February 25, 2024

Scripture: Genesis 17:1-9, 15-16  

1. Abram and Sarah were nomadic herders who lived without the protection of city walls or a king to govern them or an army to protect them.
   • They also had no children, which meant, in essence, no future.
   • But they were people of faith; when God made an impossible promise to them, they  believed in it;
   • Not perfectly! But overall, they kept the faith.
   • God’s promise included not only bearing a child in their old age, but eventually having so many grandchildren they would populate a whole nation:
     • A nation of peace, righteousness, justice – God’s dream
     • And a nation where other wanderers like them would be welcomed.
   • Here in Genesis 17, this promise also comes with the promise of a perpetual  holding of land: the land of Canaan.
     • According to the story, this land will belong to Abraham’s people forever.
     • This promise of a future homeland was deep in the bones of Abraham’s people;
       • They lived for generations as nomads, then as slaves in Egypt, then as refugees  from slavery;
       • They deserved a homeland they could call their own!
2. Unfortunately, this promise would be problematic for Abraham’s children,
   • because by the time, hundreds of years later, Yahweh led the Hebrews across the  Jordan into Canaan, there were other tribes living there;
   • The bible tells some heroic stories about how the Hebrews conquered the territory  for themselves;
     • like the one about the walls of Jericho miraculously falling down by God’s power
   • But most archeologists believe the settlement of Canaan was not so much by military conquests; being nomadic, didn’t have an army!
     • The settlement was probably by a gradual intermixing and intermarrying with tribes already in the region, the Canaanites
   • Abraham’s children had to learn to share their promised land with other tribes
     • Nevertheless, biblical promises from the mouth of God about a perpetual holding of land are still causing trouble today
       • Nowhere more than occupied Palestine; the same piece of ground that was once  called Canaan
       • But also in other parts of the world: Sudan, Ukraine
         • people justify their invasion of each other’s territory with the notion that some  authority back in history, maybe even God, promised them the land to keep  forever!
   • And these notions end up leading to territorial wars.
     • One place this happened in your history in Minnesota was back in 1862, as Dakota land was gradually settled by white Europeans;
       • The tensions had built for years between white settlers and Dakota people living along the Minnesota River;
       • The Dakota had already lost land base, and government payments they had been  promised had been essentially stolen from them by traders;
       • their hunting land was gradually deforested and converted into farm land and the  people were starving without their familiar food sources.
       • Finally, violence broke out when a group of young Dakota men attacked white settlements and took hostages;
         • War broke out and hundreds of people died on both sides
         • But the Americans had bigger guns and a larger army borrowed from the Civil War
       • It was a slow, gradual invasion that erupted into a massacre committed by the American government.
       • The Americans were fortified with an idea they got from the Church: “the Doctrine  of Discovery”:
         • The notion that white, Christian Europeans were entitled to occupy whatever land they claimed from non-Christian populations
           • Minnesota’s governor at the time, Alexander Ramsey said in an address that “The Sioux Indians of Minnesota must be exterminated or driven forever beyond the  borders of Minnesota.” 
           • What today we would call ethnic cleansing
           • As horrifying as this sounds to us, I think many people and cultures are wired to claim territory, and to defend it when we’re threatened, and to dehumanize those who violate our sense of what is “ours”
           • whether we do that with barbed wire on our borders, or armies, or a loaded gun in the front closet.
   • *** An aside here: today at 5 PM there is a showing of the film “God and Country” at the Riverview Theater about Christian nationalism. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m guessing it may  touch on some of the biblical justifications the Christian right is using to claim God is on their side. So we should be aware of what other Christians are being led to believe; and also check  our own theology for some of the same temptations.
3. So let me ask you: do you think, from what you know about the character of God, that God would make a perpetual promise of real estate to one group at the disadvantage of another?
   • If you don’t think God would do that, maybe we have to read this story more carefully.
   • Isn’t it interesting, for example, that Abraham’s children ended up being Jewish, Christian AND Muslim:
     1. is it possible that whatever the Promised Land is, it is meant to be a promise extended to people of different races and religions?
   • Is it possible that the promise is not about one tribe possessing the land, but about  being given the capacity to share the land?
   • Is it possible that the dream of a homeland is not about a piece of real estate, but  about a place and time where all will have their own space for safety and belonging?
   • Or even about an interior, spiritual home that we carry within our hearts, even when we find ourselves homeless?
4. How do we keep our territorial greed in check as Christians? Or are we destined to fight over territory forever?
   • In Israel and Palestine this year, we have seen things spiral horrifically downward.
     • And it’s ironic and heartbreaking that both parties in that war have living  memories of deep oppression, dislocation and genocide in their history
     • But there are other places where we see groups progressing toward peace
     • The Pope finally repudiated the Doctrine of Discover last spring;
       • The Catholic Church has begun to admit that concept led to incalculable suffering for people around the world at the hands of supposed Christians.
     • And just last week, the Minnesota DNR returned a piece of sacred land to the Dakota;
       • The Upper Sioux Agency State Park was once built in the very place where Dakota people starved and died during the Dakota War.
       • The Dakota have been asking to have the land given back to them for years.
       • So now, closing the park and giving the land back to the Upper Sioux  community is an act of reparation;
         • The is the kind of action your church has been learning and teaching other churches about;
         • These actions don’t undo the suffering that human communities have  experienced in our battles over territory;
         • But they are acts of confession: we confess our lust to control and dominate that original garden God gave us as a gift.
     • I will be curious to see in years ahead how the Dakota choose to use that piece of holy land so it can be honored as a gift from God, not a spoil of war!
       • Meanwhile, how can we learn to graciously share what God gave us, or graciously let go of it?
         • I’ve been learning about the little experiment that is SpringHouse
       • In contrast to many other churches, your three churches let go of territory to form this community:
       • And now, with shared space and resources, your 3 ministries are all more  sustainable, PLUS you have the synergy of doing some shared ministry
       • But to make this work, you have had to make significant sacrifices:
         • There is the parking issue!
         • There are the cute little pastor’s offices!
         • And there is the chaos of moving all our stuff, like nomads, from one sanctuary to another every few months.
           • But these compromises have advantages, and not just for you:
           • They’ve created space for affordable housing next door;
           • Your former buildings are now used by other non-profits;
           • You chose not to hoard your promised lands, but to share them!
           • I wonder what other territory you might be called to let go of in the future for the greater good.
             • Jesus expressed his dream of sharing territory in a saying from John’s gospel: In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that  I go to prepare a place for you?
               • Jesus was asking us to trust that God is making enough room for everyone;
               • And it will include a place for the refugee, the exile, the nomad.
             • Here’s a little Peter Seeger song based on that saying to close us out:
               My father’s mansion’s many rooms Have room for all of God’s children
               As long as we do share God’s love and see that all are free.
               And see that all are free to know, And see that all are free to grow,
               And free to open or to close The door of their own room.
               What is a room without a door, Which sometimes locks or stands ajar?
               What is a room without a wall to keep out sight and sound from all?
               The choice is ours to share this earth, With all its many joys abound,
               Or to continue as we have and burn God’s mansion down.

Amen.