SCRIPTURE: Genesis 14:19-31
TEXT: 22The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. THEME: Our God is stronger than any earthy ruler. Cleaving to God for all that we need enables us to develop new behavioral habits. INTRODUCTION When we are set free, we are in a wilderness of discovering how to live in a new way. We can be tempted, to go back to the captivity we left. When things get difficult there is a tendency to ‘snap back’ to our old ways of doing things, that we must resist. We instead should take the opportunity to live creatively and inventively. We can be the same person, but taking opportunities to respond to the same problems in new ways, to apply new skills in these situations, to develop new strategies and behaviors. This is what the liberated Israelites must do as they cross the Red Sea and enter the wilderness. They are no longer slaves. They are not running someone else’s agenda. But they are not alone, God is with them. They are freed to discover what it means to be tethered to God, as a people of God, living in community. SCRIPTURE There are some, who believe that the book of Exodus was written during the Babylonian Captivity of Israel (700BC). If so, the authors have Egypt as Babylon, pharaoh the King of Egypt as Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and Israel’s slavery as their present-day captivity. As God releases the People of God from Egypt, the message, to its first readers, is that God is stronger than any earthly ruler, stronger the Pharaoh and stronger than Nebuchadnezzar. The Israelites step into the sea, executing their new found freedom to move towards the unknown. Lead by Moses, God’s pillars of fire and cloud protect them. Their past life is actively pursuing them, to re-enslave them. The mark of God’s love was a sign for death to Passover their household and save them. Their ancestral God, initiated plagues that made their lives miserable, but now they are escaping their enslavement and are set free. On the run, Moses feared that if this group encountered military resistance, they would turn back to Egypt, so he takes them on a southerly path to avoid any skirmishes. But now they stand on the shores of the Red Sea with nowhere else to go. The Egyptian army was dispatch after them. Pharaoh regretted letting his work force go. So, he loaded up chariots and an army to get his slaves back. The pillar of cloud that has been leading them, now moved to the rear, creating a darkness that kept the Egyptian army from advancing on them. Moses was stretched his hand out over the waters, as the seas separate into walls and the South wind blew the sea bed dry. God, who loves them, had death Passover them again. The Israelites step into the sea and towards an unknown future, trusting in the God of Moses towards further freedom and tethered by faith. APPLICATION My friend Wayne Ibara, the pastor of Makiki Christian Church, is also preaching on this lectionary passage today. As he prepared, he posed a few question on this passage that brings the journey of the Israelites, into our current setting. Today the church is caught between the pandemic on one side and an economic downturn on the other, not to mention national chaos and natural disasters. We want a way back to "normal." But "normal" to us is like the Hebrews wanting to return to Egypt. We're on the bank of the sea, waiting while the wind of the Spirit blows all night to part the waters. What is the way into a new wilderness of formation for the church to be radical and different? We are learning what it is to be church without "going" or "coming" to church;
Well we did it. We signed the MOU with EAH which is the beginning of our partnership with this non-profit developer to build 40 affordable rental units on the Mission Grounds. We saw the signs along the way and when the waters parted, we decided to step onto the dry sea floor. This is craziness or is it faith?! When has any of our dreams ever come true? This was a turning point for Israel, this is a turning point for us as we enter into the wilderness to get to the other side. The MOU is the beginning of our partnership and is like the closing of the Red Sea, behind us, with no turning back. Ahead, the wilderness represents an intense time with God, where our relationship with each other deepens. In the wilderness, we will have three years to strategize for famine. As part of the Predevelopment Cost, we will be paid for the estimated loss of rents from the demolished Kennan House and the Iao Parsonage. After that, the church could experience 15 years of decreased finances. Our struggle with God during this time will form us to be the people and church, God wants us to be. As we trust God into the Red Sea with the MOU, God will journey with us. Some of the habits and patterns we bring with us won’t work in this wilderness. Our dependence on old resources will be gone. We will have to go where God leads and do some new things that God wants. We have become a monolith in our community. It is time for us to be part of the community and allow the community to become a part of us. Our building of these homes can become a sign of a new relationship with our community. In the weeks to come we will begin to communicate our plans for the Mission Grounds with our neighbors. CONCLUSION The pandemic wilderness has me working from home. But while I am at home, I cannot ignore my family, so I have had to learn new behaviors such as to be okay when I am interrupted. I am finding that when I address something right away, it will take me about 5 minutes, but if I wait and keep on putting it off, it drags on and takes much longer. Another new behavior I have started during the pandemic is to have my sermon almost finished before Saturday night, this has never happened in my 38 years of sermon writing. And my last new behavior is waking up around 5 in the morning to get a head start on my work before anyone else is up. Released from the pandemic captivity, we enter into the wilderness as a church, it is an opportunity to change our behavior to accomplish new things tethered to God. As the church our relationship with our neighbors, the community and with the County is going to change. As a church, we want to be a witness of God, who is real, who is discernable and calls us to participate in what God is doing. This is what we are doing with the Wailuku Mission Housing project on the Mission Grounds. This will be a sign to all, that our God is stronger than any earthy ruler.
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