A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, September 28, 2008
Exodus 17:1-7
I’ll spare you the David Letterman impression, but imagine what would be on the top ten list of most popular questions: “Are we there yet?” “Do these slacks make me look fat?” And the newest addition: “Buddy, can you spare $700 billion?”
Probably the oldest and most familiar is from today’s scripture: “Is the Lord among us or not?” We ask it when we’re weary and discouraged. We ask it when our own devices and desires have fallen short. We ask it when we’re hungry and thirsty and beaten down.
Much of the time we’re able to answer: “Of course, the Lord is among us! Always has been and always will be.”
So maybe the question is more like this: “why does it sometimes feel (maybe right now) as though God is absent? And what, if anything, can we do about it?”
The episode in today’s’ lesson from Exodus takes place maybe half way through the time of wandering in the wilderness. The children of Israel have followed Moses from Egypt. They’ve witnessed the parting of the waters of the Red Sea and the destruction of the enemy soldiers who tried to pursue them. They’ve gotten safely to the Sinai Peninsula and have turned south, moving deep into the wilderness called Sin.
Remember they were not desert dwellers or wandering nomads who were used to camping out. Yes, they had been slaves under Pharaoh, but there, at least, they knew they’d have all they needed – houses, beds, food and water.
Now they’re in the middle of a trackless wilderness following a leader who claimed to be following God. {Parenthetically, why is it I can easily accept Moses’ claim and balk at the same claim from a political candidate?}. The crowds were restless; they grumbled, murmured, and complained. They challenged Moses saying: “why did you bring us out of Egypt; to kill us?”
Moses, ever the wise leader checked in with the God and said: “Yahweh, you hear the problem; what shall I say; what shall I do?” God answered. The people got their water right there in the middle of the desert. Moses struck a rock with his staff water gushed out. And ever since that place has been called Massah and Miribah – Hebrew words which mean “to test,” and “to complain.” Very appropriate.
I was reading our own congregation’s history recently and came across a report from 1851, when the Rev. Mr. Royal Parkinson asked to be relieved of his duties as pastor. He observed that the women were carrying the burden of church life and that the men were sitting back and complaining and basically refusing to do anything to further the church’s mission.
I have ever felt that God will not prosper religion in this church, as such, until a few male members, when not prevent by sickness, infirmities, or other providential hindrances, feel free to become co-workers with their Pastor in sustaining the prayer meeting and the Sabbath school. And He will not prosper this Parish until those who constitute it manifest a degree of interest and care. (History of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, South Portland, Maine 1984, pg. 16)
“Is the LORD among us or not?” Sometimes God is hidden by our own apathy. Sometimes the still small voice of God is drowned out by our moans and groans. But scripture is consistent in telling us that God knows when we’re thirsty. God would never let the chosen people die in the wilderness. Still they didn’t trust it. Do we?
Now, as then, God has never promised to give us precisely what we want, but promises to give us what we need if we’ll trust. In my mind that’s the hardest part of faith – trusting God enough so that even when we don’t get what all we want, we believe what we get is really what we need.
We often test God, sometimes shamelessly, by insisting that we’ll believe if we first get what we most desire. Remember the New Testament account of Jesus’ own temptation in the wilderness when he rebuked the devil by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16 – “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah,” referring to this very story.
The very name Israel, in Hebrew, means “to wrestle with God,” coming from Jacob’s famous contest. Time and again the people murmured and made their complaints. Time and again God gave them what they needed.
Was that because they complained? No! It was because God loved them. Our murmurs and complaints don’t suddenly make a disinterested God draw close. Quite the contrary, God has already come close. Whatever blessings we’ve received are not because God pities us, but because God loves us.
“Is the Lord among us or not? “
Another critical piece of the story is that God quenched the thirst of the people by working through a human partner – a person of faith who was in tune with the rhythm and spirit of God. Here it’s Moses. God chose Moses, equipped Moses, and led the people through him.
In the language of the church we call this ministry. We’re not talking here about clergy, about ordained pastors only, but much more broadly. When God acts for us it’s so often through the hearts and hands of another – a doctor, a teacher, a spouse, a spiritual friend, a sister or brother, a neighbor, even a loving stranger. Any who acts with compassion and faith, doing what Jesus would do, is engaged in ministry.
When God gives us what we need isn’t it most often by giving us who we need? God’s people know a thing or two about wandering in the wilderness; all of us, each of us, in every time and place.
“Is the Lord among us or not?” As we wrestle with the wilderness of a shaky economy, or a divided nation, or a world that still thinks war can bring peace, or a home in which there’s discord, consider a few questions that connect today’s ancient story to our daily lives.
First: what is the thirsty/hungry/fearful place in your own life that you pray God can satisfy? And through whom might that happen? If you expect God to just go “Zap!’ and solve your problems, you’ll be disappointed.
But open your heart and draw the circle large. Is there someone already in your life, through whom God can quench your thirst, and feed your hunger? If no one comes to mind, there may be just such a person nearby waiting for the invitation.
Second: is there someone in your corner of the world who’s hungry and thirsty for whom you can be the avenue by which God can move in and meet that need? You may not be used to thinking of yourself in quite this way. But open your heart and draw the circle large. There may be someone already in your life who’s thirsty and hungry and brittle and spiritually exhausted. Is there someone to whom God may be ready to send you?
And (here’s the real miracle) if you feel deeply hungry and thirsty, in fact you may find your own deep purpose by offering what you have to another. When we’re wandering in the wilderness it’s hard to remember, hard to believe that God knows us, God cares for us, God promises us, and God provides for us. But life and scripture are filled with ample evidence of this Good News.
All this is possible because God places us in community – side by side with others very much like us. And God calls us to ministry – to be the heart and hands of a loving Lord who has come as the loving Christ. God knows we’re all thirsty and sends us into the lives of each other to bring the bread of life and the cup of forgiveness.
“Is the Lord among us, or not?” What’s your answer?