Coming Home to Freedom - Observe the Land

Devotional Reading:  Numbers 13:1-25

When I was in seminary we were tasked to write a consultation report about the church we

attended. We were to look at the neighborhood in which the church resided, the structure and design of the building, and even the location of the parking lot and report back to our professor what we observed.  What I realized from the assignment is that I really knew little about this church.  I quickly discovered that the church is in the neighborhood where a movie I had used for youth ministry had been filmed.  I learned that most of our church members liked parking in the parking lot behind the church, which made it look like our church was empty on Sunday mornings because no one parked in the front lot. I noticed that a foot path had been made by human traffic walking between homes and the near by commercial center – and that our location gave us a great opportunity for hosting a neighborhood event.  These were all observations any member of the church could have made, but we didn’t, because no one had asked us to observe ourselves in this way.

Moses commissions twelve leaders, one from each of Israel’s tribes, to go to the land promised by God and to scope it out, “See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.” Moses continues, “What kind of land do they live in?  Is it good or bad?  What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”  And so these twelve leaders went out to explore the land. And they did bring back good fruit!

Sometimes as church we need to explore the land.  We can do this by examining our physical structures – our parking lot, entrance, neighborhood, and even worship space.  We can also do this by asking questions about our neighborhood – Who lives here? What type of work is done in this area? How do people interact with each other?

In our current setting, I encourage everyone who is able to go out and explore the land.  Walk the property on Williams Boulevard. Drive around the surrounding neighborhoods.  Take note of what you see. 

Then do this again at Kingston.  Who are our neighbors?  And again at Teahen.  What do you experience as you pull in to park your car on a Sunday morning?  Who are our neighbors?

Sometimes we move so quickly to the analysis stage of trying to figure out who and what God calls us to be, that we skip over the observation stage.  Let’s take a moment to observe.  “Just the facts, ma’am” – Sargent Joe Friday, Dragnet.