“What’s – It” in The Community of Faith

Exodus 16:1-3, 13-21
Hebrews 4:12-16

When we speak of stewardship of life, stewardship of resources and our gifts, Jesus had so m= uch to say about all that it would take a year to explore all the passages. The= re is much in the Sermon on the Mount with which we are familiar. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal.” “Do not be anxious, saying: ‘What will we eat? ’or ‘What will we drink?’ or “What will we wear?’ ” “Strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.” “You cannot have= two masters. You cannot serve God and money at the same time.” Jesus hims= elf was remarkably free of things.

When I arrived in <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">Westchester County, New York, I kept hearing about tag sales. I wondered = if they might be the upscale version of Midwestern garage sales and yard sales. And indeed, that is ex= actly what they are. There are deals to be had on the excess stuff of the wealthy. Someone has suggested that tag sales, and by implication, yard sales and ga= rage sales, are reminders of the anxieties of our lives. All of those things with sticky price tags on them represent some anxiety at some time about somethi= ng! It could be the anxiety of not having the right thing to wear at a particul= ar time even though the closets are full. So anxiety drives us to the mall! Already having more than we need and can ever use we, have tag sales. But w= e do not ever seem to have more things than we are able to desire, hence more st= uff, and more tag sales!

I am not headed tow= ard some dark and grim ethic of restraint. I could not do that with any degree of honesty. Even John Calvin, in his Institutes of The Christian Religion sugg= ests that God gives us necessary things not only to give the necessities of life, but to give us “delight” and “good cheer.” He makes particular references to clothing, food and good wine! Now you know why you= are a Presbyterian! We all have some things that are precious to us, not becaus= e of their monetary value, but because they reflect who we are in our inner bein= g. Pat and I have a painting by an African American artist that reflects our convictions about the suffering, dignity, and richness of character of peop= le of color. But as I am now going through that annual ritual of summer clothe= s to the attic and winter to clothes to the closet and to Kalamazoo, I cannot de= ny the fact that I have gathered a lot of stuff, much of it which I do not even remember having. I call the stuff “what’s it”.=

This comes from the= story of Israel’s wilderness wanderings. After a very few days in the wilderness the Hebrews = were weary and hungry. And when people are truly hungry they become testy and an= gry. And they went to Moses and accused him of bringing them out to this wildern= ess to starve them to death. And they said, “We would rather be slaves ba= ck in Egypt= , working in the brick ovens, than to be out in his wilderness hungry.”= So Moses carries their complaint to God, and the very next morning they awaken= ed to find a sweet sticky substance on the desert shrubs and they looked at it= and said: “What is it?” Well, in Aramaic the word is Manna. And for= ever after the stuff was called Manna, “What’s-It”. It is a substance from the natural juices of a desert plant, formed by the secretions by the sting of a tree l= ouse upon the plant. The substance falls to the ground where it can be picked up= and eaten after it has become relatively hard in the cool of the night. But in = the heat of the daytime sun, it melts and becomes sour in your mouth.

The Hebrews were in= structed to gather only enough for one day. Except, they could gather enough for two days to cover the Sabbath. Flies right in the face of science, but then of course the Biblical authors were not scientists. Now do you catch the connection between this experience of the ancient Habiru, and what Jesus was talking about hundreds of years later? You cannot hoard “what’s-it”. It turns sour in your mouth, your belly and = your brain. The grasping person can never get more than the allotted share. We l= ook at the world today and wish it were true. Or do we? The grasping people of = the world get more, while others live and die in poverty. Well, you cannot blame that on God. God has given us plenty and God has given the management of creation into our hands. The = power is ours and the decisions are ours. We will not hoard “what’s-it”, and those who for some reason have more will share their “what’s-it”, and there will no longer be a ne= ed for tag sales! Sorry, I know they’re fun! Well, those of us who hoard “what’s-it” have never been known to take God’s word very seriously. We know who those words of Jesus were meant for, and it wasn’t us!

The author of the B= ook of Hebrews brings quite a different perspective to the Word of God. “Ind= eed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, pie= rcing and dividing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is a= ble to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” I like Eugene Peterson’s take on this passage. “God means what he says. What = he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything…laying us open to listen and obey.” We may o= wn many things. We do not own our souls or the source of our being. Life is a gift; the whole of life is a gift, no matter how hard we have worked and struggled. It is a gift to be shared, and only in the giving of life do I f= ind life.

So, I need the Chur= ch of Jesus Christ to remind me of that. I need this Stewardship time of year in = the Church of Jesus Christ to give me opportunit= ies for sharing life. I need the Church of Jesus Christ to = warn me about the folly of hoarding “what’s-it” as in turns so= ur in the depths of my soul.

That exciting Sunda= y to come in two weeks will remind us of the Reformation Heritage of which we Presbyterians are but one part.

A quote attributed = to the 16th Century church reformer, Martin Luther, goes like this: “I have = held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have plac= ed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” Amen