Recognizable as a People Whose God is Near

It is Moses who is speaking in this morning’s first Scripture reading from Deuteronomy. The headings that appear in many Bibles are added by editors; they are not found in the original texts. Nonetheless, in several versions of the Bible that I own the heading for this passage is "Moses’ first address." That makes it sound a bit like he is addressing an annual meeting of shareholders or perhaps a joint session of Congress. I hear this passage very differently. I hear a mother addressing a thirteen-year-old son or daughter. One of those talks. Some of you have given them. Most of us have squirmed through hearing one or two. A parent talking to a child in the midst of adolescence.

In this context the words might go something like this: OK Johnny, listen to me. Sit still and listen to me. I want you to hear what I’m saying. This is how you should behave as you grow up. You are growing up, now, becoming a man, your own person. That doesn’t mean that now you can do whatever you want. You saw what happened to your cousin Sam. You saw what happened to him. He thought he was king of the world and now his life is wasted, nothing. But if you behave like I’ve taught you, then people will look at you and say, "What a fine young man, a young man to admire." And they will say, "His parents must love him very much to have taught him and raised him up so well."

That’s the overwhelming message of this address in Deuteronomy. "For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is?" Moses says to the people: If you keep the Lord’s commandments, other people will recognize you as a wise and discerning people, and they will recognize you as a people whose God is near. You will be recognizable as a people whose God is near to them.

The metaphor of adolescence is a good one. The people of Israel are adolescents, as a nation, at this point in their history. They have been called together and identified as God’s own beloved. They have been given birth as the people of God. And Moses has led them, parented them, as they journeyed through the wilderness. They are no longer children; they have grown up out of the cluelessness and the helplessness of infancy and childhood. But they are not yet adults. In the verses just following this morning’s reading, Moses tells the people that he will not accompany them into the promised land. The people, as a people, are adolescents, standing on the brink of maturity. At this point they must take responsibility for their own growth. But God, through Moses, addresses them, trying as earnestly as possible to teach them… to give them the tools, the insight, the wisdom they need to grow up right.

And if they follow God’s teaching, God’s commandments, they will grow up right, becoming a nation wise and discerning. They will become a people who stand out within the crowd of nations because they have a God who loves them enough to have guided and taught them well. They will be recognizable as distinct among other peoples because their God is near to them.

Is that a goal of yours? To be recognizable to others as someone whose God is near?

Let’s pause for a moment and note a few things that God, through Moses, did not say in this address. God did not say, if you follow these commandments, I will give you the promised land. God did not say, if you follow these commandments, then I will make you my people. God did not say, if you follow these commandments, then I will be near to you. God’s gifts, God’s love, God’s presence are not conditional. God’s gifts, God’s love, God’s presence with us do not depend upon our first behaving appropriately. We do not need to follow the commandments to earn God’s favor. God’s gifts, God’s love, God’s presence are given. Already. Fully. The people of Israel had been freed from slavery. They could see the promised land. And God was already, always, as near to them as the beating of their hearts.

What Moses does tell them in this address is that if they follow these commandments, then they will mature into a people who stand out from the crowd because they have a God who loves them enough to have guided and taught them well. They will be recognizable as a people whose God is near to them.

Recognition seems to be the key. Being recognized, recognizable, as a people whose God is loving and whose God is near.

Is that an aspiration of yours? To be recognizable as someone whose God loves you very much? To stand out in the crowd as someone whose God is near to you? This should be a goal for all of us. To be witnesses… just by our living, just by who we are… to be witnesses for God’s love. To be lights in the world of God’s presence. This is part of the role of mature Christians.

But there is another reason to heed Moses’ address as we seek to grow out of adolescence into greater maturity of faith. God, through Moses, says, if you follow these commandments that I give you, that I teach you, you will be recognizable as people whose God is near. That also means that you, yourselves, will come to recognize that God is near to you. Following God’s commandments are a way for us to grow into a fuller recognition of God’s presence and love with us. We often think of it as the other way around… that we follow God’s teaching because we already know God’s love. Or we expect God to prove God’s presence before we will follow God’s commands. But God’s commandments and teaching are the steps to maturity of faith. They are a way of living that will help us come to recognize, in ourselves, more and more, the nearness of God. Following God’s teaching is not the consequence of a mature faith; it is part of the journey towards a mature faith.

And what is the teaching, the commandments, that we are to follow? In just the next chapter of Deuteronomy following this morning’s passage Moses reiterates for the people, for the second time, the ten commandments. Do you know all ten? Do you intentionally seek to follow them in your daily lives? Not out of fear of damnation, but as a means to grow into a fuller, more mature recognition of God’s love for you and presence in your lives. The Episcopal Church also offers us this teaching, growing out of the church’s understanding of Holy Scripture and the church’s experience of the faithful life. The church, through the resolve of General Convention, "encourages all members of the church to develop a personal spiritual discipline that includes, at a minimum, the holy habits of tithing, daily personal prayer and study, Sabbath time and weekly corporate worship." A discipline, that if we follow it, will make us more recognizable—to others and to ourselves—as a people whose God is near to them.

We are God’s beloved. The promise of full and fruitful and eternal life have already been given to us. God is with us every instant of every day. This is who we are, whether or not we, or others, recognize it. And God loves us so much that God has also given us teaching, commandments, direction, that will help us mature into people who not only are God’s beloved, but into people who are recognizable as God’s beloved. Recognizable, to ourselves and to others, as people shining with the light of God’s near presence and love.