God's Good Gifts
AM Psalm 25 • PM Psalm 9, 15
Deut. 6:10-15 • Heb 1:1-14 • John 1:1-18
“Now when the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your Fathers – to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – to give you great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns dug that you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you eat and are full, then watch yourself so that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.”
Moses's words to the Children of Israel are clear: when you finally get out of this wilderness you've been wandering around in all these years, don't become arrogant and complacent. Remember that you'll be living in a land of plenty, reaping the rewards of the labors of its previous tenants and enjoying wealth you didn't work for. Do not forget that the Lord your God is the source and giver of these gifts!
Most of us have a rich inheritance, passed down by our forebears. If not monetary wealth, then things perhaps even more important: comfortable housing and excellent education; good health care, nutritious food and plentiful clean water; freedom to speak our opinions openly, to vote, to jog down the street without fear of being arrested or beaten to death.
Today the Episcopal Church honors Frederick Douglass (c. February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895), who escaped the tortures of enslavement as a young man with the help of Anna Murray, a free Black who would become his wife and the mother of his five children. Murray and others arranged everything for the trip north, from the train tickets and identification papers to the disguise he wore, a uniform provided by a free Black sailor. In later years, Douglass was thrown off a train in Massachusetts because he refused to sit in the segregated coach, and in Indiana, he was beaten by an angry pro-slavery mob, until he was rescued by a local Quaker family. Nevertheless, Douglass, a licensed preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, continued to spend his life working for the abolition of slavery, equality for women, and education for all.
Moses would tell us the same thing today that he told his wandering flock: don't forget that the gifts—the abundance, the joy, the beauty--- are meant for all of God's children, not alone for those of us born into "safe" neighborhoods. With great privilege comes great responsibility. Just as our Great Commandment teaches us that we are to love God with our whole hearts, it follows that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. As people of color and other minorities continue to be beaten down, there can be no room in our lives or our hearts for arrogance or complacency.
Written by Kay DuVal
Kay is a retired teacher with a PhD in English. She grew up in a Southern household where her parents taught her that all people are equal in God's eyes.