According to a widely quoted statement of Áron Tamási, the renowned writer, "We are in the world so that we might feel at home somewhere." I believe that this statement refers not just to an individual, a family or a people, but to the people of God as well.

How can the people of God be at home in this world? Where is the place of the people of God, and what should the people of God do in this world?

This is a question that we have to answer again and again, in every age. There are many of us who search for the answer nowadays. We can search for answers and can help each other in finding the answers. We know that everybody must stand in the presence of God, and everybody must listen to the answer from the word of God.

Let us now hear the message of the Lord to us who are searching for our place, who pose this question to him: what do you want us to do, Lord, and how should we do it? Let us be helped in giving an answer by the word that takes us back to the time when God allocated the land to the Israelites, when the promised land was divided up between the people and tribes of Israel, so that every tribe received their own lot. In this list of lands allocated, there appears a special sentence: "But to the tribe of Levi, Moses had given no inheritance; the Lord, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he promised them".

Why did the land have to be divided among them when the psalmist has unequivocally proclaimed to all ages: "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it" (Ps 24.1). The psalmist announces the global claim of the eternal God, the creator of all ages, with unchanged validity. In his eyes, in the eyes of our Father, the earth he gave to the people as dwelling place is one and indivisible. It is a truth so easy to recognize that it can even be understood by a child.

At the same time, we know only too well that in the adult world, individuals and corporations, those who are mighty in economics and politics, are always wont to distribute the land among themselves and think that the more they own, the more important and happier they shall be. World history and our own history in past decades have clearly proven that once people start distributing and sharing out land, it will always result in fighting and injustice, and there will be some who will gain more than others. In vain have we learned at school that history is the schoolmaster of life; we are only willing to learn from it once we have already failed the exam. Thus, we can commit the same mistake in generation after generation.

Today, when a new spectre is passing through central and eastern Europe, the spectre of globalization, what can we say and what can we do as members of the people of God? Are we able to manifest and proclaim the global claim of God to the past, present and future rulers of the earth? His claim is not limited to holy places, to a temple or a holy land, for he owns all of creation. If we take this as our starting point, we should also know and appreciate how enormous a gift the Word articulates when it says that God gives an inheritance to his people.

Without the promise of the eternal Lord, and without his liberation, how could a slave people that suffered in Egypt and could harbour no hope of a humane life have received land? How could they have received land if God had not liberated them, guided them through the desert, and led them into the land that he said he would entrust to them and give to them as their inheritance? The inheritance God prepares for us does not have to be fought for, lobbied for, cheated for. We just have to accept it. Do we dare to accept the inheritance granted by God to us? Do we dare to receive it from his hand? This acceptance is the unchangeable law of the survival of life. We can live, we can be, because somebody accepted us, somebody said "yes" to us, somebody granted us life as a gift. We would not be here without it.

As the people of God, we are a people who have received an inheritance. And we can be a people bearing a heritage, the ones to have received it, the ones to preserve and leave it to posterity here in this region. Do we really value the heritage God has bequeathed to us? Can we be humble recipients? Can we believe that what God prepares for his beloved people is the lasting, the real inheritance?

The person who is aware of this heritage is a calm person. A people that is aware of this heritage is a calm, and not a neurotic, people. Ancient wisdom gives a sober warning to us, people who are many times fighting for something, and are trying to acquire and hold onto something by our own strength. As our forefathers used to say: "When a child comes into the world, he is often born with clenched fists as if saying: "I am going to acquire everything!' And when he passes on the way set for all those living, his hands are outstretched as if saying: "Look, Lord, there is nothing I can retain, let me return everything to you!'" God gives us an inheritance. Those who dare to accept will find it, their life will be turned into calmness, and will be characterized by a moral stance or backbone, and they shall be the people living by the inheritance of God.

There is a special tribe who suddenly appears, the Levites, who are given no inheritance. This is the tribe that took the promise of God seriously and fully entrusted itself to God. The Levites remained faithful to him, even when the others gave in to the idols. This is the tribe that Moses relied on when he saw that the people who had just witnessed their miraculous liberation by God immediately and without reservation handed themselves over to the idols, and with no resistance gave up their fidelity to God while Moses was with God on the mountain. The tribe of Levi remained faithful in the face of the majority, in spite of all the appearances. This is why the Levites could become a sign, a tribe that had to bear the burden of the chosen. They lived among the others, in the world of nations, without any guarantee or insurance, announcing and singing, "The Lord is my inheritance", proclaiming that life is more than a piece of land, a house, success, knowledge, authority or might. Only by the Spirit of God can one detach oneself from lesser commitments and attach oneself to him. God is my inheritance. I will lack nothing. I will be in no way smaller for his promise is valid. What does the life of the people of God testify to, today? Are we signs like this? Can we stand like this, survive like this, and call others to live like this for it is worthwhile?

We, the people of the New Testament, know that there was a time when the tribe of Levi had to persist in face of the majority as a sign of fidelity to God. We also know that the time comes when there is one heir only: Jesus, the meek heir. In him we can see the way of God in this world. This way makes people meek because it leads from the tribe of Levi, which was ready to fight with swords, to the crucified son of God. The cross is his way of retaining and preserving his inheritance. This is how he wants to give us hope, this is how he wants to keep us as trustful and hopeful people.

The meek heir, Jesus of Nazareth, says: "Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth." The meek heir is recruiting companions to keep the inheritance. This is what he calls us to. This is why we are here. This is why we are called by the name of Christ. Do we want to be the companions of the meek heir in the new millennium, in a world of humanity that has reached a pinnacle in development and demise, where what is at stake is really whether the meek shall inherit or there will be no inheritance at all? The meek heir, Jesus Christ, invites us to be his companions so that we can come to say with the apostle: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2.20). Do we want to be his companions? Do we dare to be his co-workers to keep the inheritance, not for ourselves but for those coming after us?

We are sobered by the knowledge that everything we do here casts a shadow on this earth. But Jesus, the meek heir, promises that those who want to can preserve and inherit the earth together with him. Then their fights will not be shadow boxing, their efforts will not be in vain. They will concentrate on the one necessary thing, they will focus on him, believing that he is the only rightful heir. We know that truth is not in our hands but we are in the hands of him who said of himself: "I am... the truth" (Jn 14.6), and there is no life and hope if we circle around him, cheat him and disown him. Do we dare to be the companions of this meek heir? Do we dare to keep this inheritance while "on that very day the Father will take the cross back like a splinter" and he shall be everything in everybody?

Let it be so. Amen.

Gusztáv Bölcskei is the bishop of Debrecen, and the presiding bishop of the Reformed Church in Hungary. He preached this sermon on Sunday, June 24 2001 in the Calvin Square congregation in Budapest.