{"id":4531,"date":"2022-03-06T17:30:51","date_gmt":"2022-03-06T17:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/06\/testing-kinship-loyalty-based-on-deuteronomy\/"},"modified":"2022-03-06T17:30:51","modified_gmt":"2022-03-06T17:30:51","slug":"testing-kinship-loyalty-based-on-deuteronomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2022\/03\/06\/testing-kinship-loyalty-based-on-deuteronomy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTesting Kinship Loyalty\u201d\tbased on Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

I’ve got to admit it. \u00a0I’m not
\ntempted by the things Jesus was \u201ctempted\u201d by in the dessert. \u00a0I
\nhave never once wanted to change a rock into bread (perhaps because I
\nlack that skill???), I’m well aware that running kingdoms or even
\ndemocracies is incredibly difficult work that I don’t wish to partake
\nin, and I do not wish to test God by jumping off high places for no
\nreason.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nNope. \u00a0I do not resonate with
\nthese.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThere are not my temptations.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nYou want to know what my
\ntemptations are? \u00a0These days I have serious temptations to stop
\nfighting \u2013 to just give up on the pandemic and stop trying to be
\nsafe and stop trying to create safe places. \u00a0I want to do CRAZY
\nthings like bring my kid to worship, or have dinner at a friend’s
\nhouse, or get a plane and meet one of my dear friend’s new babies. \u00a0I
\nwant to just stop worrying. \u00a0I want to make people happy. \u00a0I want to
\nencourage people, \u201csure, do whatever you want in worship. \u00a0Take of
\nmasks! \u00a0Stop distancing! \u00a0Sing! \u00a0Don’t worry about it!\u201d \u00a0I’m
\ntempted to just give up.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAND<\/p>\n

\n(and this is the really annoying
\npart)<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nI’m also tempted in exactly the
\nopposite way. \u00a0I live in constant fear that a choice I make will
\nresult in my unvaccinated, too young to wear a mask kid getting COVID
\nand living with long covid for the rest of their life. \u00a0And so, I
\nwant to create a bubble and never leave it. \u00a0I want to stay home,
\nstop day care, have groceries delivered, and function on zoom until
\n\u2026. forever I guess. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nActually, if I’m honest, more
\nthan really being tempted by either extreme, I’m tempted by the idea
\nof not having to decide anymore. \u00a0\u201cIs this safe?\u201d \u00a0\u201cIs this
\nsafe ENOUGH?\u201d \u00a0\u201cIs this worth it?\u201d \u00a0\u201cIf this results in my
\nkid having long covid, in 20 years will I think this was the right
\nchoice?\u201d \u00a0\u201cDo I need to do this because someone else’s needs
\noutrank my own (or outrank my needs related to my kid)?\u201d \u00a0\u201cIs
\nthis the right balance of caution and courage?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nI’m so tired. \u00a0It is so tempting
\nto move to one extreme or the other and just stop deciding. \u00a0It is so
\ntempting to move to one extreme or the other and only have one group
\nof people frustrated with me and my decisions.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe temptation is to just…
\ngive up. \u00a0To pick an extreme and live with the consequences and at
\nthe very least not have to decide OVER and OVER and OVER again. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis likely isn’t even relevant
\nto most of you anymore. \u00a0Maybe you remember it, but those who are
\nvaccinated and immunocompetent, those of you who don’t live with
\npeople who are either unvaccinated or immunocompromised, are possibly
\njust feeling free now. \u00a0Numbers are down, and lots of very reasonable
\npeople are ready to go on with life, for good reason. \u00a0And for you,
\nit may even be that my temptations are a sort of unpleasant reminder
\nof your past, one that you’d rather forget.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nI also know that I’m not alone.
\nThere are plenty of families with kids under 5, or with
\nimmunocompromised people, or even just people who work with kids or
\nimmunocompromised people who still adjust their lives to protect
\nothers \u2013 or just people who adjust their lives to protect others.
\nPeople make these choices because, in the end, they think it is
\nright. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nOf course, there are ALSO people
\nwho have decided that the needs of connection, or the life-giving
\nwork they do, or the risk they’ve assessed mean that letting go of
\nfear and seeking out other people is the right choice for them. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nHmmm.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nI guess what I’m saying is that
\nI’m tempted by simple answers, by choices I can make once and not go
\nback to, by CLARITY, but CERTAINTY. \u00a0I don’t need to be able to make
\nthe choices for everyone or have them be the same, but my goodness
\ngracious I’d like some simple answers for ME. \u00a0I’d likely settle for
\na single simple answer, if I could get one.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nIf you’ve been listening to me
\npreach for some time, you may be scratching your head at how I, one
\nof the people you know who is most comfortable thinking in shades of
\ngray could get to such a desire for certainty, for black and white
\nanswers. \u00a0The answer is unfortunately simple: \u00a0the higher anxiety
\ngoes, the more humans search for certainty and wish to back it up at
\nall costs. \u00a0So, what you are hearing is that I’m a human impacted by
\nanxiety. \u00a0Just to put it out there, so are you. \u00a0Welcome to the
\n2020s.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBruce Malina and Richard
\nRohrbaugh in \u201cSocial Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels\u201d
\npoint out that what Jesus is being tested on in the desert is his
\nloyalty to God. \u00a0Does he show faithfulness to God, as kin? \u00a0Does he
\nshow faithfulness to God as his leader? \u00a0Does he show faithfulness to
\nGod in understanding God’s wishes? \u00a0The answers, of course, are yes.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBut I rather liked that they
\nreferred to the question about commanding a stone to become bread as
\na test of kinship loyalty to God. \u00a0They explain it this way:<\/p>\n

\nNote carefully how the devil
\nframes the first challenge, \u201cIf you are the Son of God…\u201d
\nPrecisely that has been the claim and precisely that is what is being
\ntested.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nNote also how carefully Jesus
\nanswers when his lineage is questioned. \u00a0He does not<\/i>
\nanswer in his own words, as if his honor derives from what he is in
\nhimself. \u00a0To do that would be to grasp honor above that of his own
\nFather and turn honor into dishonor. \u00a0So he answers as a loyal Middle
\nEastern son would always answer \u2013 with something from his family
\ntradition. \u00a0He offers the words of his true Father in Deuteronomy and
\nby such laudable behavior he gains honor as virtue.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nA test of kinship loyalty to
\nGod. \u00a0That does resonate.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nProbably because all the angles
\nof what I’m tested by are variations on the theme of \u201ca test of
\nkinship loyalty.\u201d \u00a0What is my loyalty to my immediate family \u2013 my
\nchild and others who are vulnerable? \u00a0How do I balance that with my
\nloyalty to my church family \u2013 which includes people who are
\nvulnerable in all sorts of ways including in needs to be together and
\nin needs to lower COVID risks. \u00a0How do I balance THAT with my
\n\u201ckinship loyalty\u201d to God?<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd suddenly, with that framing,
\nat the very least, I can understand why I feel pulled in so many ways
\nand exhausted by the pressure of every decision. \u00a0Kinship loyalty
\nitself pulls me in a multitude of directions, and each direction has
\nits own set of reasons why it is right good, and most of the time
\neach direction has something pulling in exactly the opposite
\ndirection that ALSO has reasons for being right and good.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBut, at least I have a frame to
\nmake sense of it!<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd, if I want to simplify
\nthings, I can admit to myself that for me, kinship loyalty to God is
\nnot actually distinct from kinship loyalty to those I already care
\nfor. \u00a0(With the possible exception that God would likely include ME
\nin my calculations, which I notably did not.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nSo, the long and short of it is
\nthat I FEEL the testing, I feel the wandering in the desert, I feel
\nthe yearning for clarity, but, at least I know it all comes from
\nlove?<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAnd THAT gets me to the
\nabsolutely fabulous Deuteronomy reading. \u00a0It is a favorite of mine.
\nDeuteronomy is set in the wilderness, but at the edge of it. \u00a0The
\nwhole book presents itself as a series of speeches given to prepare
\nthe people before they enter the Promised Land, so that when they get
\nthere, they’ll do it right.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nOne of the themes of Deuteronomy
\nis that it is in the adversity and challenge of the desert that the
\npeople learned to depend on God, and it is going to be more
\nchallenging to remember their dependence on God when things are going
\nwell. \u00a0As a person who feels like I’m wandering in the desert, I
\nthink I respond along with those who listened the first time, \u201cYeah,
\nthat’s a risk I’m willing to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe reading says that when they
\nget there, and they grow things, there is going to be an ABUNDANCE,
\nas that is what God wants for the people. \u00a0As they grow that
\nabundance, as they settle into a sense of food security, they’re to
\nremember their wanderings and give thanks for their abundance. \u00a0And
\nas that happens, they are to REMEMBER their story, they are to
\nREMEMBER their scarcity, they are to REMEMBER what it took to get
\nthere.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nIsn’t that interesting? \u00a0I think
\nin our culture we tend toward wanting to remember the glory days, not
\nthe days of struggle. \u00a0We think about when we were strong and
\ncapable, not when we were \u2026 struggling to find our way in the
\ndesert.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBut, the idea of this
\ncommandment to tithe is to do so while recounting struggles, and to
\ngive thanks for abundance by noticing what it took to get there. \u00a0AND
\nTHEN taking of that abundance to share with those who don’t have it
\n(the landless priests and Levites and the foreigners without land
\nallotments.)\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis whole thing just moves me.
\nThat idea that we recognize our weak times, the idea that abundance
\nis God’s will for us (the culmination of the story), the reality that
\nthe first thing to do with abundance is to share it, the creation of
\na system whereby an abundance for some makes life possible for
\nothers, and within all this that this is where our tradition of
\noffering comes from which is just so cool.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe culmination of the story is
\nabundance. \u00a0The people are being taught how to distribute God’s
\nabundance fairly. \u00a0They may be standing on the edge of the Promised
\nLand, but the goal is to get there and live there and have it be just
\nfor everyone.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n(And they did! \u00a0For centuries!
\nAnd it was equitable! \u00a0It is possible! \u00a0That matters too.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nSo for me, right now, in my
\nplace of being tested in the desert, I’m going to take hope from the
\nstory about abundance, and the reminder that it is God’s long term
\nplan for me, for us, for all of us.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat doesn’t actually solve
\nanything in the present, but it is unsolvable. \u00a0However, having some
\nhope helps me get through. \u00a0Abundance is God’s plan for all of us.
\nGod teaches us how to be generous with our abundance. \u00a0Kinship
\nloyalty to everyone is how we get there, and I guess… learning how
\nto balance a multiplicity of needs within the kinship network is.. a
\nuseful skill?<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWell, in any case, hear the
\nwords the people were to say as they brought forward their offerings:<\/p>\n

\n“A wandering Aramean was my
\nancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in
\nnumber, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.
When
\nthe Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard
\nlabor on us,
we cried to the LORD, the God of our ancestors; the
\nLORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our
\noppression.
The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand
\nand an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with
\nsigns and wonders;
and God brought us into this place and gave us
\nthis land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
So now I bring the
\nfirst of the fruit of the ground that you, O LORD, have given me.”<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nor perhaps:<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI have emerged from a
\nconfused and lost people. \u00a0In the midst of existent struggles with
\njustice and equity, came a pandemic that threatened everything and
\neveryone in many ways. \u00a0The challenges that might have united people
\novercame them and separated them. \u00a0We became harsh to each other. \u00a0I
\ndid not know what to do. \u00a0I was never certain of anything.<\/p>\n

\nI cried to the Lord, as did
\neveryone else, and God heard our voices,<\/p>\n

\nand offered us rest.\n<\/p>\n

\nGod guided us when we didn’t
\nknow where to go.<\/p>\n

\nGod gifted us when we couldn’t
\nfigure out which way to turn.<\/p>\n

\nGod was with us, when we were
\nnumb.<\/p>\n

\nGod did that, and brought us to
\na new world, and helped us form it into something better.<\/p>\n

\nSo now, I bring the first fruit
\nof hope, that you, O God have given me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nMay the day come when we can say
\nTHAT as we bring forward our offerings. \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n

1 p. <\/a>240-41
\n\t(Textual Notes: Luke 4:3)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

March 6, 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve got to admit it. \u00a0I’m not tempted by the things Jesus was \u201ctempted\u201d by in the dessert. \u00a0I have … Continue reading \u201cTesting Kinship Loyalty\u201d\tbased on Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34,38,28,39,33,1673,1671,75,1672,405,57],"class_list":["post-4531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fumc-schenectady","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-thinking-church","tag-umc","tag-desert","tag-deutoronomy","tag-fumcschenectady","tag-harvest","tag-hope","tag-sorry-about-the-umc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}