Tag: exodus

Rituals Are Important (Exodus 13:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year A1 Comment
The Passover Meal (Last Supper) by Jess Santos

The Lord spoke to Moses, “Set apart every firstborn male for me. Every firstborn male offspring among the Israelites is mine, whether human or animal.”

Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day—the day when you left Egypt, the land of slavery. The Lord used his mighty hand to bring you out of there. Don’t eat anything made with yeast. Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving Egypt. The Lord swore to your ancestors that he would give you the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. When he brings you into that land flowing with milk and honey, you must observe this ceremony in this month.

“For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. The seventh day will be a pilgrimage festival in the Lord’s honor. Only unleavened bread should be eaten during these seven days. No sourdough or yeast should be seen anywhere in your territory. On that day tell your children, ‘We do this because of what the Lord did for us when we left Egypt.’ This festival will be like a mark on your hand or a reminder on your forehead that the teachings of the Lord are always to be a part of your conversation. Because the Lord used his mighty hand to bring you out of Egypt, you must follow these rules every year at this time. (God’s Word Translation)

Rituals are an important part of being human. They help us to observe significant events, specials seasons, and daily routines. Ritual activities are meaningful re-telling of stories for us and others. In other words, rituals activate memory, enabling us to remember what is of value.

Religious traditions are typically filled with rituals, in order to remind the faithful of what is significant about their faith. Unfortunately, there are some Christian traditions which have a negative view of ritual, believing it to be “vain repetition.”

The problem, however, is not with rituals themselves; the issue is with the one performing the ritual. If it is done with a disconnect between head and heart, then the ritual does not accomplish it’s intended goal of helping the community to remember and giving meaning in the present time.

“Ritual is not simply an attitude or intention, just as love is not simply a feeling. At its most basic, ritual is something that you do. A man can’t plow a field just by thinking about it; he must go out to the field and get to work. If he is fully present to the work and acts with mindfulness and loving attention – if he brings his whole self along – then even as he turns over the rich soil beneath the plow, he turns it over in his mind and heart, as well. The act of tilling the soil becomes an act of tilling the soul.”

Alison Leigh Lilly

No matter whether folks are religious, or not, all people engage in rituals. For example, here are some rituals many people do in order to remember, celebrate, and renew an old story:

  • Birthdays (remembering and re-telling the birth story)
  • Graduations (remembering and re-telling the story of school)
  • Marriages & Anniversaries (remembering and re-telling the courtship story)
  • National Holidays (remembering and re-telling the patriotic story)
  • Dinner and/or Bedtime (remembering and re-telling stories from the day)
  • Morning (remembering and re-telling my story of purpose and meaning)
  • Earth (remembering and re-telling the seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter)
  • Annual sojourns to special places such as vacations, sports stadiums, or reunions (remembering and re-telling the story of friendship and family).

The reasons people do such rituals are to

  • Re-enforce values
  • Have a sense of belonging
  • Mark time in a meaningful way
  • Form personal and healthy habits
  • Remind of us of who we are and what our purpose in this world is

Avoiding rituals can cause a lack of identity and purpose. Failing to observe rituals can also create loneliness, confusion, and emptiness.

“Rituals are those repeated actions done again and again in the interest of things like focus, grounding, tradition, cultural symbolism, predictable life rhythms, and feeling a part of something bigger than ourselves.”

Craig Kelley

The Lord gave divine instructions to the newly freed Israelites. And those commands involved instituting some ritual behavior, to be done year after year. God told them to observe a Passover ritual each year so that the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery would remain alive for the generations to come; and so that the event itself would have meaning for people in the present time.

Because Yahweh spared the firstborn of Israel’s children and livestock – and not the firstborn of Egypt – those same firstborn are to be given to God, in some sort of vicarious ransom. All the symbols of Passover are meant to be reminders of what the Lord had done for Israel.

The exodus event is to be actualized, made real for the generations today. By means of ritual, the relationship between God and the people is remembered and renewed for each new generation. Engaging in the ritual repeatedly helps press the story and it’s reality into both the mind and the heart.

And this is precisely what worship is supposed to do for the Christian. Ideally, a worship service is a re-enactment of Christ’s redemption for believers. Even more, it’s a dialogue between God and the people in which the Lord speaks and the worshipers respond.

One ritual which unites all Christians together is the Lord’s Table (communion, or the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist). Each Christian tradition has their particular views and theology surrounding it – yet it’s common to all. Observing the Table is a ritual which has been going on for two-thousand years; and which has it’s roots in the Passover and the original meal at the time of the exodus.

The Table is a time of remembrance, communion, and hope. We retell the story of Christ’s redemption and remember the Lord’s once for all sacrifice on the cross for the whole world. It is a unifying ritual, where believers commune together. And the Table expresses hope – that just as we eat and drink now, we will do so all together at the end of the age at the great supper of the Lamb.

Yes, rituals have meaning and it’s symbols are significant. They help us to express our shared humanity together.

May the love of Christ be active in your heart, be heard in your words, be seen in your actions and inform your choices today and every day. Amen.

There Are Consequences to Injustice (Exodus 12:29-42)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Exodus Out of Egypt, by Rivka Lemberg

At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come. (New International Version)

“A horse may run quickly but it cannot escape its tail.”

Russian proverb

The ancient Israelites were in bondage to the Egyptians for hundreds of years. Their oppression finally came to and end with the Lord’s dramatic deliverance of them in the tenth and final plague directed against Egypt.

The actions of the Egyptians eventually and finally caught up with them. Their making slaves of the Israelites was not going to last forever. Even though it took a while, Egypt was held accountable and experienced divine judgment. The empire’s internal moral emptiness would not be able to hold up under the justice of God.

“Empty sacks will never stand upright.”

Italian proverb

Pharaoh was a hard man. The more Moses talked to him the more stubborn Pharaoh got. Eventually, Pharaoh’s heart became like stone; he and his empire fell because they were bent toward the way of injustice. Oppression had been Pharaoh’s proclivity by instructing the Jewish midwifes to kill firstborn sons of Israelite mothers. Now the Egyptians would fall into the very trouble they created for others.

“A tree falls the way it leans.” Walloon proverb

The death of so many on one night, all at once, was too much for Pharaoh and the Egyptians. In such a grief, Pharaoh’s dogged resolve in holding onto Israelite slavery and ostracizing Moses was loosened. He summoned Moses in the middle of the night and commanded the Israelite slaves to be gone – without any conditions or strings attached to it.

The Egyptians wanted them gone, and so, urged them to leave in a hurry – just as God had predicted. All sorts of articles – including silver and gold – were willingly given to the fleeing Israelites by the lamenting Egyptians. No matter how hard and stubborn any earthly ruler is, the plans and purposes of a sovereign God cannot be thwarted.

“Mess with the bull, and you will get the horns.” Latin American proverb

Finally, the deliverance out of Egyptian bondage happened. The Israelites were free. It was a hasty departure. It was as if the Hebrew people had become so upsetting to the great Egyptian empire, that they vomited them out of their land, projecting the former slaves as far away as they could.

Sometimes people get the notion that if they do something bad, they will be struck by lightning or have some sort of tragedy occur. And when it doesn’t happen, they might reason further in their misguided notions by believing they can get away with bad behavior. So, they keep doing it. But, eventually, this all has a terrible effect.

“Those who lie down with the dogs, rise with the fleas.” English proverb

Actions and inactions have consequences. Those consequences may not happen immediately. However, all of us shall someday harvest the fruit of decisions that were made months, even years or decades, ago.

Make no mistake, God is not mocked. A person will harvest what they plant. Those who plant only for their own benefit will harvest devastation from their selfishness, but those who plant for the benefit of the Spirit will harvest eternal life from the Spirit. Let’s not get tired of doing good, because in time we’ll have a harvest if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:7-9, CEB)

Almighty God, Creator and Preserver of all humanity, we humbly ask that you make your ways known to people everywhere, and bring saving help to all nations. We pray for Christ’s Church, and all faith communities across the earth, that they be guided and governed by your good, gracious, and benevolent Spirit; and that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into truth, and hold the faith in unity, peace, and righteousness.

Blessed Lord, we pray for all who are afflicted or distressed in mind, body, or spirit. May your divine mercy bring them comfort and relief, according to their need. Give them patience through their sufferings, and a joyful outcome from their distress. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Let Go (Exodus 11:1-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.” Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country. (New International Version)

It takes a lot for the status quo to die, to let go of something that has been relied on for centuries. In the case of ancient Egypt, it took the deaths of every Egyptian first born son.

The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. The vast Egyptian Empire was literally built on the backs of Jews. After so long, their cry about being in bondage was heard by God – who sent Moses to deliver them. But Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, was not about to let go of this large labor force.

So, a series of 10 plagues came upon the Egyptians from God. Today’s Old Testament lesson is the tenth and final plague – the one most devastating to Egypt. Although Pharaoh was determined to keep the Israelites in bondage, not even mighty Egypt could keep it’s grip on the people when God was determined to free them and bring them to the Promised Land.

God graciously informed Moses that this was the final plague. After nine others, and hearing Pharaoh say he would let the people go multiple times, it must have been a relief to hear that this would not keep going any longer.

Moses and Aaron debating with Pharaoh, by He Qi

What’s more, the Lord added that not only would Pharaoh finally change and not hinder the people from leaving, but also that they should ask the Egyptians for what they needed when going. Indeed, the people of Egypt became so eager to have the Israelites away from them that they would give them anything to get them out.

The Israelites had worked hard and labored intensely for hundreds of years without any compensation. Now, they would leave the world of slavery and receive the riches of Egypt from which they were defrauded. Whereas Pharaoh’s heart became exceedingly hard, the Egyptians hearts became disposed to give – even though it was to be rid of the Israelites once and for all.

And so, God would deliver the Jews from their bondage and enrich them with many needed possessions, as if they were carrying away plunder from an enemy. The Lord both frees and empowers; God delivers from one situation and enables for another. When God closes a door, then another door is opened.

Indeed, the first will be last, and the last shall be first. In God’s upside-down kingdom, the oppressors eventually become the oppressed, and the poor become rich.

With this last and final plague, there would be no next generation to rise up and take back the Israelites into slavery again. A distinction was made between the first born of the Egyptians and the Israelites. Only the Egyptians experienced the awful deaths of so many.

After four centuries of keeping the Jews enslaved, maybe the Egyptians thought it would always be this way. Perhaps they even believed what they were doing was perfectly acceptable and right. So, when Moses comes along, speaking on behalf of God to Pharaoh, the great king of the empire thought things will not change; the Israelites ought to always be in subservience to Egyptians.

Why is it so hard to let go? Why do people keep holding on, even when it costs them nearly everything?

Whenever we cannot envision a different world or an alternative to what we are currently experiencing, then we hold on – even if it hurts to keep grasping it. Just because there was no divine judgment in hundreds of years, does not mean that God was okay with the situation in ancient Egypt. So, when the Egyptians experienced the judgment, it was absolutely devastating.

If ever we need to control other people in order to realize or maintain our own happiness or contentment, then we are in a very unhealthy place and need immediate help – before the providence of God steps in and pries that control from your clenched fists.

Conversely, if we have been in a place of oppression for a long time, it will not last forever. God sees the injustice. And God hears the cries which are uttered to heaven. A time is coming when all things will be made right.

Also, there are various sorts of traumas that people have endured. Sometimes, people don’t want to talk about any of it, and never do. But eventually, it overwhelms them. Without help, they will be in bondage. None of us can change on our own. We need others. Not everyone is going to harm us or shame us. There are people that God is ready to use in order to extend hope, healing, wholeness, and help. We should let them in, and keep the slave masters out.

Gracious and merciful God, help us to overcome the menace of evil in this world, and to be a part of freeing those weighed down with sinful oppression to realize a future of health and hope.

From famine and war, deliver us.

From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of others, deliver us.

From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.

From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.

Accept our cry on behalf of the sufferings of all humanity, and of entire societies of people.

Empower us by your Spirit to resist evil in all its insidious manifestations.

May the saving grace and the redemption of Jesus put a stop to cruel bondage everywhere; and may hope be kindled in every heart. Amen.

Sensing the Impossible (Exodus 3:1-15)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The Burning Bush, by Yoram Raanan

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation. (New International Version)

Moses with the Burning Bush, by Marc Chagall, 1966

The burning bush is one of those iconic objects and familiar stories in Holy Scripture. The experience of Moses changed both his life and the lives of all the Israelites then and now.

Having spent the first forty years of his life as a darling in the Egyptian court, then the next forty years far from that life on the backside of the desert with a bunch of sheep, it is an understatement to say Moses did not expect or ever envisioned encountering God in a burning bush. The impossible has no possibility…. Or, does it?

That incredible encounter engaged the senses of Moses:

  • the paradoxical sight of seeing fire in a bush that isn’t burning up
  • the smells of sheep, the outdoors, and perhaps, even of fire
  • hearing the call of God from within the bush
  • spiritually and emotionally tasting the attentive justice of God
  • removing the sandals to touch and feel the grounding of sacred space

The story comments on the senses of God, as well. Even though God is Spirit and is worshiped as such, God is alive with his own sensations:

  • seeing the approach of Moses, and the misery of the Israelites
  • the smell of injustice wafting into God’s nostrils with a stench that brought a strong divine reaction
  • hearing the cries of suffering
  • anticipating the savory taste of showing mercy and justice together
  • touching Moses in such a profound way that he and the Israelites would never be the same

Through it all, the close identification between God and God’s people is expressed. The Lord feels the humiliation and pain of the Israelites and vows to uproot them from the Egyptian factory farm of slavery and plant them firmly into rich Promised Land soil. And what God promises to do, God has the authority and power to make good on.

An impossible situation, Moses thinks. How can hundreds of years of backbreaking bondage to a national force so mighty that nothing can be done about it, be broken? Who am I, Moses, to face such odds?

Ah, but God specializes in systems of oppression and miserable people. It is the Lord’s abilities which conquer the mightiest of foes and can extend mercy to the lowest and the least powerful. The entire situation is ripe for divine intervention and supernatural wonders to occur.

God will make a way where there seems to be no way. God works in ways which transcend our senses.

  • Where we are blind, God gives sight
  • Where we are deaf, God opens our ears with the sound of justice
  • When our taste buds are shot with the gruel of poverty, God causes our tongues to dance with the zest of mercy
  • When our nerve endings are raw from cruel bondage, God touches us with freedom
  • Where our nostrils have become accustomed to the smell of death, God’s aroma of life awakens us to new hope

My friends, I believe with all my heart that you already intuitively know deep in your spirit that the impossible is possible with God. It is never a question of God’s ability, but of God’s timing. God is able – and the Lord works the impossible in its proper time so that justice and mercy will have their full effect.

God of the impossible: I believe. Help me in my unbelief.

God of mercy: I receive. Help me in my denial.

God of justice: I accept. Help me in my rejection.

God of all time: I endure. Help me in my impatience.

God of All: I submit. Help me in my rebellion.

God of power and of might: I trust. Help me in my distrust.

God of our Lord Jesus Christ: I follow. Help me in my wandering.

God of the nations: Yes, you know that I love you. Yes, Lord, you know I love you. Lord, you know all things, and you know that I love you. So, yes, I will answer your call to go. Help me in my sending. Amen.