Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Sermon series: Richly Woven

2011-10-16 1015.mp3

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I can remember the first national youth gathering trip my husband Mark and I led together. It was to the one in St. Louis, MO, in 2000 where 40,000 youth descended on the city. All had gone well until one evening when our group couldn’t find a place to eat. We left the big stadium worship a bit late, so all of the restaurants we had planned to go to for dinner were completely packed with other youth groups.

Now remember, this was before GPS apps on phones, so we were aimlessly wandering the downtown streets trying to find a place that was open--any place--that could seat and quickly feed 40 ravenous youth. I remember how quickly the transformation happened. All of these nice, sweet teenagers turned into hungry monsters right before our eyes. We had done so much prep work to bond them as a community, but as soon as the hunger pangs hit, we had a full revolt on our hands. Some threatened to break off from the group, some secretly grabbed food from stores along the way, and others started fighting with each other. Finally we got them something to eat at an expensive hotel putting us way over budget for that allotted meal expense.Now while St. Louis certainly is not the wilderness, I think of thissituation whenever I read about the Israelites whining in the wilderness. And I can attest, it is not a situation the leader of any group wants to be in. 

But before we get too far into the story for today, we have to remember what happened last week. Last week we heard about the extraordinary act of God that saved the Israelites from the hands of Pharaoh. The Israelites walked across the Sea on dry land and were protected from destruction. Because of this deliverance we read about celebration, singing, dancing and the playing of tambourines in Exodus 15. But less than a chapter later, we hear the murmuring, grumbling and the complaining begin.Now, if you missed the beginning part of the Exodus story, it is easy to misunderstand their complaints. And even if you know the whole story, they may seem like a particularly ungrateful bunch. I mean they have gone from being chased, to being saved, to praising and then to grumbling in such a short period of time. But this is precisely where the growing pains of this new community begin.

God is reordering them into something new and that can be very difficult. In the wilderness, God is forming them into a community who will trust in him and his grace. God is literally leading and pulling them away from the practices of manipulation, exploitation and abuse they had learned from the powerful Egyptian regime. But creating this new community will not happen without some growing pains. At this point, they don’t yet realize that the God who does the big deliverance kind of stuff like plagues and parting the Sea is also the God who will stick with them and be with them during the wilderness wandering as well. Their God/ Our God is a “Day by Day” kind of God not just a God of Hollywood drama. The Israelites are used to the kind of power that swoops in, inflicts judgment and fear, and finds another victim for abuse. All they had known were the erratic ways of Pharaoh. The present anxiety we read about in the desert warps their memories of the past and at the first hunger pangs, they want to go back to Pharaoh. They forget the fact that those who stirred the fleshpots were the same people who wanted to kill their firstborn children. They had selective amnesia and only remembered having enough meat to eat.

So when the food begins to fall, some Israelites, instead of being grateful, try to store up a surplus so they can be self sufficient. Everyone fend for themselves! They are trying to replicate the only thing they have ever known—that is, the practices of scarcity and cut throat survival taught by Pharaoh’s regime. They had been worshipping the Pharaoh and the whole system of power and privilege that went with it, so it was hard for them to learn to trust in a God who loves them, gives freely and graciously, and is present with them.

We learn that their God (who is our God) has a new vision—a new plan. God’s plans include enough for all. God wants to lead this new community so they can be a blessing for others. He wants to lead them from their enslaved bondage, where they are only worried about their
immediate survival, to trusting in him to provide for all. The focus in this part of the story is on God providing over and over again. The people complain to Moses, but God responds directly to their needs. And God provides not only manna, but even quail to satisfy the yearning for meat from the fleshpots. In providing for their needs, God is teaching them a new way of distributing food so that all can eat and have enough. In directly responding to their cries, God is teaching them to trust in him. Practicing Sabbath is part of the new community as well. As slaves, there was no time to rest. Only the rulers were allowed that luxury. The new practice of Sabbath was to be the great equalizer for this community. Each person would now rest from hard labors and still have enough.

 At first, compared to the known entity of Egypt, the wilderness only meant crisis and danger. Theologian Kosuke Koyama talks about a Japanese character that means “crisis”. He says that within the one character for “crisis” there is a combination of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity or promise”. He goes on to say that crisis, therefore, is not the end of opportunity but its beginning. In other words, when we find ourselves in times of crisis, the danger we face may also be a time for God’s promise and God’s opportunity to be seen most clearly.  (Bosch, David. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. p. 3)

 The wilderness can be a place where we learn to rely on God’s gracious providing--when we are brought near, as the Israelites were, to see God’s glory.  As the Israelites “drew near” to God, they began to see God’s faithfulness. They began to see a new way to relate to God and to each other in a new community as God’s new creation.  In this way, the wilderness was not a God-forsaken time, but a time full of the powerful presence of God.The main symbol of the story is the manna. Manna is the tangible promise that in times of despair, God will provide. In John 6, Jesus identifies himself as the manna that God provides. He says, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” We celebrate and receive this manna, this tangible promise that is a gift from God, in the meal of the Lord’s Supper. And as we share this meal, we are reminded that God does provide for all. As we open our hand to receive the bread, we remember that we are to open our hands to participate in God’s providing for all.  And as we receive this meal, we are strengthened to be bread for others wandering in the wilderness today.

 I want you to think back on a time when you felt like you were lost or in a wilderness time. Maybe you were looking for a job. Maybe you had just heard a diagnosis. Maybe you felt alone and needed a listening ear. Maybe you were stressed to your limit. Can you see the way God was providing for you at that time? Look back on those moments and think of the countless ways God was providing for you over and over again…….. 

Perhaps you are experiencing a time of wilderness or crisis right now. This is when it is most difficult to draw near and see the powerful presence of God. But this is when you most need to hear the ancient promise, that is still alive today: God is present and will provide for your needs. God is near maybe not in clouds or actual manna, but in this meal, in this community and in each of us for one another. God draws near to us in this meal and helps us to see this community right here as God’s new creation. 

There are several things that are happening in the life of this community right now that show new life and new community being created, sometimes in the midst of the wilderness. The first is the new mental health support community called “Faith in Mind”.  This is a ministry that is erasing the stigma of mental illness. Instead of seeing it as the family secret that no one wants to talks about, we are trying to provide resources and support for others who feel alone in the wilderness of mental illness and disease. I invite you to participate in this ministry.

Another way we are participating in God’s creation of a new community is by making sure all have enough to eat. We do this by contributing to immediate needs at our local food shelves, but also through things like a Bread for the World writing campaign which will take place in November.  By participating in immediate needs and policy change we share our desire for all to have a share of the enough that God provides for the world. I invite you to participate in these efforts.

Still another way we are seeing the creation of God’s new community in our midst is as 9th graders affirm the promises made to them in baptism. We give thanks for the youth in this church who provide fresh bread for our journeys. And we give thanks for the promises made and kept by God, parents and this congregation. I invite you to participate in this student ministry and walk with youth through the wilderness of adolescence. And if you feel like you are wandering in the wilderness alone without a community, there is a Women’s coffee connect coming up this week and a Men’s Breakfast at the end of the month. I invite you to participate in one of these opportunities and join a group being used by God to be a blessing for others. God continues to provide for us and create new community in our midst. I invite you to participate in God’s providing.

There were many other ways God provided for our group on that youth trip to St. Louis in 2000. Unexpected events led us to depend on God over and over again.  And just like the Israelites, we too can expect to find the powerful presence of God in our wandering in the wilderness. Think of the countless times God has provided for you. God will provide for you over and over again with manna, with an unexpected friend, with forgiveness, or with a new direction for your
life.

God will provide and will continue to lead us, creating the new community and new creation in our midst. May we be strengthened to follow where God is leading, even if it means that we will have some growing pains of our own along the way. As we reach out beyond the walls of this church, may God strengthen us in our faith to share Christ who is the true bread from heaven and to participate in God’s providing for the needs of the world. Amen.

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