Changing Seasons

Today is a day of transition for me, marking a season of transition. I am moving from the Sabbatical Season into a new beginning with the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Ontario Center. Honoring the character of my Sabbatical, I am marking this new beginning with what I hope will become a Monday morning ritual. I have filled the bowl of my bread machine with the ingredients for a healthy oatmeal bread, and while the machine does the mixing, kneading, and rising, I intend to do some reading, ruminating, and writing….with my heart and mind aligned toward worship this Sunday. By means of a Monday morning blog entry, I hope to begin a conversation with the Scriptures and with anyone else to cares to read along and/or chime in, that will enrich our experience of worship by the time we reach Sunday.

So...this Sunday’s Old Testament text is Exodus 14:19-31, the story about the day God made it possible for the people of Israel to escape the great and powerful army of the Egyptians, who were in hot pursuit. Out of slavery in Egypt, their leader, Moses had led them. Out of oppression, beyond the reach of cruel taskmasters, and toward a new life, in a new place. And when it seemed that Israel had reached a place of no escape, literally caught between the sea ahead of them and the Egyptian army behind them, there, at that place a miracle happened. Moses raised his arm and a strong wind swept back the waters. The Israelites walked into the sea bed, a wall of water to the right and to the left, and the Egyptians pursued them, until thrown into a panic, they began to become bogged down in the mud. When Moses raised his arm again, the waters returned and the great and powerful Egyptian army perished in the waters of the Red Sea, while the people of Israel emerged, unscathed and freshly awed by the power of God. It is a great story that celebrates redemption, freedom from oppression, God’s love and compassion, God’s power to liberate.

But, today I notice that this deliverance came at great cost. What about the Egyptians? What about the mothers and wives whose sons and husbands were lost that day? What about the men who answered the call of their king and charged fearlessly and faithfully into a quagmire of mud? What about the Pharaoh of Egypt and his ambitious plans? What about the taskmasters whose cruelty prompted this exodus?

As we enter this fall election season, we are already hearing the words “my opponent” and "the enemy" quite frequently. We have fresh images of the power of wind and water to claim human, plant, and animal life and to destroy property. The great rejoicing by those who have escaped the path of a hurricane is tempered by the sobering reality that someone else’s life lies in ruins.

And so I will end this entry with a Jewish legend that quotes God’s words to an archangel who was celebrating the defeat of the Egyptian army. “Why do you celebrate, while the work of my hands is being destroyed?”

The Exodus gave the people of Israel an experience of God that was a reason for celebration. Especially in light of the loss that accompanied their deliverance, the story also invited the people of Israel (and us) to ponder what this new beginning offers...

Blessings,

Cheryl