SPEAKER_01: The first lesson.
SPEAKER_01: When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.
SPEAKER_01: You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.
SPEAKER_01: When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_01: A wandering Armenian was my ancestor.
SPEAKER_01: He went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.
SPEAKER_01: When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our tort, and our oppression.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm with a terrifying display of power and with signs and wonders, and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
SPEAKER_01: So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.
SPEAKER_01: You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_01: 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.
SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and will not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: For the Lord God is my strength and my song, and has become my salvation.
SPEAKER_01: With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation, and in that day all of you will say, Give thanks and call upon the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Make known among the nations what the Lord has done.
SPEAKER_01: Proclaim that the name of the Lord is exalted.
SPEAKER_01: Sing praises for the Lord has triumphed gloriously.
SPEAKER_01: Let this be known in all the earth.
SPEAKER_01: Shout and sing, people of God, for great in your midst is the Holy One.
SPEAKER_01: Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The second lesson.
SPEAKER_02: Again, I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord is near.
SPEAKER_02: Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known, be made known to God.
SPEAKER_02: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
SPEAKER_02: Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
SPEAKER_02: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When did you come here?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered them, Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
SPEAKER_00: Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.
SPEAKER_00: Then they said to him, What must we do to perform works of God?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he has sent.
SPEAKER_00: So they said to him, What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you?
SPEAKER_00: What work are you performing?
SPEAKER_00: Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus said to them, Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives light to the world.
SPEAKER_00: And they said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The climate in the country is certainly changing.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, in the midst of that is this young woman Harriet.
SPEAKER_00: She's from Easton, Pennsylvania, and one day she goes by Sandy Henry's jewelry shop to visit her friend Fran, who is working behind the counter.
SPEAKER_00: While she's half-heartedly examining those fancy jewels, really, she's just there to exchange, to engage her friend in conversation.
SPEAKER_00: And at that moment she notices a fine-looking young man walk into the store, and the man greets Fran and then proceeds to talk to Fran's father, the owner of the store.
SPEAKER_00: Harriet, not a shy woman at all, goes and asks her friend, who is that kind, good looking gentleman over there?
SPEAKER_00: Fran responds, Oh, that's Charles.
SPEAKER_00: He's a good friend of the family.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if he's not with anyone, please give him my number.
SPEAKER_00: Harriet says this as she slips out the door to rush home to make dinner for her parents.
SPEAKER_00: Later that night the phone rings.
SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Charles.
SPEAKER_00: May I please speak to Harriet?
SPEAKER_00: Harriet sat on the cushioned stool at the base of the stairs for the next two hours.
SPEAKER_00: As she got to know Charles, she laughed at his jokes and was amazed by his adventures.
SPEAKER_00: But more than anything, she was awestruck by his gentle, caring nature.
SPEAKER_00: He called back the next evening, saying that he and his unit were being moved to the DC area for further training, but he would very much like to continue calling her if that was alright.
SPEAKER_00: They continued to talk and meet when they could.
SPEAKER_00: The fifth time they ever met face to face was on their wedding day with a small family reception out in the backyard.
SPEAKER_00: Shortly after that, Charles went off to fight in the war, and luckily he was able to return home safely.
SPEAKER_00: Later on, Harriet and Charles had one son, David.
SPEAKER_00: They lived a pretty simple and yet very happy life together for over 41 years.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone who knew them could tell they deeply and completely loved each other every day of their lives.
SPEAKER_00: Harriet was my grandmother and Charles my grandfather.
SPEAKER_00: Charles died when I was only two years old, and so I only have one true memory of seeing my grandparents interacting together.
SPEAKER_00: But I have heard versions of this story being told and retold throughout my entire life.
SPEAKER_00: It feels as if I have lived it myself, and I retell it often with great joy and pride.
SPEAKER_00: I believe this story has shaped me in many ways.
SPEAKER_00: It gave me the courage to be a strong-willed, independent woman just like my grandmother, to never shy away from omitting my feelings either.
SPEAKER_00: And it certainly led to my romantic nature.
SPEAKER_00: And this story gave me an idea that love is something that doesn't just happen in a moment, but it takes a lifetime of work, which is why marrying somebody after only meeting them four times can work.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have to be willing to do the work.
SPEAKER_00: This story also shapes me to have gratitude for those divine meanings in life that change the course of our earthly journeys.
SPEAKER_00: I consider this story one of my origin stories.
SPEAKER_00: It's a story that not only helped to biologically create me, but it also shaped me as a young woman to view the world a certain way.
SPEAKER_00: We all have origin stories that shape us, inspire us, and sometimes challenge us.
SPEAKER_00: The passage that we read today from Deuteronomy is not only a retelling of the Israelite origin story, but teaches the importance of remembering.
SPEAKER_00: This passage is basically a liturgy, as if it was pulled right out of the book of common prayer and teaches us how to give thanks to God at harvest time.
SPEAKER_00: It begins with presenting to God the first fruits, the best of the best of the harvest.
SPEAKER_00: Then the presenters, note the presenters and not the priest, retell the Israelite origin story.
SPEAKER_00: Then lastly, there is a shared meal, not only in the family who presents the first fruits, but also with some of their neighbors who are without land, without the resources to have a harvest of their own.
SPEAKER_00: The retelling of the Israelite story is vital to this liturgy.
SPEAKER_00: While for the first generation or two after they entered that promised land, it might have been easy to remember that all they had was gift from God, that the houses that they lived in and the vineyards and orchards where they harvested their fruits from were not built by their own hands, but given to them.
SPEAKER_00: But as generations go by and people labor in those fields and vineyards, it becomes easier and easier to view the crops as wages of their own hard work and not first and foremost a gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: If the ritual of this liturgy is kept though year after year, generation after generation, then they will continue to remember to view all that they have as a gift.
SPEAKER_00: Seeing land and harvest as gift then leads to a stance of gratitude instead of entitlement.
SPEAKER_00: Retelling the Exodus origin story helps the Israelites continue to see that all they have is gift.
SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't stop with displaying gratitude when the land and harvest are seen as gift and people see their place as steward instead of owners.
SPEAKER_00: Gratitude then leads to generosity.
SPEAKER_00: This liturgy concludes with a generous sharing of those first fruits with those who do not have land of their own.
SPEAKER_00: They share because first God shared with them.
SPEAKER_00: They share because they remember a time when the only one giving to them were the Egyptians giving them hard, tough labor and the pain they remember that was associated with it.
SPEAKER_00: So they give, so they do not become like the Egyptians, but instead they give so they can emulate the genera the generous nature of God.
SPEAKER_00: This promise is lived out in this liturgy as Abraham's descendants have been blessed with land and harvest, and in turn get the opportunity to bless others.
SPEAKER_00: We're not in the promised land and most of us are not farmers.
SPEAKER_00: If I'm honest with you, it's a good thing I'm not a farmer because I have a pretty purple thumb.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that God has blessed each of us with resources in one form or another.
SPEAKER_00: And each of us is called to offer unto God our very best, remembering all that God has done for us, and with gratitude to be generous towards others.
SPEAKER_00: Today, as we conclude our liturgy, we will have a chance to bless some wheat seeds that will then be planted this coming spring, and they'll grow and be harvested and milled at Honore Farm and Mill, which is an episcopal initiative out in California.
SPEAKER_00: The wheat will then be baked into communion bread in partnering churches throughout the country.
SPEAKER_00: And these seeds that we're about to bless have an origin story too.
SPEAKER_00: They are the descendants of 2,000-year-old wheat from Masada in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: The seeds were stored away carefully when a Jewish community was attacked by Romans around the time of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: There was no human survivor of that community, but before they died, they buried their riches and burned their buildings, for they didn't want the Romans to have their wealth.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the 1960s, the storehouses were discovered, dug up, and the seeds were carefully grown in a bread lab for several years, so that the seeds could be reintroduced into farming communities today.
SPEAKER_00: Some seeds were sent to Honore Farm where they are organically grown and processed and then are shared with communities.
SPEAKER_00: These seeds have an origin story of death and destruction, but also a story of rising from the ashes to bring new life.
SPEAKER_00: It is a story that reminds us of the new life we experience each day in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: A new life known and shared with one another.
SPEAKER_00: So, in conclusion today, I invite you to ponder what are our origin stories today?
SPEAKER_00: What are the stories that help us to see our lives and our resources as gifts?
SPEAKER_00: What are stories that help to shape us to be filled with gratitude and generosity?