I am a first-generation college student. Two great-uncles went to college and never came back to their hometown after they graduated. So college was avoided in my family. My mom wanted to go. She had the grades, she had the drive, but what she didn’t have was a supportive dad. She has an August birthday and needed her parents to sign off on her college applications. When she asked, my grandpa angrily said, “You will not be better than me.”

Given this family history, it was a struggle for me to go to college. I had to navigate a whole new world. I had to figure out financial aid. I had to learn all about college life and how to register for classes, pay for the semester, navigate the campus, and why it’s important to talk to your teachers during their office hours.

I didn’t do this alone. I had Kate and her friends at college. She encouraged me and showed me the ropes and some short-cuts to college life. My sister in-law and brother in-law, Sarah and Steve, they helped me figure out the financial aid part and gifted me with a laundry basket and $20 in quarters. I still have that laundry basket, it was the best and most practical gift I had ever received. My aunt and uncle gave me a really nice comforter and towel set. My mom supported me, even though she was worried.

When I came back, I was called “College boy.” Folks would say, “Don’t get too big for your britches.” And “Don’t forget where you came from.”

I’ve always wondered about this. It wasn’t very welcoming. It didn’t leave me with a nice feeling. Instead of valuing where I came from, it made me want to leave and never come back. And that was my intention for the longest time. We see how that worked out. We moved to D.C. I made good money. I had a company truck. I felt like I was getting somewhere. Yet God is funny. You always have to keep an eye on God because God has a messed-up sense of humor.

I swore I would never work with NASCAR loving rednecks like those in my hometown. Yet I went into construction… selling tools and fasteners… to jobsite foremen who were NASCAR loving rednecks just like those in my hometown. God has a funny way of humbling us. It was my job… this proud, dean’s list first generation college graduate serving and taking care of these construction guys. Yet I loved it. I loved them. And they loved me.

My brother in-law Andrew is a salesman for this company. He got me the interview but he maintains that I got the job. I still ask after those foremen, some of whom are now retired. They had great nicknames! Trooper. Bone. JC. Rewster. It’s nice to keep up with those guys through Andrew.

I went to seminary and now I am getting my Doctorate of Ministry. It’s funny because I started college as a psychology major but switched to advertising because I didn’t think I could do all that schooling that it took to be a psychologist. The joke… the divine joke… has always been on me.

God has kept me humble, and I’m learning to love where I have come from. God has kept my ego in check every step of the way. It would be easy to forget where I came from and who helped get me here.

It’s a major theme in the book of Deuteronomy. Don’t forget where you come from. Don’t fall prey to your ego.

The book of Deuteronomy consists of instruction by Moses about how to live faithfully in the land of promise they are about to enter. In the text, the land is said to be the “land of the Canaanites” which scholar Walter Brueggemann points out, “is not an ethnic term. It is rather an ideological term which connotes a predatory economy. Israel’s new habitat is to be amid a predatory economy.”[1]

Israel is called to be a nation of priests. A nation that is faithful to God. A nation that looks after the outcast, the widow, the orphan, the foreigner. Israel is to look out for these groups because “You were once slaves in Egypt” which is a constant refrain in Deuteronomy.

The “Canaanite seduction” as Brueggemann calls it concerns debt. If we can put our neighbors in debt, we can control them. If we keep our neighbor in need and tied to us, we have leverage over them. Thus the debt economy violates the neighborliness that Israel is called to.

Your God, oh Israel, is the God of the exodus, the one who emancipated the slaves from the predatory economy of Pharaoh. Don’t forget who you are. Don’t act like Pharaoh or the Canaanites. Don’t be seduced by ill-gotten wealth which raises your status by putting your neighbors in debt. Affluence and success lead to amnesia, which is what we heard in chapter 8 today.

“Do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness…”

Such amnesia leads to a sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency that is not true. Thinking that you did it all by yourself, that all that you have achieved and all that you possess is just because of you without regard to social context is a sin. This comes as a shock and a challenge to our “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” culture. Maybe many of you are thinking, “What is he talking about?! I worked hard! I achieved! No one gave this to me.” Which is true… to a point… but let me put it another way.

In 1997, Mr. Fred Rogers won an Emmy for lifetime achievement. I was a cool high schooler who was over Mr. Rogers. He’s for kids. He was bland, vanilla. He was introduced as, “The best neighbor any of us has ever had, Mr. Rogers!”

Then he gets up on the Emmy stage and does a remarkable thing. A risky, counter-cultural thing that just isn’t done on TV. He asks for 10 seconds of silence. In the industry, we call this “Dead-air time” and it is to be avoided! Plus it’s Mr Rogers in a room of all the cool people who I actually want to see.

There he is. Mr. Rogers. This small man on a huge stage, surrounded by celebrities I used to think ranked higher than him. He says, “It’s a beautiful night in this neighborhood. So many people have helped me come to this night. Some are here. Some are far away. Some are even in heaven. All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life. Ten seconds of silence. I’ll watch the time.”

There’s a chuckle. Then… tears. As the camera pans from face to face… Tears. Then people realize what is happening.

“Whomever you’ve been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they’ve made. You know, they’re the type of people television does well to offer our world. Special thanks to my family and friends and my coworkers in public broadcasting….”[2]

I didn’t hear the end because I was floored. My whole world shifted. Those other celebrities were important but Mr. Rogers is an icon. A legendary figure. He showed what made him great. His neighborliness. His quiet way of gratitude and justice. Justice we could miss if we forgot the context.

In 1969, he invited Officer Clemmons, an African American,  to cool his feet in a pool when segregation was keeping black folks out of public pools. He spoke courageously for justice in his way. Justice by being a good neighbor.[3] That’s what Deuteronomy is asking of us. Don’t forget where you came from. Don’t forget to look out for the outsider, foreigner, because you were once these things and you could be again.

Yes, you did work hard. Yes, you are competent in what you do. Yet what you do does not define you. You are more than what you produce, you are a human being not a human doing. And you did not learn your trade in a vacuum. You were loved into being. Created by God. Born to your parents. You learned from others. Others raised you up. God created us to be in community, and this is why: so the best of humanity gets passed down.

Blessed are those who were born and raised instead of just born. Some of our neighbors were not loved into their full potential. They were born and told, “You will not be better than me.” And they did not discover their gifts of their agency. We must help them, not pity them and definitely not exploit them. For exploiting them and denying them rights is what keeps racism, sexism, homophobia, ageism, and all the social ills alive and kicking. It’s what harms the fabric of society and prevents us from fully entering into God’s beloved community.

The vulnerable are easy prey for those who seek to make a profit at any cost. Those who would drive them into debt and hold economic leverage over them and keep the vulnerable in bondage. We see this with the predatory payday loans which charge exorbitant interest rates. With the student debt crisis. Many of my clergy colleagues will never pay off their student debt. We see this with a for-profit prison system that wants a full system, not to correct or rehabilitate inmates, but to keep them in bondage. As one social prophet, I forget exactly who, stated, “The factories paid a living wage. They closed the factories. The people turned to crime. They put them in prison where they work for pennies doing the same work the factories did.”

Yet I’m so proud to be in a church with a rich history. Our ancestors in faith made a big deal about dedicating their buildings debt-free. The Old Brick Church and this present sanctuary were dedicated debt-free. The early Congregationalists abhorred debt because of Deuteronomy and their social conviction of looking out for the poor and vulnerable.

Kelly and you, my church, you did a big thing with the new renovation. And you have worked so hard to keep the interest rate low and it’s surprising that we have just under $6,000 to go to close out the mortgage and to put me in the tower.

I’m proud that you are a church who is a good neighbor. Like my sister-in-law and brother in-law giving me the practical gift of laundry, you are doing that for your neighbor. You’re feeding the vulnerable. You are caring for the poor. You know the names of the poor. They are people to us, not a problem, not a catch-all category.

You visit one another. You check in on one another. You follow up with one another and occationally, you send an email to me to let me know when someone needs to see me. You are amazing. You are good neighbors. Just like John Gay, Cynthia Kasten, and Dorothy Rossman are good neighbors. And while they might have moved physical addresses, their love is still with us.

We are called to be neighbors. Called to remember where we came from: humble means. No degree, no job, no salary, no award given to us will earn us any more love from God or any more personal worth. We are all beloved children of God. You, me, our neighbor. It is your gifts of time, talent, and treasure offered here, to God and our neighbor that help us keep Medina a good community. A community of neighbors. To keep the temptation of the Canaanites and the way of Pharaoh at bay.

Don’t forget where you come from. Don’t fall prey to your ego. Don’t measure yourself or anyone by what they produce, it’s who we are in God that matters. We have been gifted and loved into being.

So many people have helped me come to this moment. Some are here. Some are far away. Some are even in heaven. All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best of for you in life. Ten seconds of silence. I’ll watch the time.

Thank you. Amen.

Works Cited

^[1][1] Money and Possessions page 35.

^[2][2] The video of his 1997 speech can be found here: https://youtu.be/3jMeby5ZIJs

^[3][3] Reflections on the pool scene: https://youtu.be/K6O_Ep9bY0U