Milk & Honey

Deuteronomy 26:1-9

A ship's wheel, a ship's bell, and a ship's compass, were the items in my father's home office that were from his childhood home from Washington State. The rest of the items were all work related engineer drawings, books, and office equipment. I did not know much about the boat or for that matter much about my father's childhood and rearing. I did know it was my grandfather's boat named Frances, after his brother, the name my father bears as his middle name. I believe I even knew my grandfather had built the boat at an early age, and I would ponder about the enjoyment of boating on the Puget Sound. I grew up in Connecticut and learned boating and sailing at an early age on Long Island Sound and could only imagine boating as recreation. When I visited my family the second time I was old enough to go boating on the Puget Sound. I remember the great joy of fishing, gathering oysters, seeing a submarine, and the beauty of being out on the water. I could only imagine that was the reality for my grandfather and his family when he would take Frances out.

In this scripture the writer is preparing the Hebrews for their new promised land. This is a land that God will give them, deserving or not. The writer is keen in having them remember that they were slaves in Egypt and in chapter 24 they are to leave some sheaf for orphans, widows, and aliens. Ironically the aliens will end up being populated in part by the different people the Hebrews will remove from their promised land and this is written prior to them crossing the Jordan into the Canaan. It is clear that the Promised Land is a gift from God to these people and the writer is creating a ritual to remind them that it is a underserved gift. They are to take "the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest form the land that the Lord your God is giving you…" It is written prior to the occupation of Canaan, yet it reads through the generations and today, that God is giving us this land of Milk and Honey. I thus see this scripture speaking to those of us that receive abundance currently as receiving it from our Lord God. Then it tells us when they give thanks, we must state to God, in front of the priest, "A wandering Aramean was my ancestor…" The writer is referring to Joseph, but he does not have them state, "Joseph was my ancestor," nor were they to say, "my ancestor was chosen." Aramean is the term they are to state, which is a very generic term for people in the Middle East to Mesopotamia. Like European being used for Germans, English, French, and Basque, alike, or North Americans for Okies, Mexicans, Canadians and New Yorkers. This term can apply to the aliens as well the writer makes clear must also be remembered. This reminder not only were the chosen people slaves in Egypt they were a wandering people just like some of the people that will find their way into their new God given land with Milk and Honey.

I cannot help but think of the homeless that wander the streets of our cities and the migrant field workers that go from crop to crop living of meager wages and working in today's world. The writer was trying to remind those brining back their first fruits that they are not far removed from such a situation. Thus I was compelled to look back at my own ancestors. A few years ago, did I learn much more about the boat Frances. My childhood understanding of it being a boat for recreation was not correct. I knew my grandfather build it, but I imagined he built in a garage as he raised his children. Well he built it in his father's garage prior to his marriage to my grandmother and it was their only possession with a roof. Thus their honeymoon home was that boat. This was no yacht, this was not a houseboat, this was a small boat not much bigger then a van. They searched for their land and home, and eventually found acres they could afford because the house had burned down. Yet it had a tin roof shack that would provide shelter as they build on the old slab. They could have cows for milk and a garden for "honey," and beds that did not move with the waves. They eventually constructed a log cabin on the slab when their eldest son was in his late teens and started it, as money and time was tight for someone working in a smelter factory.

Thus when I thank God for what I have I look back at my ancestors and find that some were wandering the Puget Sound without a home, searching for their "promised land." I then realize that I must say my ancestor was a wandering Aremean, a wandering homeless, a wandering alien, a wandering Mexican, for all of these people are in the same boat. God gives us milk and honey not because we deserve it, and we must remember that our families have been where many families are currently, thus we give back in solidarity with those alien, poor, and wandering.