There Is A Way

There is a Way (October 12, 2008; Exodus 12; Thanksgiving and Communion) Despite all the confusion we might feel about the upcoming federal election there is a certain clarity and a simplicity in the method that politicians use. The method is to polarize the issues and the participants. Churches often get criticized for being to literal or naïve in its thinking but I suspect it is the politicians who create a much more distinct universe of black and white. For the conservatives the plan is simple. If you want shaky unstable leadership then vote for the Liberals. If you want calm steady leadership then vote for the Conservatives. I was listening to a brief speech made by NDP leader Jack Layton and he told us that in this election we have two choices. Well actually we have a series of choices with two options. He said that we can choose a prime minister who favours the boardroom table or one who favours the kitchen table. You can choose wrong-headedness or progressive alternatives. In summing up the two options Layton says that you can choose policy or people. You can choose someone who is down to earth and connected to people. Or you can choose the power-hungry lackey of the United Sates administration. In the end I suspect this sort of rhetoric has left many of us feeling as though there really is no choice at all. It is these sorts of false choices that make up one significant part of the story of the Exodus. God established his call and promise through Abraham as we heard about last week. Then as times became difficult for Abraham’s descendents, the children of his grandson Jacob, these people moved into Egypt where there was food and because Joseph, one of their own family members, lived there in a position of influence. Here the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied.

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However, in time a new king came into power that did not know Joseph and he began to be concerned about these new people in his land. The people were not native to Egypt and became numerous to the point that the king of Egypt viewed them as a threat and put slave masters over them to oppress and control them. The people were enslaved in Egypt for 350 years when a boy named Moses was born. The mother of Moses feared for his life because the Egyptians were trying to kill all the new born boys. Moses was placed in a basket and set out on the Nile River. One of the Egyptian king’s daughters found Moses and raised and cared for him. As an adult Moses became distressed by the way that his own people were being treated and even killed an Egyptian for harassing one of his fellow Hebrews. It seemed that both the Egpytians and Hebrews seemed to turn on him after this and he fled to Midian. It was in that place that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and called him to set the Israelites free from their slavery in Egypt. Moses returns to Egypt and asks Pharaoh to release the Israelites to worship God at Mt. Sinai. Pharaoh rejects Moses request and suffers under 9 plagues inflicted by God each one of them though result in Pharaoh’s refusal to release the Israelites. Finally God tells Moses that there will be one more plague after which Pharaoh will release them. God will pass through Egypt and kill every first-born son in the land. God tells the Israelites to prepare for this by slaughtering a lamb and preparing a particular meal. From the blood of the lamb each household is to smear some of it around their doorframe. God told Moses that “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses were you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

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While it is still in the middle of the night after God’s angel brought death as it passed through Egypt until Pharaoh finally tells the people to leave and to take whatever they want with them. The people appeared to be saved as God gave them safe passage out Egypt. Not wanting them to have to face the Philistines God led them through the desert until they were camped on the shore of the Red Sea. At this point we find that Pharaoh had already changed his mind and did not want to lose his free labour and so he went out with his army to chase after them. Now it is important to remember that when we read the Bible it is like we are getting God’s commentary on the situation. For us it is like seeing an instant replay where we have the experts explaining what happened after we already know the result. In this commentary in Exodus we read that God in fact prompted Pharaoh to again come after the Israelites. The Israelites themselves though don’t appear to have known this. They were likely still coming off the rush of being rescued and their hearts were just starting to settle down as they camped at the edge of the Red Sea. As stories of the day’s events were told around campfires and as expressions of thanksgiving were made there was perhaps one or two who looked up and noticed something on the horizon. Before their eyes even had a chance to properly focus they saw that it was the Egyptian army bearing down on them. The text in Exodus is straightforward it says, “As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and they were terrified and cried out the Lord.” The Israelites were quickly sorry they ever left. They cursed their deliverance and wished for the predictability and provision of slavery rather than the vulnerability in which they found themselves in wilderness.

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This is the scenario that I was leading towards. Perhaps it seems a little far fetched to compare this event with our upcoming elections but what the Exodus represents is the ultimate expression of being caught between a rock and hard place. This particular moment of standing between the Red Sea and the Egyptians speaks to us about many of our situations in life. Many times we feel that we are left with no real redeeming or life-giving choice in life. The options for the Israelites seem clear, fight or drown; death by sword or death by asphyxiation. Government by untrustworthy conservatives or government by untrustworthy liberals. Clothing that’s made in sweatshops in Bangladesh or clothing that’s made in sweatshops in China. Unhappy marriage or loneliness. Unfulfilling job or lower standard of living. Try to be someone your not or be unpopular. These choices, are not unlike the logic of political campaigns giving us the choice of opposites. Be successful or be unsuccessful. Be attractive or be ugly. You must make money or you will have a miserable life. You must be strong or people will think you are weak. Too often we feel these choices reflect the way the world is. We think they are the only choices we have. It is interesting to see how the Passover meal plays out for the Israelites. The Passover is the meal that Jesus makes foundational in explaining his own purpose. This time of year our meals celebrate the generous abundance of God. We celebrate that we are not pressured by destructive forces around us. These are good things to celebrate but it is not what the Passover meal celebrates. If we follow the story in the book of Exodus as we have been this morning then something quite different unfolds for the people after this meal that they are called to celebrate and give thanks for. No one who ate at that meal set foot in the promised land; the land flowing with milk and honey; the land of

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abundance. No one from that generation experienced the land of abundance in their lifetime. Yes the people are delivered from the land of Egypt after the Passover but then they are led into almost immediate confrontation. They find themselves stuck between two powers; the sword of the Egyptians and the chaos of the sea. This is the result of the Passover meal. To set the table of God is to be called out from the powers of the world. And it is not only to reject the powers but also to face them. To face your fears of loneliness, to face your fears of being rejected or humiliated, to face your fears of abandonment, to face your fears of weakness and vulnerability. To face the destructive powers that arise in our families. To face the destructive forces that rise up in our consumerism and the face physical and mental abuse and military force. To face injustices at home and abroad. To face what can often be the paralyzing force of the unknown. To be able to stand on the bank of the Red Sea, on the brink of destruction where it feels like there is barely room breath, where there looks like there is no help in sight and then to hear the beautiful words that Moses spoke to the Israelites, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” And God made a way. God separated the Red Sea and made a way through the heart of the powers themselves and the delivered them. And as we will talk more about next week God did not deliver them directly into a land of milk and honey. God did not bring them immediately into a land of abundance for which they are to give thanks. Rather God delivered them into the desert. God brought them to a place where they were required to trust in daily provisions. God undid the choices that faced the Israelites. The

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God undid the choice of fight or be destroyed. God undid the choice of abundance and scarcity. God offers us another way. God gives us the reality of faith. God gives us a faith that says at each dawn this is the day that the LORD has made we will rejoice and be glad in it. We will give thanks because with God there is way. It will likely not be easy but it will be life-giving. This is the context for the Last Supper, for the communion meal that we share together as the body of Christ. In other church traditions this meal is often called the Eucharist which means thanksgiving. This is our thanksgiving meal. This is not a meal of abundance, at least not the abundance that we often seek. This is the meal that prepares us and sustains us to leave the powers around us and to confront; and then to be led in the way of faith opened by God. May we come to this meal and be nourished for the deliverance from the powers that seek to destroy us. May we feed on and become the body of Christ the one faced the powers, faced even death and offered a way for the healing of the world. Amen.

Service of Communion We are now called to the meal that is laid before us, the meal that God provided to sustain the Israelites through their deliverance. It is a very different meal. It is a meal that will not make us stronger but will make us weaker and more vulnerable. It is a meal that is not celebrated with comfort and ease but a meal in which our shoes must remain on for we will be called out at any moment. This is a hard meal but it is the only meal which will nourish us for the healing of lives and overcoming of our fears. It is the only meal that will end the divisions in our world for no privilege is allowed at its table. This is the meal that reclaims our bodies from the powers around us and nourishes them for service in God’s Kingdom.

Prayer: Lord we confess that too often we are part of the destructive powers of this world. We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart,

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nor our neighbours as ourselves. We do not come to the table trusting in our ability but in your mercy. Forgive what we have been, accept us as we are sustain us with this meal and call us to confront death with your life. Words of Institution: For on the night Jesus was betrayed. On the night Jesus confronted the powers he sat down to a meal and at it he took a loaf of bread and said, “This is my body this broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me” Do this as a reminder of the one who creates a way through the powers. And after the meal Jesus took a cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. You proclaim the one who faced and overcame death. For these gifts Lord make us truly thankful. Invitation: So come to the table that is open to all who look to Christ for deliverance from the powers that bind us. Come and wash one another as you approach the table and join in the meal that will nourish you for the journey out of death and into new life. Come and give thanks for the salvation of our God.

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