There is a Way

(October 12, 2008; Exodus 12; Thanksgiving and Communion)

Despite all the confusion we might feel about the upcoming federal election there

is a certain clarity and a simplicity in the method that politicians use. The method is to

polarize the issues and the participants. Churches often get criticized for being to literal

or naïve in its thinking but I suspect it is the politicians who create a much more distinct

universe of black and white. For the conservatives the plan is simple. If you want shaky

unstable leadership then vote for the Liberals. If you want calm steady leadership then

vote for the Conservatives. I was listening to a brief speech made by NDP leader Jack

Layton and he told us that in this election we have two choices. Well actually we have a

series of choices with two options. He said that we can choose a prime minister who

favours the boardroom table or one who favours the kitchen table. You can choose

wrong-headedness or progressive alternatives. In summing up the two options Layton

says that you can choose policy or people. You can choose someone who is down to

earth and connected to people. Or you can choose the power-hungry lackey of the United

Sates administration. In the end I suspect this sort of rhetoric has left many of us feeling

as though there really is no choice at all.

It is these sorts of false choices that make up one significant part of the story of

the Exodus. God established his call and promise through Abraham as we heard about

last week. Then as times became difficult for Abraham’s descendents, the children of his

grandson Jacob, these people moved into Egypt where there was food and because

Joseph, one of their own family members, lived there in a position of influence. Here the

Israelites were fruitful and multiplied.

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However, in time a new king came into power that did not know Joseph and he began to

be concerned about these new people in his land. The people were not native to Egypt

and became numerous to the point that the king of Egypt viewed them as a threat and put

slave masters over them to oppress and control them. The people were enslaved in Egypt

for 350 years when a boy named Moses was born. The mother of Moses feared for his

life because the Egyptians were trying to kill all the new born boys. Moses was placed in

a basket and set out on the Nile River. One of the Egyptian king’s daughters found Moses

and raised and cared for him.

As an adult Moses became distressed by the way that his own people were being

treated and even killed an Egyptian for harassing one of his fellow Hebrews. It seemed

that both the Egpytians and Hebrews seemed to turn on him after this and he fled to

Midian. It was in that place that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush and called

him to set the Israelites free from their slavery in Egypt. Moses returns to Egypt and asks

Pharaoh to release the Israelites to worship God at Mt. Sinai. Pharaoh rejects Moses

request and suffers under 9 plagues inflicted by God each one of them though result in

Pharaoh’s refusal to release the Israelites. Finally God tells Moses that there will be one

more plague after which Pharaoh will release them. God will pass through Egypt and kill

every first-born son in the land.

God tells the Israelites to prepare for this by slaughtering a lamb and preparing a

particular meal. From the blood of the lamb each household is to smear some of it

around their doorframe. God told Moses that “The blood will be a sign for you on the

houses were you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

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While it is still in the middle of the night after God’s angel brought death as it passed

through Egypt until Pharaoh finally tells the people to leave and to take whatever they

want with them. The people appeared to be saved as God gave them safe passage out

Egypt. Not wanting them to have to face the Philistines God led them through the desert

until they were camped on the shore of the Red Sea. At this point we find that Pharaoh

had already changed his mind and did not want to lose his free labour and so he went out

with his army to chase after them.

Now it is important to remember that when we read the Bible it is like we are

getting God’s commentary on the situation. For us it is like seeing an instant replay

where we have the experts explaining what happened after we already know the result.

In this commentary in Exodus we read that God in fact prompted Pharaoh to again come

after the Israelites. The Israelites themselves though don’t appear to have known this.

They were likely still coming off the rush of being rescued and their hearts were just

starting to settle down as they camped at the edge of the Red Sea. As stories of the day’s

events were told around campfires and as expressions of thanksgiving were made there

was perhaps one or two who looked up and noticed something on the horizon. Before

their eyes even had a chance to properly focus they saw that it was the Egyptian army

bearing down on them. The text in Exodus is straightforward it says, “As Pharaoh

approached, the Israelites looked up, and they were terrified and cried out the Lord.” The

Israelites were quickly sorry they ever left. They cursed their deliverance and wished for

the predictability and provision of slavery rather than the vulnerability in which they

found themselves in wilderness.

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 This is the scenario that I was leading towards. Perhaps it seems a little far

fetched to compare this event with our upcoming elections but what the Exodus

represents is the ultimate expression of being caught between a rock and hard place. This

particular moment of standing between the Red Sea and the Egyptians speaks to us about

many of our situations in life. Many times we feel that we are left with no real redeeming

or life-giving choice in life. The options for the Israelites seem clear, fight or drown;

death by sword or death by asphyxiation. Government by untrustworthy conservatives or

government by untrustworthy liberals. Clothing that’s made in sweatshops in Bangladesh

or clothing that’s made in sweatshops in China. Unhappy marriage or loneliness.

Unfulfilling job or lower standard of living. Try to be someone your not or be unpopular.

These choices, are not unlike the logic of political campaigns giving us the choice of

opposites. Be successful or be unsuccessful. Be attractive or be ugly. You must make

money or you will have a miserable life. You must be strong or people will think you are

weak. Too often we feel these choices reflect the way the world is. We think they are

the only choices we have.

It is interesting to see how the Passover meal plays out for the Israelites. The

Passover is the meal that Jesus makes foundational in explaining his own purpose. This

time of year our meals celebrate the generous abundance of God. We celebrate that we

are not pressured by destructive forces around us. These are good things to celebrate but

it is not what the Passover meal celebrates. If we follow the story in the book of Exodus

as we have been this morning then something quite different unfolds for the people after

this meal that they are called to celebrate and give thanks for. No one who ate at that

meal set foot in the promised land; the land flowing with milk and honey; the land of

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abundance. No one from that generation experienced the land of abundance in their

lifetime. Yes the people are delivered from the land of Egypt after the Passover but then

they are led into almost immediate confrontation. They find themselves stuck between

two powers; the sword of the Egyptians and the chaos of the sea.

This is the result of the Passover meal. To set the table of God is to be called out

from the powers of the world. And it is not only to reject the powers but also to face

them. To face your fears of loneliness, to face your fears of being rejected or humiliated,

to face your fears of abandonment, to face your fears of weakness and vulnerability. To

face the destructive powers that arise in our families. To face the destructive forces that

rise up in our consumerism and the face physical and mental abuse and military force.

To face injustices at home and abroad. To face what can often be the paralyzing force of

the unknown. To be able to stand on the bank of the Red Sea, on the brink of destruction

where it feels like there is barely room breath, where there looks like there is no help in

sight and then to hear the beautiful words that Moses spoke to the Israelites, “Do not be

afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The

Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you

need only to be still.”

And God made a way. God separated the Red Sea and made a way through the

heart of the powers themselves and the delivered them. And as we will talk more about

next week God did not deliver them directly into a land of milk and honey. God did not

bring them immediately into a land of abundance for which they are to give thanks.

Rather God delivered them into the desert. God brought them to a place where they were

required to trust in daily provisions. God undid the choices that faced the Israelites. The

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God undid the choice of fight or be destroyed. God undid the choice of abundance and

scarcity. God offers us another way. God gives us the reality of faith. God gives us a

faith that says at each dawn this is the day that the LORD has made we will rejoice and

be glad in it. We will give thanks because with God there is way. It will likely not be

easy but it will be life-giving.

This is the context for the Last Supper, for the communion meal that we share

together as the body of Christ. In other church traditions this meal is often called the

Eucharist which means thanksgiving. This is our thanksgiving meal. This is not a meal

of abundance, at least not the abundance that we often seek. This is the meal that

prepares us and sustains us to leave the powers around us and to confront; and then to be

led in the way of faith opened by God. May we come to this meal and be nourished for

the deliverance from the powers that seek to destroy us. May we feed on and become the

body of Christ the one faced the powers, faced even death and offered a way for the

healing of the world. Amen.

Service of Communion

We are now called to the meal that is laid before us, the meal that God provided to
sustain the Israelites through their deliverance. It is a very different meal. It is a meal
that will not make us stronger but will make us weaker and more vulnerable. It is a meal
that is not celebrated with comfort and ease but a meal in which our shoes must remain
on for we will be called out at any moment. This is a hard meal but it is the only meal
which will nourish us for the healing of lives and overcoming of our fears. It is the only
meal that will end the divisions in our world for no privilege is allowed at its table. This
is the meal that reclaims our bodies from the powers around us and nourishes them for
service in God’s Kingdom.

Prayer:
Lord we confess that too often we are part of the destructive powers of this world.
We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart,

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nor our neighbours as ourselves.
We do not come to the table trusting in our ability but in your mercy.
Forgive what we have been,
accept us as we are
sustain us with this meal
and call us to confront death with your life.

Words of Institution:
For on the night Jesus was betrayed. On the night Jesus confronted the powers he sat
down to a meal and at it he took a loaf of bread and said, “This is my body this broken for
you. Do this in remembrance of me” Do this as a reminder of the one who creates a way
through the powers.
And after the meal Jesus took a cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread
and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. You proclaim the one
who faced and overcame death.

For these gifts Lord make us truly thankful.

Invitation:
So come to the table that is open to all who look to Christ for deliverance from the
powers that bind us. Come and wash one another as you approach the table and join in
the meal that will nourish you for the journey out of death and into new life. Come and
give thanks for the salvation of our God.