Moses

Good morning friends,
In yesterday's reading Stephen told the first part of the story of Moses, from his birth to his flight from Egypt. In today's reading he reminds his audience of the calling of Moses and Moses' critical role in God's covenant with us. God's words through Moses are still part of what defines our faith. Stephen honors Moses, in contrast to what his accusers say.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 7:30-38

³⁰“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.’ ³⁸He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living oracles to give to us.

remember

Good afternoon friends,
I hope the weekend is treating you well. Our worship this morning was very relaxed, with "congregational choice" singing. It was great for me to be back at Laurelton after some time away. In our reading yesterday we talked about God making a covenant with Israel after bringing them out of slavery in Egypt. The next books of the Bible give more detail to God's covenant by telling stories of Israel in the desert following (and not following) God, as well as by teaching the laws. In today's reading we skip ahead to Deuteronomy where Moses makes final preparations for the people to enter the land without his leadership.

Blessings on your afternoon,
Sam

Deuteronomy 6:4-24

⁴Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ⁸Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, ⁹and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, ¹¹houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you have eaten your fill, ¹²take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³The Lord your God you shall fear; him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear. ¹⁴Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you, ¹⁵because the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a jealous God. The anger of the Lord your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth. ¹⁶Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.

¹⁷You must diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his decrees, and his statutes that he has commanded you. ¹⁸Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may go in and occupy the good land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you, ¹⁹thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

²⁰When your children ask you in time to come, “What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?” ²¹then you shall say to your children, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²²The Lord displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household. ²³He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors. ²⁴Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case.

covenant

Good evening friends,
I'm home after an exhausting week in Pittsburgh for the PC (USA) general assembly. It was a tremendous blessing to be there, but it's good to be home. There's so much to digest, both intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. Tomorrow's worship will be very relaxed and we'll do some requests for hymns, so you might want to think of a favorite between now and then. In our reading we continue the story of Israel's liberation from slavery and formation as God's people. God continues his claim on us and covenant with us, as well as with the people of Israel. How is God calling to your today?

God bless,
Sam

Exodus 19:1-8

On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. ²They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. ³Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: ⁴You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 

⁵Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, ⁶but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.” ⁷So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸The people all answered as one: “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

sending

Good afternoon sisters and brothers,
Today's passage is God's call to Moses to be part of the liberation of Israel from slavery. I love the moment in this passage where God says "I have heard Israel's cry, so I will respond by sending you." In a way, that's what God says to each of us. We are God's hands and feet in the world to serve others. Where is God calling you this week?

God bless,
Sam

Exodus 3:1-10

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. ³Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” ⁴When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

Ten Commandments, part 1

Good morning friends,
It's been a little while since we've read from Exodus. Earlier we read how God brought Israel out of Egypt and how twice in the desert Israel cried out to God about being hungry or thirsty and God satisfied them. Our reading moves forward a few chapters. The people have arrived at Mt. Sinai to worship God. If we look back to when God first called Moses to speak to Pharaoh, God said that the sign of God's presence would be that after their liberation the people would worship at Mt. Sinai. Now that promise has been fulfilled and God gives the people the Ten Commandments, which are the "bullet points" of the covenant God makes with Israel to be their God. The commandments are given application and depth by further laws and ordinances that God shares with Moses after the Ten Commandments, but we can tell that these commandments can be read broadly to guide community life. Thousands of years later, they still speak to us. Today we'll consider the first four commandments.

Blessings,
Sam

Exodus 20:1-11

Then God spoke all these words: 2I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3you shall have no other gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.



7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

first Passover

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Today as we reflect on labor we're grateful for the labor movement that has furthered the cause of equality for workers. We also remember, especially now, that we have a long way to go. We remember those who want to work but can't and those who work so much that they can't rest.

Moses tells the Israelites how to mark their homes so God's destroying angel won't kill their first born sons along with the Egyptians. It's interesting too that even in the midst of this moment of trial and liberation God has Moses set the Passover up as a permanent tradition rather than a one time thing. The role of tradition is to keep reminding us of how God has saved us in the past to keep us humble and grateful. May we always remember God's love for us.

God bless,
Sam

Exodus 12:21-28

21Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover lamb. 22Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. 23For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down.



24You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children. 25When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. 26And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ 27you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’“ And the people bowed down and worshiped. 28The Israelites went and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.