SCRIPTURE: Exodus 14:19-31
TEXT: 31Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses THEME: Severing ties with the past the people of God get to begin again. INTRODUCTION Three years of seminary, 40 years of pastoral ministry and decades of life experiences, keeps my theology evolving. I have a couple of friends who feed me articles, pod casts, webinars and books. Old Biblical stories are now revealing new punchlines. So I have taken a few children’s bibles and began writing down new observations and conclusions for the retelling of these familiar stories. For example, Krista Tippet on her On Being podcast interviewed Avivah Zornberg (Oct 6, 2011) : She describe the world that Noah lived in as one where people had lost connection with each other and God. Their lack of interpersonal communication with each other made them less than human. Although Noah finds favor with God, he is silent all throughout this saga. This loss of connection between humans may be why, when Noah is building an Ark in his garage; no one confronts him with curiosity, challenges him with building code or is concerned about how his collection of animals may affect their property values. Humans were isolated from each other, creating their own kind of chaos. So God deals with this human chaos with the “chaos of water,” a flood to reset human existence. The ark, becomes a box that contains the seeds for life to begin again. This chaos is repeated again in destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. The chaotic attempt of evil against God’s seeds of hope, are drowned in the chaotic waters of a flash flood refilling the Red Sea. God creates out of chaos, in order to create a new beginning for the people of God. SCRIPTURE What were the Egyptians learning about God, about their desires, and about their consecutiveness to humanity? God is all about relationships, When the Egyptians were pursuing the Israelites through the wilderness, they learned that God protected them with a pillar of fire and kept their location hidden from them with a cloud. They might have thought that God was not very good with directions, but their path kept the pursuing army off their scent as they travel south instead of north. And now with their backs against the wall, their God created a path right through the sea like the ocean does for Moana. As the Egyptian army follows them into the sea, They began to panic. Mud clogs their chariot wheels and as they tried to make it back onto shore, the sea closed up on them. There is something about Israel and the relationship they have with their God. God liberates slaves. The practice of slavery is wrong. The Israelites are not less than human but worthy of God’s attention. The Egyptian may have also thought that Moses was a little weird. What were the Israelites learning about God, about their desires, and about their consecutiveness to humanity? God listens to the Israelite’s cries even before they became prayers. God initiated an answer to their prayer for freedom that took years in the making. God is more powerful than Pharaoh and Pharaoh’s army. God protects, God provides, God leads, God liberates, and God Saves. The people of God are beginning to bond with each other with common experiences and with God. As slaves living on the edge of existence they are now free, with possibilities, even as they survive in the wilderness, The people of God are beginning to learn how to live with a God and with others in a community. In the next few chapters, the people of God will develop the values they need to build their future. APPLICATION When Egyptians die in Red Sea, it is like when God destroyed humans in the flood with Noah. It was because they had become disconnected with each other. “In the depths of the story of Noah, Avivah Zornberg finds a drama about language and civilization. The real crisis of human beings is, she says that “they have become so open that they are closed to one another.” Seeing the Hebrews, only as run away slaves loses Egypt’s connection between human beings. Blinded by rage, nationalism, loyalty to Pharaoh, the army pursues the Israelites to the sea floor. What does it mean to live in connection with God and in connection with others? No matter where we are, God is still speaking to us, and initiating something for our benefit. God will have a Noah, a Moses or a Jesus for us to follow. God will use us to participate in what God is doing and sometimes we will have to be the Noah or Moses to others. In what ever we are doing, there will be God Signs along the way to keep us on God’s way. Believe in God and then our faith will open us up to the signs of God along our journey; in answered prayers, chance meetings, how things work out, balanced check books, peace in chaos, healings, and when death passes over. The God who was there when they were slaves in Egypt, will be with them here in the wilderness. It is in the church, where we can Stay in contact with other humans and practice being on our best behavior, so we can do so in our most challenging situations. A community where there is acceptance and belonging. Last week I attend the activities of my 50th class reunion. I met articulate, interesting, accomplished people at each event. Then there were two people not from our class that were there. I asked who they were. One person was a kid from Kalaheo but went to Eleele Elementary school because that is where his mom taught. He graduated from Kauai High but they let him come. The other guy grew up in the camp town of Kaumakani but he graduated from Kamehameha Schools as a boarder in Oahu. He was invited and came to the picnic. Just because we graduated in 1973 from Waimea, or would have, or could have, they were accepted and included in our 50th reunion. This felt like church. Part of a loving caring community. CONCLUSION God seems to disregard Egyptian lives swallowed up in the Red Sea. Going back to Noah, and using this template, we have the chaos of the water, destroying the chaos of evil, with seeds of a new life preserved. God’s people have a chance at a new beginning. The old is gone, in order for something new to begin. The collapsing waters provides a pathway into the future, where the Egyptians threat is ended, but will later have their chance to join into the inheritance the Hebrews created with God. God cares about their lives too but in order for this to happen, Israel must survive their escape from Egypt and grow in their relationship with God. God has a long answer to this prayer. What we understand as a loss ends one chapter for a new one to begin. Pacific School of Religion offered a Certificated Theological Educational Leaders class on the Old Testament. As an assignment their professor had them write a poem following the crossing of the Red Sea (like the ones we find in the next couple of chapters from Moses and Miriam) from the Egyptian Army’s perspective. I didn’t take this class but found this as an interesting assignment; Clouds shelter them from the sun. A pillar of fire kept them warm from the cold. Who are these people? Who is this God that cares for them? They seem lost in the desert, But it is we who can’t seem to find them. They evade us at every turn. We will get our hands on them in the morning. The Red Sea will be their doom. In the morning light the fog has lifted, But they are on the other side. Rage, anger, frustration, fuel our pursuit Into the sea as fast as we can. But in our hast, Mud stops our progress. Foot soldiers amass around us, The congested chaos is now added to by the collapsing water. Our resolve has turned to fear As we know this is where it ends. Who are these people? Who is this God that cares for them
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