God's Promises Bring Hope: Grace and Freedom

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Before we begin our story today, I’d like to take a minute or so to set the stage. And to catch us up a little bit. Since the start of this series, each Sunday we’ve heard a story about one of Israel’s patriarchs. We began with Noah and that cosmic story of the flood and God’s attempt to re-create a world that had become completely evil. Along with God’s promise to never again destroy the earth and the sign of the rainbow. 

Then, we heard the story of Abraham and of God’s call to him to lead God’s chosen people. There was another promise by God in this story--that God would bless Abraham and Sarah with many generations who would grow into these chosen people and be given a land that would be their land. That they would be blessed so they could be a blessing.

Then, there was Joseph last week--great grandson to Abraham. We especially saw God’s hand at work in protecting Joseph in Egypt, even as he was falsely accused. 

Today, we hear the story of Moses. 

Between Joseph and Moses, there were many, many generations. By Moses’ time, the promise that God made to Abraham that Israel would be a large people had come true. The Israelites lived in Goshen - an area of Egypt. They had multiplied with a population, by some estimates, of over 2 million people. They had flourished in this land, even though it wasn’t the land that God promised them. 

But, then, things began to change. In the first chapter of the book of Exodus, verse 8, we read, “Now a new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph.”  This new king, or pharaoh, began to worry about how large Israel had become. He worried that, if a war would break out with Egypt’s enemies, the Israelites would join with those enemies, fight against Egypt, and escape.

So, he forced them into work gangs. He enslaved them, making their workload harsher and harsher. The second chapter of Exodus reads, “The Israelites were groaning because of their hard work. They cried out, and their cry to be rescued from the hard work rose up to God. God heard their cry of grief. And God remembered God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked at the Israelites, and God understood.”

It was at this point, that we hear of Moses, who is our focus today. 

God calls Moses, along with his brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, to set God’s people free. God sends Moses to the pharaoh to tell him to set Israel free. But, the pharaoh won't listen. The Hebrew scripture tells us that he “hardened his heart.” He became stubborn. So, God sends a series of plagues. Ten of them. Who remembers what some of those plagues were (water into blood, invasion of frogs, Lice/insects, flies, livestock disease, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of the firstborn)? By the end of the last plague, pharaoh had enough. He told Moses to lead Israel away. To go out of Egypt. 

So, they left. And, eventually, they reached the Sea of Reeds. And camped. It is here where today’s story picks up. We read from Exodus, chapter 14. 

When Egypt’s king was told that the people had run away, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people. They said, “What have we done, letting Israel go free from their slavery to us?” So he sent for his chariot and took his army with him. He took six hundred elite chariots and all of Egypt’s other chariots with captains on all of them.

As Pharaoh drew closer, the Israelites looked back and saw the Egyptians marching toward them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt like this? Didn’t we tell you the same thing in Egypt? ‘Leave us alone! Let us work for the Egyptians!’ It would have been better for us to work for the Egyptians than to die in the desert.”

But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand your ground, and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never ever see again. The Lord will fight for you. You just keep still.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to get moving. As for you, lift your shepherd’s rod, stretch out your hand over the sea, and split it in two so that the Israelites can go into the sea on dry ground.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord pushed the sea back by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. The waters were split into two. The Israelites walked into the sea on dry ground. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians chased them and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and cavalry. As morning approached, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian camp from the column of lightning and cloud and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic. The Lord jammed their chariot wheels so that they wouldn’t turn easily. The Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites, because 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 comes back and covers the Egyptians, their chariots, and their cavalry.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. At daybreak, the sea returned to its normal depth. The Egyptians were driving toward it, and the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the cavalry, Pharaoh’s entire army that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained. The Israelites, however, walked on dry ground through the sea. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left.

Israel saw the amazing power of the Lord against the Egyptians. The people were in awe of the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Exodus 14:5-7, 10-16, 21-29, 31 (CEB).

Do you ever wonder how frightening it must have been for Israel as they turned back and saw the Pharaoh approaching with his army? Trapped there? Awaiting slaughter? Nowhere forward and certainly nowhere backward.

In his book Messengers of God, Elie Wiesel writes about this scene. Wiesel, who experienced the Holocaust, was a man who, like the Israelites, knew what it was like to live under a leader and a government that had become pure evil. Just like the pharaoh in Egypt. Wiesel writes this about Israel and their experience at the edge of the sea: "One could see people running. Running breathlessly. Without a glance backward. They were running toward the sea. And there they came to an abrupt halt. This was the end. Death was there, waiting. The leaders of the group, urged on by Moses, pushed forward: Don’t be afraid! Go! Into the water! Into the water! Yet, according to one commentator, Moses suddenly ordered everyone to a halt. Wait a moment! Think! Take a moment to reassess what you are doing. Enter the sea, not as frightened fugitives, but as free men and women!"

This Friday, after we had witnessed the spectacle in Washington, the appalling spectacle that we have allowed our country to become, my morning devotion featured appointed verses from the prophet Micah, which read, “The faithful have disappeared from the land, and there is no one left who is upright; they all lie in wait for blood, and they hunt each other with nets. The hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice...Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your embrace; for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household. But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”

As I read these words, it was a reminder for me once again, that our salvation comes not from principalities or powers. But, from God. From a God who, as Israel found out on that fearful day at the edge of the water--is faithful and who keeps promises.

We have this same God. Faithful. A promise-keeper. Who calls us to “Go, go into the water.” Into the waters of baptism, where we stand at the edge reassessing what we are doing. And realizing that we go into the water, not as frightened people, but as free women and men. Into the water, where, through God’s faithful and never-ending grace, we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, our Savior Jesus Christ. And freed.

Friends, I don’t know what will happen in our country. But, what I do know is that God hears our cries. And I know that God is working in our midst. To bring about a more just world. More just than the world we experienced this past week as we watched two families be destroyed. Somehow, God is working in the midst of this to turn our world around so that all may experience God’s saving grace. 

This is what Israel learned that day at the edge of the water. This is what we know in the water of our baptisms. That God is faithful. That God is just. And that, through God’s grace and only God’s grace, we are freed. It is in this knowledge and only this knowledge, that we place our hope and our future. Amen.

Preached Sunday, September 30, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Pentecost 19
Readings: Matt. 2:13-15; Ex. 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29, 31.

God's Promises Bring Hope: Our Promise-Keeper

Hasn’t this past week felt a little unsettling? With everything in the news, with concern about what’s happening in Washington, or with the hurricane in the Gulf coast area, doesn’t it sometimes seem like the world is a really scary and bad place?

Well, that’s how the story of Noah begins--when the world was a scary and bad place, just as for us today. And, yet, the story ends when God places a rainbow in the clouds as a symbol of promise and as a sign of the covenant between God and all living creatures.

This story can feel difficult for hear when we are living in a world like today--where extreme events seem to be a regular occurance. We might find ourselves asking in these times--in natural disasters or disasters that are human made--we might ask, “Where is God in this event?”

Who of you remembers Mister Rogers? Mister Rogers used to share that, in times of crisis, his grandmother and his parents would tell him to “look for the helpers.” That, if you looked on the edges of the event, you could often see helpers there, quietly at work, caring for others and for God’s creation. You see, the “helpers” are the ones who take part in God’s covenant promise to care for creation. Let’s watch Mister Rogers!

Think about those people who are the "helpers" in difficult situations. Make a list of how you can be a helper for someone who is scared, how you might be able to help care for God's creation.

Prayer: God, sometimes the world can be a scary place. But we know that you are always with us. In the Bible we read over and over about your promise to save us. We remember your promise every time we see a rainbow. Thank you for being stronger than the scary things of this world. We pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The story of Noah and the ark is a well-known story. Some of us have likely heard it many times in our lives. As we hear it today, I want you to think about these questions: What bothers you about this text? What does this text tell you about God? What does this story have to do with the way you live your life?

The Lord saw that humanity had become thoroughly evil on the earth and that every idea their minds thought up was always completely evil. The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and he was heartbroken. So the Lord said, “I will wipe off of the land the human race that I’ve created: from human beings to livestock to the crawling things to the birds in the skies, because I regret I ever made them.” But as for Noah, the Lord approved of him.

These are Noah’s descendants. In his generation, Noah was a moral and exemplary man; he walked with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. In God’s sight, the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence. God saw that the earth was corrupt, because all creatures behaved corruptly on the earth.

God said to Noah, “The end has come for all creatures, since they have filled the earth with violence. I am now about to destroy them along with the earth, so make a wooden ark. Make the ark with nesting places and cover it inside and out with tar. This is how you should make it: four hundred fifty feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and forty-five feet high. Make a roof for the ark and complete it one foot from the top. Put a door in its side. In the hold below, make the second and third decks.

“I am now bringing the floodwaters over the earth to destroy everything under the sky that breathes. Everything on earth is about to take its last breath. But I will set up my covenant with you. You will go into the ark together with your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives. From all living things—from all creatures—you are to bring a pair, male and female, into the ark with you to keep them alive.  From each kind of bird, from each kind of livestock, and from each kind of everything that crawls on the ground—a pair from each will go in with you to stay alive.  Take some from every kind of food and stow it as food for you and for the animals.”

Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him.

After forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made.  He sent out a raven, and it flew back and forth until the waters over the entire earth had dried up.  Then he sent out a dove to see if the waters on all of the fertile land had subsided, but the dove found no place to set its foot. It returned to him in the ark since waters still covered the entire earth. Noah stretched out his hand, took it, and brought it back into the ark.  He waited seven more days and sent the dove out from the ark again. The dove came back to him in the evening, grasping a torn olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the waters were subsiding from the earth. He waited seven more days and sent out the dove, but it didn’t come back to him again.

God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “I am now setting up my covenant with you, with your descendants, and with every living being with you—with the birds, with the large animals, and with all the animals of the earth, leaving the ark with you. I will set up my covenant with you so that never again will all life be cut off by floodwaters. There will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

God said, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I am drawing up between me and you and every living thing with you, on behalf of every future generation. I have placed my bow in the clouds; it will be the symbol of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I will remember the covenant between me and you and every living being among all the creatures. Floodwaters will never again destroy all creatures. The bow will be in the clouds, and upon seeing it I will remember the enduring covenant between God and every living being of all the earth’s creatures.” God said to Noah, “This is the symbol of the covenant that I have set up between me and all creatures on earth.”  Genesis 6:5-22, 8:6-12, 9:8-17 (CEB)

It’s important for us to understand that, in the ancient world, people told stories about floods. The Sumerians, the Africans, the Babylonians--all of these people told stories about floods. In particular, they told stories about water and its power to destroy towns and cities, and even whole civilizations. There were also stories--in these times--of people who built boats to survive these floods.

Floods were often believed to be divine judgment by angry gods. Gods who were angry with people for messing everything up. So, through floods, the angry gods “cleared the deck” to start all over again.

So, it’s not really unusual that, when we come to Genesis 6, we hear a flood story. This story--with Noah, and his ark, and his family and the animals--is like all the other flood stories because, of course, this god is like the other gods. Angry. Fed up with an evil humanity. Evil in every way--in thoughts and in actions. 

So, this god--like all those others--decides once again to unleash divine wrath on the world through a flood.

But, then, something strange happens with this story. It ends with a promise from this god that this will never happen again. What? God literally says to Noah, “I will place my ‘bow’ in the clouds as a sign of this promise.” A bow--like an archer’s bow. God puts up God’s weapon and says, “No more!” This God will be different from the other gods. This God will commit to living with people in a new way--a way in which life is not destroyed, but is preserved and respected. 

So, why was this story told? Why did it matter? And why did it endure throughout the ages?

Well, imagine what it was like to live in this time--no weather reports, no Google earth images, no airplanes or weather satellites. You’d likely never have travelled more than a few miles from where you were born. Then, imagine what a massive flood must have felt like--coming at you out of nowhere. Wiping out your house and your crops and your animals and your family members. Gone. 

What would that do to your psyche? How would you respond to such an event?

You would do exactly what we do when we suffer. We look for reasons. For causes. To understand why this is happening to me. To us. So, in the ancient world, it was generally believed that the causes of these floods were gods who were angry. That’s how people made sense in stories of the world and of floods.

But, this tale, in Genesis was different. Even though it began with the same old story--of divine judgment and a flood--there’s a huge twist at the end. Everybody doesn’t die, as in the other stories. A family is spared. And, then, a promise is made to them--a promise with a sign. The sign of the rainbow.

Because this flood story is the story of a God who wants to relate to us. Who grieves deeply when we push God away from us. Because God is a God who wants to save. A God who wants to be in covenant with us. 

This flood story is a story about a new view of God. Not a God who wants to destroy humanity, but a God who wants to be in relationship with us. And who promises to stay with us, even in the midst of our messy and chaotic world.

God sent a rainbow as a sign that God would never again destroy the earth. And, then, God set out to write a new story--a story about love and salvation. About God keeping God’s promises. Our God is a promise-keeper. And, because we know this, we can trust God’s word.

Sometimes, though, isn’t it hard to trust that promise? We need to be honest about that with ourselves and with others, too. 

When is it hard for you to trust the promises of God? Perhaps it's in times of challenge or loneliness? Or maybe in times of fear and frustration.

Think about that. Then, remember that, regardless of our fears, God sets the rainbow in the sky as a promise that God will never forsake us. That God will always be with us. This is God’s promise. And God is our promise-keeper. Amen.

Preached Sunday, September 9, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.

Pentecost 16

Reading: Genesis 6:5-22, 8:6-12, 9:8-17

*The concept of the flood story utilized is done so with much gratitude to that given by Rob Bell in his book, What Is the Bible? How an Ancient Library of Poems, Letters, and Stories Can Transform the Way You Think and Feel About Everything.