We’re back in the wilderness alongside the Israelites one more time this morning. Over the last three weeks, we’ve accompanied these fellow wanderers through their liminal space experience, that time between being liberated from Egyptian slavery and making it to the Promised Land.
We, too, are in our own in-between season of 
transition and change, and along the way, we’ve been reminded of God’s promises of resources, guidance, and enough which call us to deeper, more generous stewardship practices and help us chart the way toward A Future with Hope.
Today, we get one more promise and set of instructions which help us restore right relationship with God and one another, which help us imagine and inch toward a new future that is vital and vibrant, connected and interdependent, just and righteous. It is a doozy of a promise, in part because it asks as much from us as it offers: it is the promise of Jubilee.
But before we jump off that high dive, we need to rewind just a little. Right before today’s text, and right before Jubilee, comes sabbath—
The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: Once you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must celebrate a sabbath rest to the Lord. 3 You will plant your fields for six years, and prune your vineyards and gather their crops for six years. 4 But in the seventh year the land will have a special sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord
The sabbath year is a time of rest and renewal for all—servants, hire laborers, livestock, wild animals, the land itself. It is more than a practice, it is a celebration. One in which the land, even as it rests and is renewed, still provides. In its celebration, the people know more fully their reliance on creation, on God and one another. As a friend and colleague writes, “Sabbath is not simply a pause in time, but a way of reimagining life…the Sabbath reminds us that we are called to a life of solidarity and compassion. It is through the practice of the Sabbath that we can finally experience the reality of abundance, acknowledging that there is more than enough.
For the Israelites then, and for us today, the Sabbath is a call to remember the work of God in our lives, to resist the [hustle-and-grind] spirit of consumption, and to reimagine our community with eyes of justice, equality, and thankfulness” (Amanda Kerr). Sabbath requires community, both to share the load and to share the resources. To celebrate and practice Sabbath also requires resisting the urge to keep up with the Joneses, because if the Joneses at the church up the street never rest, then how can we?
Sabbath, then, is the foundation for Jubilee: fields rest; workers rest; family reconnects; community comes together. Every 49 years, the text says, the trumpet is blown to announce the Day of Reconciliation, to make the 50th year holy and proclaim freedom throughout the land. The Jubilee Year is also a Sabbath year, though it seems to call for an even greater level of community restoration and reliance.
In addition to the Sabbath practices for work and harvest, the Israelites are to return to family homes; to pay extra attention to fairness and equity in their economic transactions; to ensure that God’s resources are used for God’s purposes. One preacher explains it this way: “The long lists of exactly how to live out sabbatical and jubilee years point to a deep reality in human life: rest needs abundance, and abundance requires trust. “Enough” produce for each year would not result in the excess that sabbatical and jubilee years require. God’s people have to believe that there will be more to come” (Emmy Kegler).
In case you’re feeling overwhelmed by or skeptical of this call and these practices, let the record show that they don’t come naturally. In fact, it’s not clear whether the Israelites ever actually enacted the Jubilee Year, but as described, Jubilee offers a helpful framework for thinking about how our collective stewardship practices might nudge us closer to A Future with Hope.
Here are some of the hallmarks of Jubilee—
- Renewal in community: Jubilee calls us to greater connection with God and with one another; like it or not, it reminds us of our interdependence and calls us to renew mutual commitments of support and care, trust and accountability.
- Reconciliation in community—Jubilee insists that we mend strained relationships and reaffirm our shared mission and vision. Other translations of today’s text say that the Jubilee trumpet sounds the Day of Atonement or at-one-ment, so we are called to reconcile and move forward together.
- Blessing in community—when our hearts and our hands and our resources come together during the Jubilee Year, there is enough; MORE than enough with God’s blessings.
- Celebration in community—as stewards of God’s resources, we are called in the Jubilee Year to celebrate, to proclaim holy both the community and the faithful work to which we are called.
- Responsibility in community—Jubilee reminds us that our collective use of God’s resources is first and foremost as caretakers and tenants, providing for the whole community; we are just stewards of all this.
Friends, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we are navigating this wilderness season of transition and change in this congregation’s 149th year… We are just on the cusp of Jubilee. Next year, 2025, is FPCB’s 150th anniversary. On Sunday, November 14, 1875, twenty-one people gathered in the parlor of the Bethlehem YMCA for an inaugural worship service. Four elders were elected and ordained, the group celebrated the Lord’s Supper together, and First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem was born. While they couldn’t have known what might unfold going forward, their dream for the fledgling congregation was surely A Future with Hope.
Today, then, is a Day of Reconciliation and At-one-ment as we hear the trumpet sounds announcing the Jubilee to come. Friends, there is enough. Together, we are enough. It is true that we may be a smaller, older congregation than we once were, but we are still called to welcome an inclusive and joyful community of Christ’s followers into actively exploring how God’s gracious love gives meaning to our lives and faith and inspires us to address the needs of our changing world.
Through our learning, service, and grateful worship, God fills us with purpose, compassion, courage, and love.
It’s true we have a big campus that needs a lot of care, but people’s needs are still being met here, and not just our needs for spiritual connection and community, but those who attend recovery meetings to get support for facing their addictions head on; those whose children are being nurtured by our preschool; those local police officers who need a quiet, safe place to do their paperwork; those community members who need somewhere to ride bikes and walk dogs.
It’s true we have different leaders and a different staffing model now, but we continue to build relationships and invite new people to join our community, we continue to live and serve together. The Holy Spirit is still moving and stirring and reminding: there is enough; together, we are enough. God promises resources, guidance, and Jubilee. There is still MUCH to celebrate as we seek to follow the way of Jesus into our Future with Hope.
May this season be a time of Sabbath renewal and Jubilee restoration, a time when God offers rest and perspective, a time when new stories are written about interconnectedness and abundance. For ours is a story that reminds us that enough is abundance, and abundance requires trust. It is a story that reminds us that we are being called to do ministry differently and to be a different kind of church… Friends, what if that reorientation is a profound gift?? Can we reimagine what’s possible, what new life is just around the Jubilee corner?
As this year’s stewardship season moves toward the celebration and dedication of your gifts, I hope you’ll consider how you’ll be part of God’s Jubilee here at FPCB. What part of the story will you help us write through your pledge? What part of our Christ-centered mission and vision most calls to you? When we write this new story together, when we give generously together, there is enough. In Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit, together we are enough. Guided by God’s love, we have A Future with Hope. Thanks be to God! Amen.