No More Glamping in Gilgal -- FPC sermon excerpt

I am sure that my title today has you scratching your head, so let me begin with some definitions:

First, “glamping.” This means “glamour camping.” Although camping used to be a rugged activity, it is not always this way anymore. Today, you can buy a Coleman air mattress with a built-in alarm clock and night light. Tents are equipped with lighting systems and auto-roll windows. DirecTV offers a portable satellite and many campsites have wireless Internet.

This is “glamping” — camping that is truly glamorous, with all the comforts of home. It still gives you an experience of nature, but it is one that includes plush amenities, such as air mattresses with built-in speakers for MP3 players. I can assure you that I never saw any of this stuff when I was backpacking with my son Sam and the Boy Scouts!

Second, “Gilgal.” This is one of the first places that the people of Israel reached after crossing the Jordan River and entering the Promised Land. In Gilgal, twelve stones were set up as a memorial to the crossing of the Jordan River.

In Gilgal, the people of Israel were forced to camp. There was no glamping in Gilgal, and this was a rude awakening for many of the Israelites.

You see, for the previous forty years, the people of Israel had enjoyed a kind of glamping experience as they made their way through the wilderness, on the way to the Promised Land. For four decades of wandering, they could count on the gift of manna every day — this manna was bread from heaven that kept them from starving in a harsh and inhospitable environment.

But what happened after they entered the Promised Land? Joshua tells us that “while the Israelites were encamped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year” (Joshua 5:10-12).

Surprise! There is no more glamping in Gilgal. The people of Israel had been offered a certain level of comfort by the gift of manna, as they made their way to the Promised Land. But now, after crossing the Jordan, they begin to eat “the crops of the land of Canaan.”

The thing to remember about glamping is this — it is a means to an end, not an end in itself. When tents are equipped with lighting systems, the goal is to get you out of your house into the wild. When environmental educators give a thumbs-up to campsites with wireless Internet, it is because they want you to go outside and begin to care about the conservation of nature. Glamping is an odd but acceptable means to a very good end.

Same for manna. God provided it to the Israelites so that they could survive their journey across the wilderness and grow in faith along the way. But once they reached the Promised Land, no more manna. Sure, there were probably some people who wanted it to continue — the same types that don’t want to give up their air-mattress MP3 speakers, even after they have been serenaded by the gentle laughter of a mountain stream. But God knows that these crutches have to go, once people are ready to walk on their own.