fresh water hope

Good afternoon friends,

Today's vision from Ezekiel continues the vision we saw yesterday of a powerful water flowing from the throne of God. Today we see that river renewing and refreshing the whole region and bringing forth new life. In God's renewed creation there is abundant life for all.

God bless,
Sam

Ezekiel 47:6-12

⁶He said to me, “Mortal, have you seen this?” Then he led me back along the bank of the river. ⁷As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other. ⁸He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. ⁹Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. 

¹⁰People will stand fishing beside the sea from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. ¹¹But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. ¹²On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

out of the water

Good morning friends,
As you think ahead to Labor Day weekend, Robyn Fitzgerald has secured a block of tickets for Saturday's (September 3) Red Wings game for the church. It's always a fun night out together, so let Maria or Carl know if you're interested (I'll be away this week) or let me know next week. I hope a good sized group of us can go.

We read this as part of our Old Testament reading yesterday in worship. Moses' mother seeks a way out of Pharaoh's horrible, genocidal policies for her son. Ironically, it's Pharaoh's own daughter who ends up taking him in. I wonder if in the time Moses' mother nursed Moses for his adoptive mother she also taught him about Israel and God's story with them. We never know who God will use to bring light and hope into dark times. I pray we would be open to God's surprising grace each day.

blessings,
Sam

Exodus 2:1-10

1Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. 4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.



5The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. 6When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said.



7Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” 8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. 10When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”