The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah's messengers, "When Israel came up out of Egypt, they took away my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, all the way to the Jordan. Now give it back peaceably." – Judges 11:11

Today's Scripture Reading (March 22, 2022): Judges 11

When I was a child, my aunt gave me a book to read entitled "The Search to Belong." The book was about an adopted child's journey to find his roots. The book impacted me, maybe mostly because I knew that there was a purpose behind my reading the book. Two of my cousins had been adopted into my aunt's family, and my aunt wanted me to understand the journey they were on in some small way. And so, I read the book and tried to understand my cousins, who, to be honest, I loved to spend time with anyway, just a little better.

As I read these passages in Judges, it is this childhood book that comes to mind. As people, the reality is that most of us live in adopted lands. We don't belong here, even though we sometimes think we do. As I have said in this blog, I can trace my roots in the United States and Canada back into the mid-17^th century or middle 1600s. But even though my roots extend back almost 400 years in the New World, I am still a visitor. My ancestors, many generations back, lived somewhere else.

And so, occasionally, the church I serve acknowledges that we live as strangers in a strange land. And as a response to this knowledge, we read a "Land Acknowledgment Statement." The statement reads:

VantagePoint Community Church is located on Treaty 6 land, the traditional territory of the Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, Dene, and Nakota Sioux.

We echo the words of those who have said, "we are all treaty people." As a church organization, we acknowledge that we benefit greatly from treaties with Canada's First Nations.

We share responsibility for respecting and honoring treaty relationships in this generation and those to come.  We recognize the teachings and wisdom of Indigenous elders and knowledge-keepers as we seek reconciliation with this place and all creation. Our commitment includes living in balance with the land and with nature.

Israel has spent most of its history as a nation with no home. There is a reason for that. The country formed in slavery in Egypt, and therefore, there was no land that they could really call their own. This meant that they had no place to live. Oh, the land in Canaan had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the family was never large enough to become a nation and take the area until after their collective experience of slavery in Egypt.

The solution was to move back into their ancestral grounds or the home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was the solution that the world took in 1948 after the Second World War and the atrocities committed against the Jewish people by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. It wasn't, and still isn't, a popular decision for the other nations in the Middle East who felt that they had a historical right to the land, But Israel felt that they also had a historical right to this area on the east side to the Mediterranean Sea

As Israel emerged out of Egypt, they went to the same place, the former home of their ancestors. But the land wasn't empty, so other nations had to be displaced. Centuries later, Jephthah asks the Ammonites why they are so intent at fighting with Israel, and the Ammonite response was simple; You took our land away, and we want it back. Walk away from our territorial land, and we will stop fighting you. Unfortunately, for Jephthah, that request was a non-starter. Israel had no place else to go.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Judges 12