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This Thanksgiving We're Going Home

            Whether you are single or married, whether you are a college student or college student’s parent, whether you’ve just started your own family or have recently become a grandparent, this past week you probably heard someone ask, “What are your plans for Thanksgiving?”  Some of you are here visiting relatives.  Some of you plan to travel today or tomorrow for just such a visit.  Some of you are hosting a big feast.  Some of you are going to have a quiet day alone.  But when we join ourselves to the experience of the people who first heard Moses’ swan song sermon, a paragraph of which we heard as the first lesson today, we can all say, This Thanksgiving We’re Going Home.

Thank the Lord for the journey

            Forty years had passed.  Forty years of wandering in the wilderness.  Forty years on a journey to the promised land.  I know there are people who like to get in the car and drive and drive and drive.  Even if they plan a vacation in California or Texas, they prefer highways to runways.  They prefer the ride down the road rather than the lift-off into the sky.  For them the journey is half the fun.  But forty years!  Would you want to sit in the car on and off for forty years before reaching your goal?  How do you think the Israelites felt about the journey to the land of Canaan?  There they were, camped on the plains just across the Jordan River from the promised land listening to their leader deliver his final speech.  What would they say about the journey?

            Let’s ask a couple of them.  “Hey, Achan!  Tell us your thoughts about the journey.”  Achan replies, “You don’t really want to know, do you?  How many ways can you say, ‘Horrible!’  What was the journey like?  Sand!  Sand, sand everywhere – on my tent, in my tent.  When I got up each morning, sand sprinkled out of my robes.  I had sand in my sandals, sand in my hair, sand on my face, sand in my food.  Speaking of the food!  What a menu!  At least it was consistent.  On Sunday we had manna bagels, on Monday manna cake, on Tuesday manna crackers, on Wednesday manna muffins, on Thursday manna pancakes, on Friday manna rolls, and on Saturday manna bread.  Then we started over and at the same thing the next week and the next and the next.  And have you ever been thirsty.  I don’t mean I-think-I’d-like-an-iced-tea thirsty.  I mean bone dry thirsty with your tongue sticking to the roof of your mouth, your lips cracked and bleeding, that gross, white, sticky stuff at the corners of your mouth, your throat so dry that you sound hoarse when you try to talk.  So thirsty that you’re looking for a drop of dew under the leaf of the few scruffy plants that are nearby.  And just when you finally get to an oasis, a scorpion crawls out of the drinking pot.  There wasn’t a day when I didn’t have to watch my step because I could hear the hiss of a snake.  Then there was the time the cloud of the Lord led us through a deep ravine.  I thought we’d never make it up that steep embankment.  I skinned my knee and twisted my ankle trying to step into someone’s hand stirrup for a boost up.  It was embarrassing getting pushed up from behind.  I should also mention that I had to bury my parents, and I’ll never be back to that cemetery to put flowers on their graves.  My thoughts on the journey?  How many ways can you say, ‘Horrible!’ ”  “Thanks for the insights, Achan.”

            Look!  Here’s another Israelite.  Let’s ask him about the journey.  “Hey, Caleb!  How would you assess the journey?”  Caleb replies, “How many ways can you say, ‘Amazing!’  Just listen to Moses as he is delivering his final speech.  The LORD our God brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  I don’t think we’ve got enough time in the day for me to tell you what an amazing miracle that was.  He led us through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions.  Oh sure, there were dangers on the way.  We expected that.  After all, we know the world is not perfect.  No matter where you live, no matter where you travel, you can expect both wonders and wasteland, beauties and beasts.  The amazing thing is that God protected us.  We weren’t trained for warfare, but he gave us a big victory when the Amalekites attacked.  There may have been dust and sand, but he made sure the soles of our sandals never wore out.  When we had a water shortage, he brought water out of hard rock.  And talk about food!  The LORD gave us manna to eat in the desert, something our fathers had never known.  The daily gathering of those wonder-wafers served to humble and to test us as well as provide all the nutrients and vitamins we needed.  I can also recall a time when the cloud of the Lord led us through a deep ravine.  We wondered why at first.  But looking back on it, I can see that the Lord was teaching us teamwork and giving us an opportunity to help each other as we boosted people up the embankment and built human pyramids for some of the struggling folks to climb up.  The journey wasn’t easy, but all along I learned patience through those difficult days, and I learned to trust the Lord more and more.  He promised to provide for us and protect us.  With every promise fulfilled along the way my trust in him grew, especially that he would keep his big promise to take us to our destination – and I don’t mean across the river Jordan into Canaan.  I mean across the river of sin into heaven.  My thoughts on the journey itself?  How many ways can you say, ‘God is amazing!’ ”

            Whether you’re young enough to feel like your whole life is in front of you or whether you’re old enough to view most of life in the rear-view mirror, take a moment this Thanksgiving to reflect on the journey.  As we’ve been wandering through the wilderness of life, there’s no question that the sand of sin has infiltrated everything.  Sometimes it’s stuck right on our face for all to see.  Most often it’s hidden in the folds of our heart and sprinkles out at the least opportune times.  When we try to brush away the sand of sin because we don’t want to look dirty in front of God, we can get really tired from the constant effort to make ourselves clean and really thirsty, thirsty for just a dribble of forgiveness.  Then the scorpion of disease jumps out, or the snake of pain slithers in.  And around the next corner on our journey we find ourselves in a ravine with a steep embankment we can hardly climb.  How will we look back on the journey of life?  Do we see the glass half-empty as Achan did or half-full as Caleb did?

            The answer will not be found at a positive attitude seminar.  The answer will not be discovered by buying into “prosperity theology” made popular by some preachers with big TV budgets because, as one commentator put it in a recent newspaper article, that “can be very appealing, especially if one never touches upon the harsher realities of life” (www.jsonline.com/features/religion/34972384.html).  No!  The key is to look at what God has done, how he has kept his promises to guide us, provide for us, train us, teach us, and ultimately take us on this journey of life to our final destination across the river of sin into the promised land of heaven.  When we’re on the journey, and things are not going well – OK, when life is downright crummy, and you want to scream, “Stop the bus!  I want to get off,” when cancer cells grow and go where they should not go, when the relationship you thought was so promising fell apart and left you alone again, when you really banked on the idea of early retirement and the bank is no more, when you needed just three more credits to finish your degree but the course was not offered, when you can’t seem to shake the guilt of what you did to yourself with bad habits or what you did to others with hurtful words, then look back and see God in action.  See him fill our refrigerators and ovens and freezers and microwaves with all kinds of things well beyond manna.  See him use the ravines in life to teach us teamwork and patience and helpfulness to others.  See him transport the blood of Jesus to our account to wash us clean from the sand of sin and transfuse it into us so that we can live with God and continue the journey to its end.  The journey?  It has not been easy and won’t be easy in the days ahead.  But how many ways can we say, “God is amazing!”  We’re trying some out in this worship service because This Thanksgiving We’re Going Home.  Thank the Lord for the journey.

Thank the Lord for the destination

            “Hey, Achan!  How do you think you’ll be able to cross the Jordan River, and what do you think it will be like when you get into the promised land?”  Achan replies, “I know it’s going to take a Herculean effort to get all these people across that river.  There are two and a half million of us Israelites, and the river’s at flood stage.  All I know is that I’ll probably have to go through a lot of effort to build some kind of raft.  As for what it’s going to be like on the other side, I’m not sure.  But what I recall from a scouting report we heard when I was a kid forty years ago tells me that it’s going to be a rough.  I’m going to have to look for whatever I can get my hands on in order to get comfortable and have some sense of security.”

            “Hey, Caleb!  How do you think you’ll be able to cross the Jordan River, and what do you think it will be like when you get into the promised land?”  Caleb replies, “I’m not sure how we’re all going to cross the Jordan.  All I know is that if God got us through the Red Sea when he rescued us from slavery in Egypt, he can surely get us across this river.  As for what it’s going to be like on the other side, I know it will be wonderful.  OK, I know it won’t be perfect, but I was one of the scouts forty years ago.  I helped carry a cluster of grapes that was so full of beautiful ripe fruit that it took two of us to carry it on a pole (Numbers 13:23).  I did not scout the entire land, but I know God will bless us.  That’s his promise.  Just listen to Moses” – When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.  Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God … Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God … You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”  But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.  “He’s right.  God got us to this point in our life.  God will bring us across the river and God will bless in ways we have never dreamed of.  I’m so thankful we’re going home.”

            What is it going to take to get us into the promised land of heaven?  A miracle greater than parting the Red Sea and stopping the flow of the Jordan River.  Jesus already worked that miracle.  We’ve got a free pass to enter whenever God decides to take us there.  And what’s it going to be like when we get there?  A couple weeks ago, Professor Tiefel reminded us that even if we don’t have a great voice and don’t like to sing, we’ll be given aria-like voices to sing big praises to God for what he is like and for what he has done to get us to our destination.  But there will be more than singing.  Heaven is our eternal home, and, after all, what is “home?”  We know full well that there are abusive homes, but God intends home to be a place of security, acceptance, trust, and love.  That’s what heaven is like – only better.  The Lord got us to this point in life, he will bring us across the river, and he will bless us in ways we have never dreamed of.  This Thanksgiving we’re going home.  Thank the Lord for the destination.

            There really is a Bible character named Achan.  He was an Israelite listening to Moses’ final speech.  But he didn’t pay attention, or if he did, he did not take Moses’ words to heart.  He stole plunder after God knocked down the walls of Jericho, and he paid for it with his life.  There really is a Bible character named Caleb.  He was an Israelite listening to Moses’ final speech.  He paid attention, and with all his heart he thanked God for all that God had done for him.

            You might be all alone this Thanksgiving, cracking open a can of tuna for a private Thanksgiving snack as the sun goes down on another day of football and mindless TV shows.  You might be at a large family gathering, laughing at Uncle Earl’s jokes, loosening your belt from all the turkey and stuffing, seeking a corner of the couch for a nap.  You might be just old enough to remember for the first time what happened on this Thanksgiving or old enough to have forgotten what happened at last year’s Thanksgiving.  But no matter where you are, no matter how young or old you are, in fact, whether it’s a national day of Thanksgiving or any other day of the year, when someone asks, “What are your plans for Thanksgiving?” say it loud, and say it proud, “This Thanksgiving We’re Going Home.”  Amen.

Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (http://www.gracedowntown.org/) on November 27, 2008

Services

Sundays 7:45, 9:00 & 10:30 am

Mondays 6:30 pm

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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