When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him; he took six hundred elite chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into a panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. --Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29 (NRSVue)
Look around the sanctuary today. We have barking, purring, squeaking, a bit of shedding, and hopefully no unexpected accidents on the carpet! If you had told the ancient Israelites as they stood trapped between Pharaoh’s advancing army and the Reed Sea that several thousand years later, a congregation would gather to mark deliverance by inviting dogs, cats, and stuffed animals into church, they’d probably assume we’d spent a little too long in the wilderness sun.
Yet here we are on St. Francis Day, surrounded by God’s creation and the pets who walk alongside us, right as we start our October journey where we’re looking at wilderness mindsets.
When we look at Exodus 14, something surprising happens. As Pharaoh’s 600 chariots appear on the horizon, the Israelites don't react with courage. They panic. They turn on Moses and say: “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die? It would have been better to serve the Egyptians!”
That is a deeply human reaction. When we feel trapped against a wall—or an ocean—we tend to romanticize the past. "Egypt was oppressive," the children of Israel thought, "but at least it was predictable!"
We know that feeling. As a merged congregation, you set out to build a shared future, only to have the pandemic and so much more interrupt the delicate work of blending lives and letting go of old traditions. Now, as we do the work of letting go of former habits, it can feel intimidating. The urge to look back and say, "Wouldn't it be easier to stick with what we knew?" is very real.
This moment at the sea reveals the very heart of God: a God who consistently meets us at dead ends and makes a way forward out of places of death. Centuries later, Jesus showed us this same God at work—taking what looked like total defeat on the cross and opening up a path to resurrection and new life. Dead ends simply do not have the final word with God.
Notice what happens once that path opens: God provides the dry ground, but the Israelites still have to gather the courage to step onto it and walk between those walls of water to reach the other side.
God frees us from our past not so we can sit still in old comforts, but so we can walk into freedom and serve the world around us. Saint Francis understood that this call to serve extends to all of God's creation—from the birds in the trees to the loyal pets sitting at your feet today. Our animals live grounded in present grace, reminding us of the simple, unearned love God offers us every day.
As we let go of old traditions and step onto new paths this fall, do not be afraid. The God who carved a path through the Reed Sea and brings life out of every grave is making a way for us today.
May we leave the old shores behind, take courage, and walk together into God's future—serving our neighbors and caring for all of creation.
Amen.
Preached October 4, 2026, Feast Day of St Francis/Pentecost 19, at Vista Lutheran Church, St. Louis Park, MN.
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