Deuteronomy 26:1-11.                                  Thanksgiving????                                                             17/1/16

1 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 

2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name 

3 and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us." 

4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God. 

5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 

6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labour. 

7 Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 

8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. 

9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 

10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. 

11 And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.

Today we are celebrating Harvest Thanksgiving. A time for us to reflect on and give thanks for all the good things that we have so that we can live and enjoy our lives. Up front here we have a display representing some of this, with the recognition that we do have so much here in this life: Especially when you see images of severely malnourished children in Syria, for instance. We here have so much to be thankful for.

But the question needs to be asked who are we thanking and for what? In our world today we very much see that we have achieved much of this good with our intelligence and hard work. Our money and technology has made it possible for us to have such a wide variety of good things. We eat well, have an extra grand roof over our head and plenty of opportunities for leisure and pleasure which we have created for ourselves. So who do we thank for this?

Then we here also have the view that if we don’t have the finances or the ability to work for these things then we are entitled to receive it through government handouts and the like. It is our right to have what we see as necessary for us to live above the poverty line. And we expect to receive it. Try explaining that to the malnourished child in Syria or Africa. But again who do we thank, and are we even, thankful for this?

Again our world around us all too often leaves God out of the picture, and we are then left to take on board the views of the media and humanist academics as to what life and the good things that we have is all about. So I, me and myself continues to be highlighted as to the source and importance of these things. So thanks go to ourselves and our human ingenuity for much of what we have.

So surrounded by these ideas, and because of our sinful human nature, we too can get caught up in this kind of thinking with regard to our own lives and Harvest Thanksgiving as well. We too can give token recognition and thanks to God but by in large are just plain thankful that we as intelligent human beings have been able to achieve so much for ourselves.

Certainly we all take for granted too much the many good things that we have available to us. What we have in front of us here this morning is only a token of the abundance that we have available to us. But as we look around us in our society and compare what we have to what most in our world have, it is almost shocking: Particularly when we expect it as a right and a given that we should have it all; with little thanks and appreciation.

In this context it is important that we take note of what God has to say to us here in this reading. We need to constantly be reminded that in fact it is God who is the giver of everything that we have. Everything! Whether that be the land, the water, the ability to work, our intelligence or lack of it, and the list could go on and on. Every single thing that is good in our lives is only there because God has made it possible. This we need to always remember.

Here in this reading he tells us to do something that is to be a constant reminder to us of this important reality. In many ways our yearly Harvest Thanksgiving Service is a continuation of this practice. However what God says here with regard to why and what our thinking should be needs to be thought through by us all. As we do we will be helped to keep everything in its proper perspective. So let us explore these important perspectives.

Firstly he says: When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it. Now we are in our land and settled in it, but we are told here that it is God who has given this to us. He has given it to us as an inheritance. He has given us what he owns for us to use. Already note the language. He is the owner; he is the giver; he has enabled it to be ours: Therefore he is the important one and the focus of our being and life. Our focus is on him, instead of ourselves.

So being settled in our place we are then to take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Here the key word is firstfruits. So here we are called to bring to God some of the first and best of our produce in recognition that he is the giver of it all. This is not the leftovers or simply a token of what we have, in order to ‘grudgingly’ give it because we must. In thankfulness we bring the firstfruits acknowledging our dependence on him and his goodness to us.

This is brought out quite clearly when he tells us what we are to say to the priest when we offer these gifts in God’s house. "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous.  But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labour.  Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression.  So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders.  He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;  and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me."

In this there is the clear statement made that they understood that there was nothing within themselves that made them acceptable to be recipients of these good gifts. In that there is the understanding that we accept the fact that we are sinners, undeserving of anything good. Because we have gone against God and his Word we have brought all kinds of troubles and heartaches on ourselves and our world. God has every right to withdraw all that is good from our lives.

However God in his graciousness has made it possible for us to be rescued from this dire situation. With outstretched arms his Son did what was necessary for us to be made acceptable to God once more. Through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection, we now have forgiveness of sins and the assurance of God’s acceptance of us.

As a result we have the assurance also now of eternal life with God in heaven where we will have everything that is good and perfect. But even now as we live in this sinful world, God is able to look favourably on us and give us the good that we have in our lives. To sustain us through this life he gives us what we need so that we can be his people witnessing to the grace and love of God to the people around us: so that we all can give honour and glory to our God.

In this context and with thankfulness for all of this then we can: Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. Because of Jesus Christ we now truly can thank him not just for his salvation, but also for his goodness that has enabled us to have and enjoy all that we have. We can readily give to him the first fruits of all that he has given us, recognising that he has good in mind for us.

So now we are truly thankful for our body and mind, water, produce of the land, tools of trade; for learning and for recreation; for the arts; money; family and friends; society and government; and much more. Everything good is now there for us by the grace of God. We place every aspect of lives before him in thankfulness and with the endeavour to ensure that he will use those things in our lives for the good of him and his kingdom.

Then God concludes with this comment: And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household. When we appreciate and bring before God all that he has given us, then we all will rejoice and be glad: then our world around will begin to see and understand the greatness of who God is and what he has done for us; and then also be able to live in greater peace and harmony.

So with all of this in mind let us now be truly thankful this Harvest Thanksgiving Day. And through this may God truly be with us every day of our life as we are continually being kept mindful of the fact that he is the giver of all the good that we have in our lives. In this way may he then move us to be ever thankful in all circumstances. And to him then be all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish