Monday, July 24, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Running through the river into heaven
When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them. “What have we done?!?”
There is a lot happening in today’s lectionary reading. Moses, Pharaoh and his soldiers, the Hebrews and their cattle, all the rocking wagons, chariots, horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and children are making a LOT OF NOISE. Above all, the children.
Today Margaret gets to spend some time with Miles and Jasper, while I am in Urbana. The boys went with their parents to the Houston Space Center this weekend, where all was wonderful except the space food wasn’t quite what Miles had expected. Perhaps Margaret will make up for that tomorrow.
I miss those guys! But I did get to spend a quality evening and morning with Aly, along with her parents Chris and Melissa. We sat across from each other at Olive Garden, while she (as a soon-to-be-in-ten-months 12 year old) ordered one of her last Kids Meals. Later we played three games of chess, as “lightning” as we could make it with Aly remembering the moves after not playing for a couple of years. She did well. Her strategies were improving as we played. The last game was a draw. She is looking forward to playing Miles when they visit each other next.
Jack was in Siloam Springs for a retreat at John Brown University. His communication with his parents was … well, minimal but adequate. Parents had better be living their own lives, as their kids start their own. We figured that out, and Chris and Melissa are figuring that out. Andi and Aki have some time yet.
Which brings me back to those Hebrew families, you know, the ones where the Jewish mama spends a lot of time “guiding” the lives of her kids? “Just bring the jewelry, we’ll make new clothes from the sheepskins.” “Hurry up, hurry up! Didn’t you hear your father?” “You can’t all ride with your legs swinging out the back; one of you has to ride up front with me.” “Tell your father we’re going to be late!” “OK, let’s all pray, right now, to the Lord of the Universe.” And then, their sarcasm, not reserved for the twenty-first century but in ample evidence back in the BC days.
Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert?!
Moses is patient, OMG he is patient.
Fear not! Stand your ground. The Lord himself will fight for you. You have only to keep still.
But the Lord was more like the Jewish mama.
Why are you crying out to me? Tell the children of Israel to step forward, and then you, Moses, lift up your staff and split the sea in two.
Moses must have been very unsure. God, did you really say that? But maybe Moses didn’t ask that, after all. God had worked through that staff already over and over. Moses was not electrocuted when God sent his lightning through that 80 year old body of his. The 40 years of humility between the murder and the burning bush settled under Moses’ feet like solid ground. Moses could believe God when he told him outrageous things like this, and he did.
Then when the work was done, Moses’ sister Miriam sang for all of them:
I will sing unto the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously! The horse and rider he has thrown into the sea! My strength and courage is all the Lord, He is my God, and I will praise him. He is God of my fathers, and I will extol him!
I haven’t been through the Red Sea, but then I remember how Isaiah hadn’t either, but he heard God’s powerful whisper in his ear:
When you pass through the waters,
   I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
   they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
   you will not be burned;
   the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God,
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!
Oh, yes! And I am sure those words are for me too. And for you. All of us belong.
(Exodus 14-15, Psalm 95, Matthew 12)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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