and gather the gleanings of the harvest. I would never ask for the first bite of chicken or the first handful of fries because I know that I would never give up the first fruits of my labour (if ordering and waiting can be considered labor).

“So, I’ve always felt like I viscerally understand the sacrifice that God is asking for when requesting the Hebrews’ first fruits. But I never noticed that God requires the first fruits for the purpose of the people’s enjoyment. They are to eat them with the Levites and foreigners, who have no land and thus no fruits of their own. What a lovely reminder that our offerings are not solely or even primarily for the purpose of self-denial but rather for the purpose of multiplied abundance and applied love.”

MOVING FORWARD: “Who can you invite to share the first fruits?”