First Fruits

This is the first year in many that the Brewster Family has had a garden. Now, it's pretty small (5 ft. x 10 ft.), but it has generated really big excitement with the kids. A little over two weeks ago, we saw our first banana pepper make it to picking stage. I thought this would be a great teaching moment. So, I took my two out to the backyard and I told the story from Leviticus 23:9-11, 14

Then the Lord said to Moses,“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be accepted on your behalf.
Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live.

[Yes, I know, I left out the part about offering a one-year old lamb. I just didn't think the folks of Farragut (or my subdivision) would appreciate me burning a lamb on an altar in my back yard (besides, I'm pretty sure there's a permit form for that). I know, I also left out the part about bringing a quart of wine to church as a liquid offering, but we have rules about that at First Farragut (though I may try that offering in my back yard later, I think it will fit nicely with the Farragut milieu)] Of course if you don't read your Bible, you wouldn't have known I left out that valuable info ...

... but back to the story. I told my two we would take our first fruit, the banana pepper, to church on Sunday. And we did. I had a teaching moment with the congregation right before the offering about first fruits. We laid the pepper on the altar with the offerings.

BIT: The problem came the next week when the squash I'd been eyeing ripened. My mouth was watering for some fried squash and onions ... I came home from work to find that it had been picked, so I told the family we should fry that puppy up. To my horror, my two theologians told me that since it was the "first" squash, it too would have to go to church. And so it has progressed. The first cucumber came last Sunday and the first bell pepper is on it's way.

BITTER: You know, I think my garden is growing faster since giving the first fruits. I wonder if that's in that Bible? Let me know if you find it.