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“Bound for the
Promised Land”
A sermon preached by
the Rev. Douglas M. Donley
I
appreciate all of the Thanksgiving references and the early American music of
this service today. As I leaf through my
Sacred Harp hymnal, I find many tunes with the imagery of crossing over the sea
and heading for
There is The Promised Land
“On
to
I am bound for the promised land,
O who will come and go with me I am bound for the promised land.”
There’s Hebrew Children
“Where are all the Hebrew Children? Safe in the Promised Land.
Tho’ the furnace flamed around them,
God, while in their troubles, found them;
God with love and mercy bound them safe in the Promised Land.”
Then there’s Bound for Canaan
“O when shall I see Jesus and reign with him above
and from the flowing fountain drink everlasting love?
I’m
on my way to
The image
of going toward the Promised Land is a theme that has existed long and it
endures across the generations. I wonder
what the appeal it was for the early hymn writers a few centuries ago. Maybe it was because our country was still a
new experiment. Maybe it was because of
the plight of people that they sought out the Promised Land of heaven so that
they knew their misery in this world would be short-lived. I know that the desire to be on the way to
something else is appealing because it means that our present reality ain’t all
there is. We’re bound for the Promised
Land. We’re going somewhere. We ain’t got long
to stay here. We’re on our way to the
Promised Land.
What does your Promised Land look like? If it’s vastly different than where you
currently dwell, then what might need to be changed about your present
reality? Hear how Cornel West describes
our present reality in his new book, Democracy
Matters:
In short, the dangerous dogma of free-market
fundamentalism turns our attention away from schools to prisons, from worker’s
conditions to profit margins, from health clinics to high-tech facial
surgeries, from civic associations to pornographic Internet sites, and from
children’s care to strip clubs. The
fundamentalism of the market puts a premium on the activities of buying and
selling, consuming and taking, promoting and advertising, and devalues
community, compassionate charity, and improvement of the general quality of
life. How ironic that in
The story we just read tells of the Israelite people’s
foray from Egyptian slavery to the unknown with little more than a promise of a
new future. The people were bound for
the Promised Land. But the way there is
rocky and full of misfortune—kind of like our lives.
The story recounts how God gives the Egyptian armies
every opportunity to turn back and yet they are determined to pursue and subdue
the Israelites. One would think that after ten plagues they would see how
futile such a pursuit would be. And yet with dogged determination, the pressed
on, blinded by their need for revenge. Revenge seldom fixes the problem. It almost always makes the problem
worse. We know what happens to the
revenge-minded. We wish they would learn
a lesson and we wish our leaders would learn the same lesson.
The Biblical story tells of the people rejoicing over
the defeat of the Egyptians. This was too much for the rabbinical scholars to
take. A midrash in the
Babylonian Talmud portrays God’s anger at the Israelite people saying, “why are
you rejoicing when my children have died?” We have a sense that we need to be
careful what we thank God for. God might be weeping at the loss another feels.
This is the baggage of passing into the Promised Land.
For many of us, the holidays are full of baggage. Some
of us look forward to reuniting with families and some of us dread it. All of
us change from year to year and the pressure of “performing” at the holidays
can be more than many of us can take. Add to that those awkward moments when
election returns enter into the dinner conversation and the stress increases.
On Tuesday, we’re driving to
The Scripture records that the
first thing the people did when they crossed over the
God helped out with a few tablets of common sense on
When we
come together here in church or around overflowing table on Thursday, we pause
to say thank you to God for our deliverance and our assurance that God will be
with us on our journey to the Promised Land of health, the promised land of
peace, the Promised Land of wholeness, the promised land of a life that
inspires us to do more good, be more just, help more people and thereby live
our lives to the fullest. When we thank
God like that, then we find through our tears and our laughter, perhaps a
renewed sense of hope. Thanksgiving is a
time when we assess the year that has passed us. It is a time when we bring to mind those at
the table and those eerily missing from our tables.
So today, I want to briefly remember where we have been in this past year as a congregation. It has been quite a ride. And I want to thank you and thank God for being with us on this journey to the Promised Land.
A year ago,
we were preparing to meet members of the staff and Board of the American
Baptist Assembly grounds at
We again
raised money for our sister church in
In January,
our own Lynn Welton was unanimously approved for
Ordination by our Area Church Ministry Committee. This set in motion a gut-wrenching backlash
from other corners of our American Baptist Region who passed new rules and
regulations barring
Amidst all of the disharmony in our
Region, we have never felt so many friends come out of the woodwork. We’re still bound for the promised
land. We will find a way for your
ordination to be recognized by the ABC, because it is recognized by God. I give thanks for this congregation’s
chutzpah throughout this ordeal.
In June and
July, we made plans for welcoming Tin Aye and her family from
We have
gained new members and lost a few. We
have a lot more friends here at UBC.
We joyfully welcomed Terrance Olson as our new Music Minister in August and John Bilski as our new Caretaker in October.
A few weeks
ago, we passed a resolution calling for all people to have the rights and
benefits of marriage.
Many in our
midst have lost loved ones this past year.
Many of us pause to say thanks to those who have gone before and sustain
us on our continuing journeys.
And now,
later today, we are meeting today to decide if we want to continue pursuing the
idea of putting a homeless shelter in this old building.
I am so
thankful for this brave audacious church.
I thank you for being you: For being willing to stand for what is right;
to stand with those who are left behind and left out and to stand with God at
your side. In you I have seen a people
on the way the Promised Land, which we know is so much more than an electoral
result. It’s a lifestyle choice.
I thank God for seeing us through the murky waters of
this day and age. If we focus upon the good that has happened and is happening,
we end up more energized to face the future. What are you thankful for? Who has
touched your life? What blessings do you feel?
We have crossed over the sea of
tragedy. We know full well that there
might be a sea ahead of us. We know full
well that the road a head might well be fraught with fear, misunderstanding,
even violence. And we also know that we
do not go through any of this alone. We
go through all of this assured by God, empowered by
God’s people and enlivened by our pursuit of the promised land.
The
Promised Land is always before us if we keep our eyes on the prize and hold on.
We are bound
for the Promised Land, sisters and brothers.
It is who
we are.
It is why
we were created, redeemed and sustained.
It is also
where we’re going.
As the song says:
“On
to
I am bound for the Promised Land,
O who will come and go with me I am bound for the promised land.”