The first week we read the creation story of Genesis 1 - Creating Waters.
The second week we read the Noah story of Genesis 7 and 8 - Flood Waters.
This week's story comes from Exodus.
Exodus 14:10-31
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. 16 But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. 17 Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”
19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 24 At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. 29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
The Exodus - Redeeming Waters
God’s a-gonna trouble the waters. True story. God has indeed trouble the waters. That’s what God has been doing for a long time. Long before you and I got here God was troubling the waters. Now when I say troubling, I mean stirring things up with creative power. God troubles the waters on our behalf. Not as we expect or always ask for, but as God intends for the sake of the life of the world.
The priest, or shall I say poet, writing in the shadow of exile in Babylon, in the darkness of oppression, in the moment of wondering where God was at work in the world, penned the creation epic we know as Genesis 1. God troubles the waters in Genesis, Pastor Casey led us through that story two weeks ago. God’s spirit, the creating Rauch, hovered over the deep and organized the primordial waters of chaos into a dynamic world that God the creator called “good.” We come from that word “good.” We who are created by God bear the image of the creating, nurturing God we encounter in Genesis. But that’s not the whole story.
Last week we heard the story of Noah and the flood. The story where God troubled the waters of the world to counter the conflict and violence into which the world had spiraled. But God did not loose hope. There was Noah and his family and the animals, spared by God, lifted above the waters that rushed from the deeps and from the sky. The ark sheltered God’s hope for the future through the flood and the rainbow in the sky would serve as a reminder for both God and humanity of God’s commitment to the life of the world.
We continue with our Lenten theme this week with another story about how God troubles the waters. This time we find ourselves in Egypt, in exile, in a period of time when the people of God wondered where God was at work in the world. For 430 years the people had been crying out for God to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. And God heard their cries.
Enter Moses and the burning bush, and the divine call to go back to Egypt to serve as the catalyst for the Exodus. Reluctantly Moses goes. After quarrels and plagues and Passover and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, the people of God are told to leave Egypt. They hurriedly move out into the unknown future that God has set in motion.
But cataclysmic change is always difficult. When the road got rough in the desert outside of Egypt, when the people were caught between water and the angry army of Pharaoh who had changed his mind, there was grumbling and fear. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?!” Slavery in Egypt seemed better that death in the wilderness. Moses, why have you led us to our deaths? Was God in this to begin with? Where is God now?
God was indeed moving, and it is in the waters that God will act on behalf of the people. Moses is told to raise his staff and split the sea, but this is just a prop for God’s Spirit. The same Spirit that moved over the waters at the beginning of time, the same Spirit that calmed the waters of the flood, the creating Ruach of God moves in this moment. God’s creating Ruach moves, the waters are driven back, and a way of deliverance is made for the people. God makes a way from the death of slavery to the new life of God’s future.
The story of the Exodus from Egypt is the defining story for the people of Israel. It’s a creation story, narrating the creation of God’s people out of the chaos of slavery in a foreign land. It’s a story of how God creates life out of death. It was the moment of moments for the people of Israel. They would tell it to the kids and their grand-kids. They would remember it every year at Passover. They would weave the Exodus story into the fabric of their history. Over and over again in the giving of the law, God would remind the people of their rescue. “I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” The psalmist would craft poetry to remember this day.
When Israel was a great nation, the story of the exodus told of the beginning of their rise to power and how God had established them as God’s chosen people. When they were in exile once again in Babylon, it was a story of hope, serving to remind the people of what God had done for their ancestors, kindling hope of what God would do for them in the future. Isaiah takes up a pen and writes, “Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?” Isaiah 51:10 serves as a reminder to the people of what God had done for them, redeeming them out of the death of slavery.
In the Exodus we again encounter a God who creates out of chaos. The people of Israel had been living in a state of chaos - oppressed, not allowed to live out their identity as God’s people. God chose to act on their behalf. God chose to give them life. It is once again in the waters that we see God move, creating a people out of the death of slavery and bringing them to new life. God’s spirit, the creating Ruach, moves over the waters and makes a way for the people to cross over from slavery into freedom. The word deliverance in verse 13 points to the saving act of God through the waters of the Reed Sea. It’s a word that points to what God has done for us on the cross. It points us to our redemption in Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed because God has already troubled the waters.
The journey to the cross and resurrection of Easter is a journey to the saving waters of baptism where God meets us and claims us as God’s own. God does indeed trouble the waters. God moves into the deep places of our lives, the places where sin has a strangle hold, the places where we are no longer ourselves because of our bondage to sin, and God sets us free. God’s creating Rauch moves into lives, troubling the waters, bringing us to new life in Christ.
God has indeed troubled the waters. In baptism God moves us from death in sin to new life in the kingdom of God’s creating. This has been done once and for all on our behalf. And God continues to meet us in the chaos of our lives.
In the chaos of sickness or debt or depression or loneliness or divorce or depression - God sends folks to remind us of God’s love and faithfulness. Sending a Moses to remind us of God’s creative power, to remind us that God has already made a way for us through the chaos.
Or perhaps we are called to be that Moses for somebody else - drawn into the moments of chaos to be God’s presence for others - to help remind each other of the way God has made for us to new life. A full life in God’s creative love.
God creates a way from death to life for us through the resurrection of Jesus. God makes a way through the cross for us to fully live into ourselves by the love of God poured out through the world through Jesus Christ. God troubles the waters with an everlasting promise on our behalf. The exodus story is our story - for we are a people of God’s creating.
The priest, or shall I say poet, writing in the shadow of exile in Babylon, in the darkness of oppression, in the moment of wondering where God was at work in the world, penned the creation epic we know as Genesis 1. God troubles the waters in Genesis, Pastor Casey led us through that story two weeks ago. God’s spirit, the creating Rauch, hovered over the deep and organized the primordial waters of chaos into a dynamic world that God the creator called “good.” We come from that word “good.” We who are created by God bear the image of the creating, nurturing God we encounter in Genesis. But that’s not the whole story.
Last week we heard the story of Noah and the flood. The story where God troubled the waters of the world to counter the conflict and violence into which the world had spiraled. But God did not loose hope. There was Noah and his family and the animals, spared by God, lifted above the waters that rushed from the deeps and from the sky. The ark sheltered God’s hope for the future through the flood and the rainbow in the sky would serve as a reminder for both God and humanity of God’s commitment to the life of the world.
We continue with our Lenten theme this week with another story about how God troubles the waters. This time we find ourselves in Egypt, in exile, in a period of time when the people of God wondered where God was at work in the world. For 430 years the people had been crying out for God to deliver them from slavery in Egypt. And God heard their cries.
Enter Moses and the burning bush, and the divine call to go back to Egypt to serve as the catalyst for the Exodus. Reluctantly Moses goes. After quarrels and plagues and Passover and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, the people of God are told to leave Egypt. They hurriedly move out into the unknown future that God has set in motion.
But cataclysmic change is always difficult. When the road got rough in the desert outside of Egypt, when the people were caught between water and the angry army of Pharaoh who had changed his mind, there was grumbling and fear. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?!” Slavery in Egypt seemed better that death in the wilderness. Moses, why have you led us to our deaths? Was God in this to begin with? Where is God now?
God was indeed moving, and it is in the waters that God will act on behalf of the people. Moses is told to raise his staff and split the sea, but this is just a prop for God’s Spirit. The same Spirit that moved over the waters at the beginning of time, the same Spirit that calmed the waters of the flood, the creating Ruach of God moves in this moment. God’s creating Ruach moves, the waters are driven back, and a way of deliverance is made for the people. God makes a way from the death of slavery to the new life of God’s future.
The story of the Exodus from Egypt is the defining story for the people of Israel. It’s a creation story, narrating the creation of God’s people out of the chaos of slavery in a foreign land. It’s a story of how God creates life out of death. It was the moment of moments for the people of Israel. They would tell it to the kids and their grand-kids. They would remember it every year at Passover. They would weave the Exodus story into the fabric of their history. Over and over again in the giving of the law, God would remind the people of their rescue. “I am the LORD, your God, who brought you out of Egypt.” The psalmist would craft poetry to remember this day.
When Israel was a great nation, the story of the exodus told of the beginning of their rise to power and how God had established them as God’s chosen people. When they were in exile once again in Babylon, it was a story of hope, serving to remind the people of what God had done for their ancestors, kindling hope of what God would do for them in the future. Isaiah takes up a pen and writes, “Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to cross over?” Isaiah 51:10 serves as a reminder to the people of what God had done for them, redeeming them out of the death of slavery.
In the Exodus we again encounter a God who creates out of chaos. The people of Israel had been living in a state of chaos - oppressed, not allowed to live out their identity as God’s people. God chose to act on their behalf. God chose to give them life. It is once again in the waters that we see God move, creating a people out of the death of slavery and bringing them to new life. God’s spirit, the creating Ruach, moves over the waters and makes a way for the people to cross over from slavery into freedom. The word deliverance in verse 13 points to the saving act of God through the waters of the Reed Sea. It’s a word that points to what God has done for us on the cross. It points us to our redemption in Jesus Christ. We have been redeemed because God has already troubled the waters.
The journey to the cross and resurrection of Easter is a journey to the saving waters of baptism where God meets us and claims us as God’s own. God does indeed trouble the waters. God moves into the deep places of our lives, the places where sin has a strangle hold, the places where we are no longer ourselves because of our bondage to sin, and God sets us free. God’s creating Rauch moves into lives, troubling the waters, bringing us to new life in Christ.
God has indeed troubled the waters. In baptism God moves us from death in sin to new life in the kingdom of God’s creating. This has been done once and for all on our behalf. And God continues to meet us in the chaos of our lives.
In the chaos of sickness or debt or depression or loneliness or divorce or depression - God sends folks to remind us of God’s love and faithfulness. Sending a Moses to remind us of God’s creative power, to remind us that God has already made a way for us through the chaos.
Or perhaps we are called to be that Moses for somebody else - drawn into the moments of chaos to be God’s presence for others - to help remind each other of the way God has made for us to new life. A full life in God’s creative love.
God creates a way from death to life for us through the resurrection of Jesus. God makes a way through the cross for us to fully live into ourselves by the love of God poured out through the world through Jesus Christ. God troubles the waters with an everlasting promise on our behalf. The exodus story is our story - for we are a people of God’s creating.
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