Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them, take our minds and think with them, take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen.

If you can start the day without caffeine (which I can’t); if you can get going without Red Bull, Rock Star, or some other energy drink; if you can resist complaining and boring people with all of your problems; if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it; if you can easily forgive your loved ones for being too busy to give you any time; if you can overlook it when something goes wrong through no fault of your own and those you care for take it out on you; if you can take criticism and blame without resentment; if you can ignore a friend's limited education and never correct him or her; if you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend; if you can relax without alcohol; if you can sleep without the aid of drugs; if you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against any person’s creed, color, religion or politics; then, my friends, you are almost as good as your dog.  It’s ironic, isn’t it, that man’s best friend might behave more humanely, at times, than most humans.  Then again, dog spelled backwards is God.

In our Old Testament lesson from the book of Deuteronomy, Moses pleads with the people of Israel to maintain the statutes and ordinances, which he received from God and passed on to them.  You see the Old Covenant which outlines the relationship between God and God’s beloved children the Israelites, was based on a contractual agreement.  God would bless the people of Israel as long as they maintained the rules and regulations that God passed along to them through Moses.  Moses declares to the people of Israel, “So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.”  As Moses utters these words, the people of Israel are on the cusp of entering the Promise Land.  After forty long years of wandering in the wilderness following their exodus from slavery in Egypt, the Hebrew people are finally about to take possession of the land flowing with milk and honey.  The gift of the Promise Land, or modern day Israel/Palestine, was the ultimate expression of God’s blessing upon the people of Israel.  However, receiving that gift and, more to the point, keeping it was based on the Israelite’s demonstration of faithfulness to God which was chiefly understood as following the Law. 

If any of you have ever read the first five books of the Old Testament you know that the statutes and ordinances, which God gave to Israel through Moses, are many, detailed, and multi-faceted.  In fact there are 618 laws outlined in the first five books of the Old Testament including the ten big ones—that we have come to know as the Ten Commandments.  Reading Numbers and Leviticus, the third and fourth books of the bible can be tedious, and I say that as a professional bible reader.  And the reason these are not, let’s say, the most engaging books in the Bible is because for the most part they are pages and pages of law.  It is like going to the law library, checking out a textbook on statutory law, and giving it a read just for kicks.  Most lawyers wouldn’t even do that (well maybe Chris Davis but most would not)!  My point is this.  The Law of Moses is central to understanding the ancient people of Israel’s relationship with God.  That relationship was based on a contractual agreement, and a contract is a binding legal document.  If the people followed God’s will for their lives, which was defined for them in the detailed law, God would bless and prosper them.  If not, let’s just say, life outside of God’s blessing was less than desirable.

Now it’s important to say here that the Law of Moses was and continues to be for both Jews and Christians alike a gift and not a burden.  The Law of Moses fundamentally says to us that it matters how we live.  There is right and there is wrong—there are healthy and there are unhealthy relationships—there are good choices and there are bad choices.  God gave the people of Israel (and for that matter us today) the Law as a gift of lasting love.  You see the Law of Moses gave the people of Israel clear and well defined boundaries in which they could enjoy one another responsibly living together in harmony.  The law encouraged the people of Israel to love God always and above anything else, again, solid advice in my opinion.  Moreover, there is no doubt that, even today, the concept and execution of law clearly remains a necessity and a benefit in our common life.  Can you imagine what would happen in our world if, in the blink of an eye, all the laws that guide civilized society and all organizations that enforce that law simply disappear?  Our world would descend, with frightening speed, into utter chaos, death, and destruction.

Here is a little less distressing illustration that I’ve used with you before.  A priest in the Church of England writes, “A few years ago, a soccer match had been arranged involving 22 young boys, including one of my sons, age eight.  A friend of mine named Andy, who was the boy's coach, was going to referee the game.  Unfortunately, by 2:30 PM he had not arrived.  The boys could wait no longer, and I was pressured into being the substitute referee.  There were a number of difficulties with this: I had no whistle; there were no markings for the boundaries; I didn't know any of the boy's names; they didn't have uniforms; and I barely new the rules.  The game soon descended into utter chaos.  Some shouted the ball was in others that it was out.  I had no idea one-way or the other.  Then the fouls started.  Again, some boys cried, foul, others yelled that it wasn't a foul.  Again, I had no idea one-way or the other.  So, I let them play on.  Then people began to get hurt.” 

He continues, “Thankfully, before anyone was seriously injured, Andy arrived.  He blew his whistle, passed out the uniforms, marked the boundaries with cones, called the ball in and out, also called the fouls correctly, and the boys had the game and time of their lives.”  Clearly, in the case of this soccer game, the rules added to the boy’s freedom and enjoyment.  The rules were a blessing not a curse.  Similarly, God gave the people of Israel the Law of Moses in order to help them enjoy life in all of its abundance, not to control or manipulate.  God intended His Holy Law to mediate healthy and loving relationships between individuals in this world and to mediate a healthy and loving relationship between God and His people.  God gave the people of Israel (and for that matter us today) the Law as a gift of lasting love.

Now, I began this sermon with a laundry list of human failings.  The fact is the Law in and of itself, no matter how precious a gift, has no power to control the wiles of the human imagination—for good or ill.  Even when we know and agree with God’s Law, such as the Ten Commandments, truthfully we often are not as well behaved as our pets.  Law and law enforcement, in our own day, can help control the destruction caused by evil in our world, but it can never eradicate it.  God’s Law given to the Israelites through Moses sought to create health and harmony between individuals and between God and His people, but, at the end of the day, that Law did not and does not have the power to control the passions of the human heart, and it never will.  WH Auden once said that, “the human heart is as crooked as a corkscrew.”  So where does that leave us?  What happens when we don’t hold up our end of the contract?  What happens when we don’t live within the life-giving boundaries of God’s Law?  Will all of God’s blessings in our lives be taken away?  Will God treat us like animals if, at times, you and I behave like one?    

Well, the unfolding story of God’s love affair with creation, which is the story the Bible tells, doesn’t end with the Old Covenant—with a relationship between God and his people dependent on a contractual relationship.  Instead God establishes a New Covenant with his people—and not only the people of Israel—but all people.  The God who is love creates a new way to relate to His people—a way that defies and transcends the neat boundaries of reason and our well defined notions of justice.  The relationship between God and God’s people in the New Covenant is much more like our relationship with our own earthly parents at their best.  Speaking from my experience, if my mother’s care, support, and blessing in my life were dependent on my honoring all of her rules, I would have long ago lost all three.  My mother’s care for me has nothing to do with me, and certainly not my behavior, really.  Despite my strengths and weaknesses, my mother cares for me because she loves me—that’s the long and the short of it.  This is even truer of our Father in heaven.  God’s care for us has nothing to do with us, or our behavior, really.  Despite our strengths and weaknesses, God establishes a New Covenant—a new relationship with us because he loves us. 

This New Covenant is not dependent on adherence to a Law—a Law that we will never be able to live up to.  It is not dependent on the number of hours we log on our knees in prayer or on the number of dollars we give to serve the poor.  It is not based on the number of times a month we attend Church or the number of hours we give to community service.  It is not dependent on the number of times we have a moral failure or the number of times we behave well.  Instead, our relationship with God is based on His love given to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We call that unmerited gift grace.  We receive grace by faith—by faithfully believing that God in Christ loves us completely and will forever.  When I consider that at times I act more inhumanly than my Bassett Hound Leroy, Grace becomes more than good news it is the best news…ever.  Amen.               

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