From the Pastor |
Exodus 12: 1-14
Have you ever wondered why there are so many people who have a problem with the church today? Why so many people have left and not returned? Why so many of our young people have lost interest in the church? I know I have. Now, there are many reasons people give for why they are no longer involved with what they refer to as “organized religion.” I don’t have the time… Sunday is my only day to relax… It’s boring… out of touch… full of condemnation and hypocrisy… the excuses and reasons go on and on. I think that the truth is… the church (at least in America) has basically become a bureaucratic organization that has lost sight of what the church was meant to be: a community. We have too often gotten caught up in the individualism that drives our society. It seems like the Christian faith… at least a large part of it, has been privatized… focusing on serving the needs of individuals and small groups. There is so much focus put on our “personal” salvation and what the church does for US! We treat the Christian faith as a private, individual matter, and unfortunately, we have lost a lot of the interconnectedness of life that is clearly expressed in the Christian faith. What does this have to do with our reading from Exodus? Well… Establishing a New Community is one of the reasons God calls Moses to service. Let’s look at the story: God has heard the cries of the Israelite people… the descendants of Abraham. So he calls Moses and tells him to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to “Let my people go!” So, after much arguing… that is exactly what Moses does. But Pharaoh refuses… time and time again. So 9 plagues have come upon Egypt… each one worse than the last. Each one demonstrating the awesome power of God… Yet Pharaoh still refuses to release the Israelites. Therefore, Moses announces that there will be one final plague. “About midnight [God] will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh… to the firstborn son of the female slave… and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.” (Exodus 11:4b-6) However, between this announcement and the event itself… we have today’s reading… a brief pause in the action where God gives specific instructions to the People of Israel. The people are to very carefully prepare a special meal. They are to choose a lamb or goat that is perfect… that has no defect. On a specific day they are to roast it and eat it with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. They are to eat quickly… Everyone is to wear their shoes… have their walking sticks in hand, and everyone at the table was to have shoes on… to be ready… prepared to leave at any moment. There is a great sense of urgency, and yet… this Passover meal clearly demonstrates a sense of community. After all… this isn’t an every-man-for-himself kind of situation… This is an act that focusses on community… There is a sense of unity, of family. EVERY household is to participate… And if one family is too small, or too poor, they are to gather with others; to be joined together. Even during this difficult and scary time… they are called to care for one another. Also… this isn’t to be a once and done scenario… it is only the beginning. It is a new beginning for the people who have been slaves for generations. These instructions begin with a notation about time, “The Lord said… “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.” It is the start of a New Year that signifies the beginning of a new way of life… a new way of living and being. This chapter of Exodus continues on to describe how the people are to recreate this Passover meal every year from then on. To always remember what God has done and who they are… This is the creation of a whole new identity for the People of God. Passover is about salvation and transformation… Salvation because the blood of the lamb means life… it is the sign for God to pass over the Israelite’s home… sparing them from the threat of the tenth plague. And it is about transformation… transformation from slavery to freedom, from oppression to liberation. And these verses are about establishing a ritual that not only sets them apart, but unites them to one another in a life of worship. It is a call to come together in community to risk a new life… to embrace change… to live as a new community made up of God’s Chosen people… united in worship and ritual, and transformed into a servant people. Think about it… Over and over again, God has Moses tell Pharaoh “Let my people go, so that they may worship me…” so they may serve their God. Throughout the rest of the Torah… they are given the commandments for how to do that… which Jesus summed up for us: Love God and Love your neighbor. To this day, thousands of years later… the celebration of the Passover meal remains a central ritual in Judaism. In many ways, it has also become a central focus of Christianity as well, because it was at a Passover celebration that Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. In fact, many of the images and themes of Passover have been incorporated into the Lord's Supper, including: The bread and the wine… Remembrance and bringing the past into the present… Darkness and night… Deliverance from bondage and death… The “lamb” that was sacrificed and its blood that provides protection from death… And just like the Jewish Passover… the Lord’s Supper signifies salvation and transformation. Salvation from our slavery to sin and death… salvation granted by the blood of the “lamb”. As Peter reminds us: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” [1 Peter 1:18-19] And it is also about transformation, for through the blood of Christ… the perfect lamb of God… Jesus “has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… [creating] a new humanity… [Ephesians 2:14-15] We are called to be a part of this new humanity… to come together in community to enter into a new life… to embrace change. … being made a new creation in Christ… but not only as an individual because we are brought into the family of God… the community of faith. The church is to be a community of believers… followers of Christ who… just like the Israelites… are called to be a servant people… After all… Christ, the head of this community… “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [Mark 10:45] The same is true for all within the church… we are called to serve… to serve God through our worship and through our love… our love of God and neighbor. The story of the Exodus demonstrates to us that God cares for the enslaved and the oppressed… And Jesus came to show us that… not only is this true… but how we can live our lives to reflect God’s loving care. And if we are to follow Jesus… we must strive to be the ones who care for the weak, the poor, the vulnerable and the oppressed. However, we cannot do it on our own… When we are united with Christ our identity is no longer found in ourselves… instead, we are called to join together in community… united in faith… as THE family of God. Every Christian is called to participate… united in a new life of worship and service to God. Our Christian faith is NOT a private affair… it is not meant for individualism… The church is called to unite… to join together in community to worship the Lord our God… and to serve in relationship, solidarity and love that moves beyond the self… beyond all barriers of class, race, and gender. We need to, as a community… as the “one body of Christ in the world today”… embrace the transformation that comes through faith and serve our God through worship, prayer and praise… and serve the world… working together… through our witness, our words and our actions that share God’s love, and grace, and God’s call for justice. I believe that the Christian church as a whole in America needs to move away from the individualism that permeates our society and back to the model of community to which we are called… A community worships together… that shares and cares for one another… that supports and lifts up one another. If the church of Christ Jesus is to once again flourish in our nation… we have to put aside our selfishness and fear… let go of our bureaucracy and our need for control and power… and truly become a community of God’s people… a community of the spirit. Because when we are united as a community, the church as a whole serves and suffers together… but it also celebrates and hopes together because it is when we are together that we can truly experience the new life and joy that comes through Christian fellowship.
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Yeon Shin
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