As we enter this year’s stewardship campaign, I’ve been reflecting on Deuteronomy 26:1-11. I’ve been drawn to what the passage assumes about “aliens” or “foreigners.” There is a reference to the heritage of the Israelites as they are in the lineage of a “wandering Armenian” who lived as an “alien” in Egypt. Then there is the assumption that when they would offer their first fruits, the Israelites would celebrate with the Levites & the aliens residing among them. There is no question of “legal” status for either Abraham as an alien in Egypt or the celebrants living among the Israelites in the “Promised Land” of Canaan. Instead, there is only a reference to their presence, indicating an assumption that people not native to a land or location will live in that land & location. When & where, really how, have we gotten so far removed from this assumption of people not like us living among us? Also, when did we shift from offering our first fruits with them & then celebrating with the “aliens” among us?
Of course, this passage from Deuteronomy doesn’t talk about the genocide-type wars the people of Israel would engage in when they entered the “Promised Land.” The Hebrew Bible prescribes that Yahweh endorsed the war & destruction approach to claiming the land promised to the wandering Armenian, Abraham. Is it any wonder the Indigenous Peoples living in what we call the Americas often feel a connection to the people of Canaan & their ruin when the “chosen” people came to claim their lands? Never mind the irony of “aliens” in the “Promised Land” being people who very likely were native to the lands before their peoples were overrun by the invading Israelite armies. Much like the irony of the people who are stopped from crossing a human-made border of a geopolitical construct because they are now determined to be alien to the other side of that border because the Empires have declared it so.
Yet in the passage about offering their first fruit, much like what is found throughout the Hebrew Bible & the instructions of the Jewish law, “aliens” or “foreigners” are present as a reality of how the world operates. Not only are they part of the tapestry of life, but they are included in the offering ceremony & shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you & your house. The impact of generosity is to ensure all people are included, regardless of their place of origin or status in the geopolitical community. When we offer the first fruits of our bounty to God, the impact of generosity is to draw all people into the fullness of joy. The impact of generosity is to ensure all people are cared for in the celebration of life given to all people by the Creator of life.
I wonder to what extent our lack of offering our first fruits has brought us to the place of grasping onto what resources we have to the extent of cutting others off from access to their basic needs. You see, the text tells us to offer first fruits, which means giving to God first. Instead, I think we tend to pay our bills, cover our needs, ensure to some extent our wants, set aside for a rainy day, & then, if there’s anything left over, we toss that in the plate as an offering to God. However, the instruction is clear:
You shall take some of the first fruit of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, & you shall put it in a basket & go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling place for his name…the priest takes the basket from your hand & sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God,”…Now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.”
At what point do we return our hearts, minds, & attitudes to the understanding that what we have is from the Lord our God so that we resume offering the first fruits of our lives on the altar & give thanks for what we have with hearts open to celebrating & sharing fully with all people? Just a thought as we consider what it means to offer our first fruits in this season of church stewardship.
In Christ’s Love,
