Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] October 29, 2023 “Not Quite” Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 – Common English Bible Then Moses hiked up from the Moabite plains to Mount Nebo, the peak of the Pisgah slope, which faces Jericho. The Lord showed him the whole land: the Gilead region as far as Dan’s territory; 2 all the parts belonging to Naphtali along with the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, as well as the entirety of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea; 3 also the arid southern plain, and the plain—including the Jericho Valley, Palm City—as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I promised: ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have shown it to you with your own eyes; however, you will not cross over into it.” 5 Then Moses, the Lord’s servant, died—right there in the land of Moab, according to the Lord’s command. 6 The Lord buried him in a valley in Moabite country across from Beth-peor. Even now, no one knows where Moses’ grave is. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight wasn’t impaired, and his vigor hadn’t diminished a bit. 8 Back down in the Moabite plains, the Israelites mourned Moses’ death for thirty days. At that point, the time for weeping and for mourning Moses was over. 9 Joshua, Nun’s son, was filled with wisdom because Moses had placed his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to Joshua, and they did exactly what the Lord commanded Moses. 10 No prophet like Moses has yet emerged in Israel; Moses knew the Lord face-to-face! 11 That’s not even to mention all those signs and wonders that the Lord sent Moses to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to his entire land— 12 as well as all the extraordinary power that Moses displayed before Israel’s own eyes! After 40 years of “Are we there yet?”, Moses can finally report – “not quite, but I can see it.” Kind of like driving on the flat plains west across Kansas and finally catching a glimpse of the snow-capped Rockies gleaming in the sun. I can see it, though it could still take weeks to walk there. But I guess, really, to match the scripture text, it’s like standing on top of a 14,000-foot mountain on the Front Range and on a clear day looking out as far as Kansas and Nebraska and Wyoming and New Mexico and even Oklahoma. Anyway, the land Moses was now looking at from the peak was the same land that Abram and Sarai had once lived in but felt called by God to move away. Here we are back full circle. It was in that other land that they, now Abraham and Sarah, gave birth to (let’s see if you know the names) Abraham and Sarah had a son named Isaac, who married Rebekah, whose offspring were the feuding twins named Jacob and Esau. Jacob, whose name later changed to Israel, and had a bunch of children by four women, but overtly favored one wife named Rachel, whose child was Joseph, and was sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers. Joseph whose ability to interpret dreams saved Egypt from starvation. Whose descendants were later enslaved by a different Pharaoh, to whose suffering God personally responded by sending Moses to free them – along with his brother Aaron and their tambourine-playing sister Miriam. People who escaped but then spent the next 40 years wishing they were still back in Egypt, enslaved, complaining and asking, “Are we there yet?” And here we are, from the top of Mount Nebo looking across the horizon all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, Moses can finally report – “not quite, but I can see it.” And with that, he died and was buried in a place no one knows so that no temple or shine could be built to idolize him. That makes sense, the “don’t worship him” part. But why wasn’t he allowed to enter? That doesn’t make sense and feels like the great snub of history. And so, we try to make sense of it. Why would Moses be denied entry into the land he had been leading the people toward for 40 years? Some say it was a punishment and stretch for any explanation to justify it. We have been following the Book of Exodus for weeks now – the plagues and escape and wandering and terrifying blaring of horns and pounding of lightning on Mount Sinai. The people hearing God’s own voice give the Ten Commandments, the golden calf debacle, and chapters and chapters of detailed instructions – like one of my favorites. If the donkey of someone who hates you falls under the weight of its load, even though you don’t want to help someone who doesn’t like you, still, you must free the donkey. A very practical instruction to treat others better than they treat you. Then chapter after chapter of laws and instructions, like how to build a chest to contain the second set of stone tablets after Moses broke the first ones because he threw them on the ground in disgust over the golden calf fiasco. And more detailed instructions about how to build a Tent of Meeting to contain the chest holding those stone tablets inside which would now move along with the people as they continued their journey. We skipped over all that. And then we skipped over the entire Book of Leviticus. And we skipped over the entire Book of Numbers. And since we may have been getting a little ancy about how long we have spent on this part of the Bible, we skipped over all but the last 12 verses of the last chapter of Deuteronomy because like the Israelites, we may have grown tired of this journey. Aren’t we there yet? Well, congratulations, we’ve stuck with it until Moses can finally report – “not quite, but I can see it.” And then he died. Why? Well, there’s one verse, not here in Deuteronomy, but buried in the Book of Numbers that people have cited as justification. Moses has faithfully followed God’s every command for 14,600 days, but one day he struck a rock to get water for the people who complained of thirst instead of speaking to it. He was supposed to speak to it even through previously he had been told to strike a rock. But, supposedly, because of this one thing, one day out of 14,600 days, as punishment Moses would be denied entry into the Promised Land. That’s ridiculous. But here’s just one theologian: “His death comes as a punishment for his sin, his impatience, and leading in his own way, rather than according to God’s instruction.” Punishment for sin. Instead of – he was 120 years old! Or anything else. What is this obsession religious people have with punishment as explanation for things that happen? What did they say? Prominent pastors said, “God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before.” Who also say, “marriage equality could lead to floods, fires, and tornadoes.” But not, let’s say, global warming caused by human activity?! My, what power. Pat Robertson was serious when he said an earthquake in Virginia in 2011 was caused by individuals who “act kind of gay." But when he tried to pre-emptively blame revelers at Disney World's Gay Days Weekend as the cause of a pending storm, he had nothing to say when it completely skipped over Disney World and slammed into his Hampton Roads, Virginia, 700Club headquarters instead.[1] But God would never do such a thing. The disciples asked Jesus, why is this man blind? Was it something he did to be born blind? When exactly would he have had time to do something wrong? Or was it because his parents sinned? And Jesus replied, or as I would have Jesus reply in my words, “That ridiculous. Why do you insist on punishment as an explanation for things that happen?” So then, why didn’t Moses enter the Promised Land? We wrestled with this question at our Thursday Lunch and Lectionary group and talked about our faith lives as a journey, not a destination. And that, like Moses, we aren’t necessarily called to complete the work but to be faithful to the call. I shared what I thought could offer an explanation why Moses reached the Promised Land but didn’t enter. It’s a piece call Prophets of a Future Not Our Own often attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, but he didn’t write it.
This is what we are about:
Moses was not being punished. He fulfilled his call and died at the age of 120. He led them to the Promised Land. He did his part. Just like what we’re all called to do. To participate in something greater than ourselves. To do our part. To see our role to completion even if that means we don’t see everything completed. The life of faith is faithfulness to the journey, not arrival at a destination – whether the Promised Land or as soon people see it, heaven. From my perspective, this text is not about punishment but a teaching on how God’s mission is bigger than any one person, no matter how significant that person may be. Even Moses. The Israelites mourned Moses’ death for 30 days and then at that point, the time for weeping and for mourning Moses was over. Because it wasn’t Moses’ mission, it was God’s. It was now Caleb and Joshua’s to fulfill. Brian Russell wrote, Moses didn’t have a mission. God had a mission. And the mission had Moses.[3] And in the same way, the church doesn’t have a mission. That may sound wrong because clearly the church has a mission. Right? But he makes the point: God has a mission. The mission has a church. The mission has us. When a church acts like it’s doing its own ministry, watch out. But when a church is aligned with God’s mission, watch out. What a powerful church that will be. It just takes all of us doing our part – risking and stretching and believing that what we need to participate in God’s mission will be provided. That’s why, right now, because of you, our church is changing lives. I marvel at watching it happen. And with the changes we have made to how we organize our church, we will spend more of our efforts finding ways for people to connect with ministry and grow deeper in their faith than finding enough people to serve on a committee – which we still need, and for which some people have remarkable gifts – while others will claim their unique part. A part that is rarely observer. Every one of us has a role to play and if you don’t know what yours is yet, we will help you find it. Just remember that Jesus said, “to whom much is given, much is required.” Martin Buber tells the story of the great rabbi named Zusya. On his deathbed he began to cry uncontrollably and his students and disciples tried hard to comfort him. They asked him, “Rabbi, why do you weep? You are almost as wise as Moses, you are almost as hospitable as Abraham, and surely heaven will judge you favorably.” Zusya answered them: “It’s true that when I get to heaven, I won’t worry so much if God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Abraham?’ or ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Moses?’ I know I would be able to answer those questions, after all, I was not given the righteousness of Abraham or the faith of Moses but I tried to be both hospitable and thoughtful. But what will I say when God asks me, ‘Zusya, why were you not more like Zusya?’ Martin Luther King, Jr., told a group of junior high students to be the best of whatever you are and that when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty uniquely called you at this particular moment in history to do it. If you’re a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontine Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept their job well.[4] We are undeniably privileged and extraordinarily fortunate and deeply blessed to be entrusted with God’s mission in the world, gratefully following in the faithful footsteps of those who came before and responsible to provide a foundational path for the next generation. For as many years as each of us are given. That’s how our church changes lives. Including mine. How about yours? [1] https://www.advocate.com/politics/2012/10/31/10-disasters-gays-were-blamed-causing [2] https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/prophets-of-a-future-not-our-own [3] Adapted from Brian Russell in Connections, Year A, Volume 3, page 411 [4] “What is Your Life’s Blueprint” speech, Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967.
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Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] October 15, 2023 “All God Wants is Love” Exodus 32: 1-14 – Common English Bible The people saw that Moses was taking a long time to come down from the mountain. They gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come on! Make us gods[a] who can lead us. As for this man Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t have a clue what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “All right, take out the gold rings from the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took out the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 He collected them and tied them up in a cloth.[b] Then he made a metal image of a bull calf, and the people declared, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf. Then Aaron announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” 6 They got up early the next day and offered up entirely burned offerings and brought well-being sacrifices. The people sat down to eat and drink and then got up to celebrate. 7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Hurry up and go down! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, are ruining everything! 8 They’ve already abandoned the path that I commanded. They have made a metal bull calf for themselves. They’ve bowed down to it and offered sacrifices to it and declared, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I’ve been watching these people, and I’ve seen how stubborn they are. 10 Now leave me alone! Let my fury burn and devour them. Then I’ll make a great nation out of you.” 11 But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, “Lord, why does your fury burn against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and amazing force? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He had an evil plan to take the people out and kill them in the mountains and so wipe them off the earth’? Calm down your fierce anger. Change your mind about doing terrible things to your own people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, whom you yourself promised, ‘I’ll make your descendants as many as the stars in the sky. And I’ve promised to give your descendants this whole land to possess for all time.’” 14 Then the Lord changed his mind about the terrible things he said he would do to his people. A couple of days ago. That’s all it was. A couple of days ago, the mountain they were camped below was pounded over and over by lightning so hard that it was covered in smoke. And in that haze of smoke, loud horns blaring and getting louder. Pounding and blaring and pounding and blaring. And then it all stopped. Just the sound of sheer silence. The people looked around nervously. What would happen next, like maybe an earthquake or violent windstorm. After witnessing 10 plagues involving frogs and bugs as well as blood and death, literally anything could happen. But what happened had never happened before and, they hoped, would never happen again. The smoke cleared and behind it was a dark cloud and from the cloud they heard a voice. Not a voice in their heads, but they collectively stood there and heard, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You must have no other gods before me. Do not make an idol for yourself.” Yes, the ten commandments. But commandment number two isn’t just “Do not make an idol for yourself.” It goes on and explains in greater detail: That’s the second commandment, not to be confused with the second amendment, which, come to think of it, needs to be amended with the second commandment since it appears the problem we have with guns is the problem of idolatry. Anyway, the voice of God continues and finally #10: “Don’t desire what isn’t yours – your neighbor’s house, wife, servants, animals and anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” But they didn’t know that commandment number 10 was the end. After about a minute, someone asked, is he done yet? The people stood around and marveled at what had just happened. Someone spoke up, “well, I don’t know what the big deal is. That’s just common sense. Why all the pounding and blaring and drama?” Someone else chirped in, “yeah, and did they all have to be so negative?” There was a chorus of yeah, yeah… “And how about what we should do instead of what thou shalt not?” “Let’s make our own list.” Someone found some newsprint and markers that smelled like their color – you know, purple smells like grapes, red like strawberries. One by one, people called out what they thought were more hopeful and positive suggestions, like:
While Moses appreciated their enthusiasm, he shook his head and started climbing back up the mountain. He had a lot of details to work out with God and it would take a while. The group discussion, however, kept going, one suggestion shouted out after another, but unfortunately this didn’t make it into scripture because the scribe in charge of the newsprint lost it and no one could remember what they had said and so the whole thing is gone from the historical record. Well, not really, but why not. It’s a story and the Bible is not historical fact. As I’ve said before, these are stories that search for meaning. Who are we? Why do humans do what we do? How should we treat one another? Like the mystic’s suggestion written on newsprint with the grape-smelling purple marker, tragically forever lost: Beware of thinking that you understand or that you can control God. But then. Moses wasn’t gone for more than a couple of days, if that, when the people began to panic, fear took over, and they started pressuring Aaron to do something, anything. Well, actually, they weren’t just asking for anything. They were quite specific. “Come on, man. Make us some gods who can lead us.” They said, who knows what happened to that Moses fellow? So, Aaron gathered together all the gold from the people, the gold the Egyptians had handed over when the people were rushing out of town. He melted it down and formed it into a bull calf and the people were ecstatic and declared this to be their gods “who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” What a sad, sad betrayal. Just a couple of days more than three months after their miraculous escape through the sea. Aaron saw what was happening and set up an altar in front of the golden calf. Now, was it an altar to the calf or by putting the altar in front of the calf, was he trying in any way he could think of to put the Lord first? It’s bad either way. And God wasn’t happy. I wouldn’t be either! Hurt and angry, God told Moses to do something about “your” people, like you and I might say to our spouse. Look what your child has done. And then God offered to start all over and make a great nation out of Moses instead of all the generations that had come before – abandoning Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah and Rachel and Joseph and his 11 brothers and on down the line for hundreds of years. But Moses didn’t fall for the flattery and turned it around and reminded God, wait a minute, these are your people. And you don’t want to get a bad reputation with the Egyptians, do you? You don’t want them saying bad things about your intentions, do you? And then Moses actually dared to tell God, “Calm down!” He worked every angle until he finally changed God’s mind. Having relented and, exhausted from all the emotion, God fell on the couch and curled up in a ball and asked Moses for a cup of tea to calm the nerves. Moses replied, “personally, I need something a little stronger than tea after all of that.” Again, we’re not talking about historical fact but trying to relate to the emotional impact. And understood this way, I love how human God is in this story. Relatable in so many ways. Not a supreme being, cold and hard, without emotion. We can imagine the pain God felt at being betrayed. God responded to their cries to escape the cruelty of Egypt, did everything possible to get Pharaoh to free them, provided everything they needed on the journey through the wilderness, and just a couple of days before provided instructions to set them on a path toward their freedom… I feel like I understand this God. But that’s also dangerous. To make God so small as to think we can possibly understand and then assign to God such human qualities as pettiness and rage and vengeance. Is God really that human? And with that comes the danger, for example, that we think surely God hates the same people we hate. And God holds a grudge so I can hold a grudge too, etc. and on. Eventually we stop having a god and rather we have a mascot. God domesticated into a form we can control. And what’s that called? An idol. If I dare say it, God doesn’t want idols nor does God want to be an idol either. A thing to admire and put on a shelf and pull out when we want something. I think the biblical record consistently shows that God has always just wanted a relationship of mutual love. All God wants is love. Instead, over and over, we betray that love by following after anything shiny and new, leaving the God of great love heartbroken. Why do we do that when all God wants is love? First, let’s talk about Aaron. We might think of Aaron as weak-willed. He immediately caved in to their demands. Why didn’t he stand up and remind the people what they just heard from God’s own mouth? And yes, I have just assigned to God the human attribute of having a mouth and speaking. That’s how challenging it is to think of and speak about a mystery as grand as God! But as weak-willed as Aaron might have been, the poor guy was being confronted by people acting out of fear. On the other hand, he might also have been quite clever. You know how they kept saying they missed being in the land of free cucumbers and leeks and onions and watermelons, where they could die in comfort. And, oh yeah, back where they were enslaved. Well, what did Aaron make out of their gold jewelry? Aaron fashioned out of gold a bull calf, an Egyptian fertility god named Apis. They would have seen it in Egypt many times before. Was Aaron trying to shock them into this realization? Those would have been familiar times, but violent. Toxic memories, but familiar. In their ecstasy, however, they worshiped the past, which wasn’t even their past, and yearned for a time when they weren’t free. And therefore, it was necessary to spend the next 40 years in the wilderness. It wasn’t a punishment, though it would seem there was plenty of justification for that. But those 40 years were a time to free themselves of the desire to go back. And it wasn’t until the last of the generation of those enslaved had died that they finally crossed over into the Promised Land. That seems sad to me. And it feels real. Worshiping the past instead of trusting and following God into the future. Worshiping memories, distorted memories, frightened of the future. How do we appreciate the past without making it into an idol? I want to commend you and this church. Last week you gave unanimous consent to a major rewrite of our bylaws. New bylaws may not seem like that much of a great accomplishment, but good bylaws give space for doing great things. We went from having everything specified in great detail – great detail – to a structure characterized by lots of flexibility. You voted for a model that embraces “we’ll figure it out” and approached the process with curiosity, not fear. Well done. And going forward we’ll have a lot more questions about how we get things done, but we can do so without fear. I’m not sure you can appreciate how extraordinary that is during a time in which churches are being shaken to their core – when, for many, their best days are clearly behind. So why not worship the past? This church respects our history, loves this beautiful sanctuary, treasures the organ that will turn 100 years old next year while at the same time enthusiastically singing music written in this century – of many more styles than ever before. The expanded selection of music has been an adjustment for some as much as it has been welcomed by some, but the consistent response has been to learn to sing new music because it’s for the sake of our future. And that future, our future, is hopeful. We have to keep trusting God with our future. The Christian church in general is in serious decline, but last week we received our 17th new member this year. Our church is full of kids running around and actually excited to be in church. In a nod to our history, next weekend 75 people will be at the Pilgrim Pines camp, including nearly every family with children in the church – deepening our faith and our relationships as we seek to have an even greater impact as a church. Our pledge drive for 2024 starts in two weeks. I know churches that are cutting their budgets before they even ask, fearful of diminishing contributions, fearful of even asking for increased generosity. I’m not afraid. We have something astonishing going on here, God is doing astonishing things here, to which I know you can’t help but say, I want to be a part of that future. And thankfully the people in our past provided for us when the need is greater than our resources. And you’re not afraid to use them. Not touching money in some churches is the biggest idol of them all. Throughout history, all God has ever wanted from people is love. Mutual love. And for God’s people to love each other. That’s what makes this church special. It’s all you want too and you show it in so many ways every day. It’s not flattery if all I’m doing is telling the truth. Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] October 8, 2023 “Thou Should” Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-21 – Common English Bible Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You must have no other gods before[a] me. 4 Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 7 Do not use the Lord your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the Lord won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way. 8 Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 9 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 12 Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 Do not kill.[a] 14 Do not commit adultery. 15 Do not steal. 16 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor. 17 Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. 18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, the people shook with fear and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and to make sure you are always in awe of God so that you don’t sin.” 21 The people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick darkness in which God was present. Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and felt a righteous indignation rise from within. Impulsively, he murdered the man and temporarily hid his body in the sand. He thought he had gotten away with it, but when he went the next day to dispose of the body, he was busted. Before Pharaoh could kill him too, he ran as fast and as far as he could until he arrived in Midian. He settled down there and took up shepherding. While at work one day, he came across a burning bush that called out to him. The voice of God spoke to Moses to convince him to go back to Egypt and lead the Hebrew people out of slavery. Out of all people, God chose Moses – a stuttering murderer with a stunning lack of self-confidence. Moses pleaded with God to send someone else, anyone else. Nevertheless, God persisted and to each objection, God provided an answer. Don’t worry, “I’ll be with you. And this will show you that I’m the one who sent you. After you bring the people out of Egypt, you will come back here and worship God on this mountain.” So here we are, 10 plagues behind them, a miraculous exit through the sea, and now they are exactly three months removed from Egypt, a time characterized, as you know, more with groaning, griping, grousing, and grumbling than gratitude but, now they have entered the Sinai desert and set up camp below a mountain. As it happens, the same mountain as the burning bush. I hadn’t made that connection before – called both Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai. God said, “After you bring the people out of Egypt, you will come back here and worship God on this mountain.” And now here they are. God called Moses up the mountain to deliver a message: “Remind the people what I did to the Egyptians and how I lifted you on eagle’s wings and brought you to me. Tell them to faithfully obey and stay true to my covenant and you will be my most precious possession of all the peoples on earth.” Moses came back down the mountain and told the people to wash their clothes and prepare for a holy event. When morning dawned on the third day, the people heard the blast of a very loud horn and shook in fear. God pounded Mount Sinai with lightning and the horn blasts grew louder and louder. And then Moses brought the people to the foot of the mountain so they could meet God. They were warned not to come too close or they would fall dead from pure holiness. Back on the mountain God had told Moses, “I’m about to come to you in a thick cloud and the people will hear me talking with you so they will always trust you.” And then God spoke these words for everyone to hear:
And then continued nine more statements about idols and the use of God’s name, keeping Sabbath, honoring father and mother, prohibitions against murder, adultery, theft, false testimony, and not just don’t take what doesn’t belong to you but don’t even desire it. Thou shalt not. Moses was down below with the people when God spoke through the thick darkness. And then Moses went up the mountain again. This story is told in both the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, each with a version of the Ten Commandments that are nearly identical but not exactly identical. The biggest difference is the reason for Sabbath. In Exodus, in the verses which the lectionary skips over for some reason, the reason to keep Sabbath is connected to one of the stories of Creation. Because the Lord made the heavens and earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day, “therefore, remember the Sabbath day and treat it holy. Don’t do any work on it – not you, your sons or daughters, your male and female servants, your animals, or the immigrant who is living with you. But in Deuteronomy, the reason for Sabbath is not connected to creation but to what the people had just gone through. Here is what Deuteronomy 5 says: “Keep the Sabbath day and treat it as holy…” It repeats, “don’t do any work on it – not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your oxen or donkeys or any of your animals, or the immigrant who is living among you (same as Exodus, but just for clarification, Deuteronomy adds) – so that your male and female servants can rest just like you.” But then the rationale is significantly different: Not because of creation but to “remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.” The text explains, “That’s why the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day.” In Deuteronomy, you are free from slavery and now, this is how you live free. But not just you. You are not to impose different expectations upon others than I have placed on you – it is for immigrants and servants too. In that way, rest represents freedom. Freedom from the rat race. Liberation from the constant pursuit of money, fame, or power. Rest from striving. Rest that you may remember who you were, because once you were enslaved, but this is who God has made you to be. This is not a word just to people thousands of years ago, but a word for us too. Tricia Hersey recently wrote a book called Rest is Resistance about how to be free from the “grind culture.”[1] As in, constantly grinding it out. She is a big advocate of taking naps and says we need time to sleep so we have time to dream, otherwise we will be trapped in dehumanizing systems that oppress our minds and bodies – both our own and, crucially, like the Sabbath commandment, what we expect others to do for us too. Back to the story. The people heard God speak the words of the Ten Commandments and then told Moses, “um, going forward, in the future, would you please speak to us yourself? We pinky-promise to listen. Just don’t let God speak to us again or we’ll die.” Why? Were they afraid that exposure to pure holiness was like nuclear radiation? But Moses encouraged them, saying “It’s really simple. Just live in awe of God and you won’t stray from the path God has laid out for you. God has shown you how you can be truly free from the bondage of your past.” Which, again, is not just about them but includes you and me. What have we been through and what can free you and I from our past mistakes and failures and faults? How do we get free? But then, how do we stay free? Here it is: Make no idols made out of gold and silver or Bitcoin or stocks. Rest, and let others rest too. Treat immigrants like you treat citizens. Don’t desire what isn’t yours. Worship just one God, not the almighty dollar or anything else, maybe like the almighty need for perfection. Don’t tell lies about other people to get them in trouble (or get yourself out of trouble). Honor your father and mother (some of us might need a little clarifying conversation about that). And no lying or stealing or murder. I am the Lord your God. Have no other gods before me. So, after the commandments were laid out, that’s when Moses approached the thick darkness in which God was present and went up the mountain to work out the fine print. We may think, oh the Ten Commandments, they’re so simple. Not easy, mind you, but simple. However, it then took God 40 more days and 40 nights to reveal the rest of the instruction manual to Moses. Instructions about worship. Instructions about slaves. Instructions about human violence. Instructions about animals and property. Instructions about sabbaths and festivals. And pages and pages with details about building tables and lampstands and altars and instructions about fashion for priests. Some of the instructions are beyond boring to the point of causing your eyes to glaze over and fatigue to set in. And some of them are downright fascinating. For example, “When you see a donkey that belongs to someone who hates you and it’s fallen under the burden of its load, you might not feel like helping it get up because it belongs to your enemy, but you must help set it free.” It took Moses so long to write all these things down or memorize them or whatever it was that he could do to remember pages and pages of detailed instructions; it took so long that the people started getting nervous. Maybe Moses had been vaporized by the nuclear-equivalent of pure holiness and he would never return. They started pressuring Aaron to break the commandments almost as soon as they had heard them straight from God. That’s next week. Kathleen Norris said that for years, she hated hearing the Ten Commandments read aloud in church because they seemed so overwhelmingly negative. “Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not…” Perhaps, she said, if church folk had left them at ten, but in her small-town America, ten became eleven, Thou shalt not play cards, which became twelve, Thou shalt not go dancing… Her father was a Methodist preacher in South Dakota in the 1920s and 30s. He chewed his cigars just to make sure none of his church members could smell smoke on him. He had reason to be careful. He had been fired from a previous church in West Virginia for teaching hymns to the youth group on a banjo! Talk about thou shalt not! As a boy in a strict religious home he had been forbidden to go to a movie theatre. When he left for college, on his first day of freedom he went to three movies all in a row.[2] And wouldn’t it be more appealing to hear Thou Should instead of Thou Shalt Not? We’d probably be just as prone to break them, but who knows? The Prophet Micah speaks in terms of Thou Should: do justice, thou should love mercy, thou should walk humbly with your God. Jesus summed the commandments into two thou shoulds: Thou should love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Thou should love your neighbor as yourself. Which is actually a third thou should. Thou should love yourself in the midst of loving your neighbor A few years ago I came across a list of thou shoulds that I want to share as my closing.[3] Thou should:
But just as importantly, to consider not just thou but everyone. Isn’t that also the point of the Ten Commandments? Everyone should have a place at the table[4] Everyone should have clean water and bread Everyone should have a shelter and safe place for growing For everyone born, for young and for old, A voice to be heard, a part in the song, the right to belong, and both thou and everyone should have the right to be free. [1] Tricia Hersey, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, Little, Brown Spark, 2022 [2] Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, Riverhead Books, 1998, p. 85 [3] Anonymous with my adaptations [4] From the song For Everyone Born, lyrics by Shirley Erena Murray, 1998, Hope Publishing Company. Adapted Sermons from Mission Hills UCC San Diego, California Rev. Dr. David Bahr [email protected] October 1, 2023 “Just Enough” Exodus 17: 1-7 – Common English Bible The whole Israelite community broke camp and set out from the Sin desert to continue their journey, as the Lord commanded. They set up their camp at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people argued with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the Lord?” 3 But the people were very thirsty for water there, and they complained to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of Israel’s elders with you. Take in your hand the shepherd’s rod that you used to strike the Nile River, and go. 6 I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Hit the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will be able to drink.” Moses did so while Israel’s elders watched. 7 He called the place Massah[a] and Meribah,[b] because the Israelites argued with and tested the Lord, asking, “Is the Lord really with us or not?” Yup. They’re still griping, groaning, grousing, and grumbling. Once again, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Do you want to kill us with thirst?” A complaint they had already made.
So, Moses did as God instructed and hit a rock to make water gush forth. He called that place Quarreling and Testing because they were testing and quarrelling with God. Yes, after everything that’s happened, they still didn’t get it. God has come through for them time after time. Of course, one could say, God should have acted years earlier and shortened their suffering… And when God sent Moses and Aaron to secure their release from Pharaoh, admittedly, at first it made things even worse. But God made up for it with boils and blisters and bugs; ten disasters one right after another, some a little too extreme in my humble opinion, but when Pharaoh relented and finally let the people go, God opened the sea for the people to walk through and closed it back up to the Egyptians in hot pursuit. They got six weeks in Palm Springs, honey nut Cheerios every morning and quail every night, and water whenever they demanded it – even flavored water in Marah. In between, however, to be fair, they weren’t just sitting around campfires singing about Michael rowing his boat ashore. They were defenseless in unprotected wilderness, sitting ducks for bad actors. And it wasn’t long after water gushed from the rock that the Amalekites attacked. Who are they? Remember twin brothers Jacob and Esau? Esau was the big, red, hairy, older twin of Jacob, grabbed by the heel on the way out of the birth canal and tricked out of his birthright and blessing. Because of this trickery, Esau and Jacob were estranged for two decades. The night before their reunion, Jacob wrestled with his conscience and afterward, God renamed him Israel. All these grousing people in the wilderness – they were Israelites, meaning, descendants of Jacob, who was also the father of Joseph who saved Egypt from starvation. See how it all circles around. That’s Jacob. Amalek was Esau’s grandson. And now hundreds of years later, their descendants are back to feuding, or rather, one attacking the other. The Amalekites attack and while Moses was still picking quail out of his teeth, he jumped up and ordered Joshua to gather defenders. Moses, Aaron, and Hur ran up the side of a hill to guide them. The Amalekites were a fierce tribe that roamed southern Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula attacking and plundering. As the battle raged between the well-armed Amalekites and the unprepared Israelites, whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel would start winning the battle and whenever Moses grew tired of holding his hand up, the Amalekites would begin winning. Aaron and Hur found a rock so Moses could sit down and then they took turns holding up Moses’ arm. And in that way, Joshua defeated Amalek. But from that day forward, the descendants of the previously reconciled Jacob and Esau were forever mortal enemies. This was the kind of danger the people faced. And this was the kind of exhaustion Moses faced. One day, his wife Zipporah and the kids showed up to visit. They hadn’t seen each other for years. Moses was always super busy and couldn’t come home for dinner most nights because, you know, his demanding schedule dealing with all the boils and blisters and bugs and stuff. So, at some point, Zipporah and the kids went back home to live with her father. Egypt was no place for children. And if I were Moses, would I want my children and spouse to watch me get griped at by people who should have been grateful? Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, came along too and one night after supper, he pulled Moses aside and asked how he was doing. He could see how exhausted Moses looked and wanted to offer some fatherly advice: Get help! You see, in addition to enduring the never-ending complaints against him and fighting off warring tribes, Moses had been working as a mediator between every party in dispute among the people too. Jethro told Moses to pick some well respected and capable persons to serve as judges, responsible for smaller groups of people. They can hear cases and anything they can’t handle, bring those to you. It was pure common sense. And Moses listened to his father-in-law’s suggestions and did everything he had said. It was so brilliant, Israel maintained that system of judges for centuries. So, exactly three months after the Israelites left Egypt, they entered the Sinai desert and set up camp in front of a mountain. God called to Moses from that mountain. Tell the people: “You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagle’s wings and brought you to me. So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples of the earth. You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation.” It’s such a tender, loving moment. Moses told the people and they all responded with one voice: “Everything God has said we will do.” Then God said to Moses, “I’m about to come to you in a thick cloud in order that the people will hear me talking with you so that they will always trust you.” God instructed Moses that the people should wash their clothes and prepare for a holy event. When morning dawned on the third day, there was thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud covering the mountain. They heard the blast of a very loud horn and all the people shook with fear. God pounded Mount Sinai with lightning until it was covered in smoke. The horn blasts grew louder and louder. And then Moses brought the people to the foot of the mountain so they could meet God. They were warned not to come too close or they will fall dead from pure holiness. The people stood at a distance while Moses approached the “thick cloud in which God was present” and Moses went up to the top of the mountain.[1] He would come back carrying something that would forever shape the identity of the people. We’ll find out what that is next week, but you can probably already guess without trying too hard. Moses approached the “thick cloud” where God is present. Some translations say the “thick darkness,” which I really love. God is light, but King Solomon also described God as living in a dark cloud.[2] What an unusual but marvelous and beautiful image. God in a dark cloud, in thick darkness. We so often characterize darkness as evil and sinister, but here the Bible describes how God is present in “thick darkness,” not a place of fear but of pure holiness. Imagine that it is in our darkest moments, when we fear dark clouds, that we encounter the Holy One. Quite a contrast to “you’re supposed to” messages about being happy and keeping a stiff upper lip – often meaning, don’t feel what you feel. But do you know where seeds grow? In the earthy darkness of soil. And so do we. And where does human life begin to grow? In the warmth and darkness of the womb. And so do we. It is often during dark nights of the soul that we most readily engage in what is real, below the surface of “everything is fine!” and wrestle with ultimate meaning and questions of faith. Not that I’m opposed to being optimistic and staying positive, except when it’s false, fake. Some translations also interpret thick or dark as “dense.” As in, God dwells in a “dense cloud.” Can’t see through clearly. Some days that feels exactly right, too. Earlier this week in the daily devotional email from the UCC, Quinn Caldwell talked about how so many of us would like answers to be easier, the direction we should go clearer, the rules to every situation more black and white. If only there was a search engine called www.whatshouldIdonow.com. I tried and there isn’t one just in case anyone wants to claim it. A few years ago, I led one of my more popular Lenten studies on a book called I’d Say Yes, God, If I Knew What You Wanted. There is definitely an appeal to certainty and a faith that tells us exactly what to do. But be careful. Instead of a faith full of easy answers, clear direction, and everything laid out in black and white, Quinn expresses gratitude that we have “ancient witnesses and guides to follow, modern sages and teachers, companions for the road, a still, small voice inside, a mind that I’m trying hard to keep open, and communities of other confused souls who feast and fight and pray and love so hard that I’m pretty sure any path we’re on must be God’s.” Of course, there are Ten Commandments, but even they are not all easy answers in black and white. Bottom line: We should not fear dark clouds or unknowing because there we find the Holy God. So, back to the story, Meg Jenista said, “If we could sum up the problem God’s people faced in the wilderness, it wasn’t starvation or thirst but, rather, that they kept forgetting to remember. They kept coming up against obstacles and immediately quarreling with Moses. They misremembered a sentimental version of their own slavery and accused God and Moses of ill intent. After waking up every day, collecting their daily provision, while still talking with manna crumbs falling out of their mouth, they complained they would die of thirst.” They had not yet turned their grousing into gratitude, so God enrolled them in a 40-year training program. Just to be clear: Gratitude is not sunshine and balloons and having no problems. It’s knowing and trusting that God provides. Maybe not in the form of honey wafers and quail anymore, but God does provide. I asked the members of our Thursday Lunch and Lectionary group how.
And then how do we express gratitude? My favorite answer from the group was this:
People say all the time, “seeing is believing.” But really, belief shapes what we see. They don’t yet believe. But if you and I believe that God provides, we will see it happening everywhere all around us every day. What is God providing for you for you to see? [1] Exodus 19:9 [2] 1st Kings 8: 12 |
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April 2024
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